Quote:
Originally Posted by hellomabel
Hi.
After the cold winter I left any dead or dying garden shrubs till the warmer weather to see if they would recover of their own volition. Some have, but others haven't, so I'm wondering how best to tackle the sufferers or whether it's a wasted effort.
Conditions: slightly acid soil, northfacing garden in a valley in Cornwall, damp climate.
1. A hardy fuchsia: big, no leaves, flowers or signs of green anywhere yet, but there is white inside the twigs. My inclination is to leave it till maybe June. Anything else I should do?
2. A gangly willow-leaved hebe: the leaves are shrivelling from the bottom of the plant up. How will it cope with a drastic prune and feed?
3. A hydrangea: has never flowered in ten years (hydrangeas do well in our area), but in previous years it produced leaves. This year very little except a few tiny green shoots at the base. It sits in a dappled shady shrub border under a large cherry tree. Drastic prune and feed?
4. Euphorbia mellifera: up to last year it used to be a very large, healthy specimen in a giant pot outside the front door (up against the front wall, with full sun). I forgot to wrap it in bubblewrap this winter so I think the frost killed it - there are a few brown shoots, no greenery showing. Would it be OK to plant another one in the same soil or is it possible there's life in the old one still?
Sorry this is so long! Any tips much appreciated.
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Hi HelloMabel, I know the feeling ?? Also live in Cornwall and have suffered like everyone else. I think the fuchsia will still come back from the base and I would be inclined now to cut it hard down now.
I think the willow leaved hebe may be dead but if its going to shoot (wnich I doubt) they will come from the base so again cut it back hard now.
The hydrangea im suprised about, all mine are fine ?? and I suspect the reason you've had no flowers is that you have been pruning it in the winter ?? thus cutting off the flowers for the comming year ? What I do is to remove one fifth of the bush to 12" so that every 5 years the whole bush has been renewed (but the 4/5ths nor pruned, flower that summer) Yes, I think that to prune it and feed it is your only option but I think theres something else going on here ?? Does it get very dry in Summer under that cherry tree ?
My honey bush (Euphorbia mellifera) also suffered badly this winter and I see mine is comming from the base again ? I think I would leave it a little longer and see what happens ! This last winter has killed things that survived down here the year before and I think it was the timing of the extreme cold that did the dammage, we went from 13o C to -12oC very quickly, and the plants were all still very soft, had that weather arrived after Christmas like 2010, I'm sure the dammage wouldnt have been as bad.
Lets hope these winters dont deter people from replacing the plants that gve our county its unique and wonderful flora that make it so special.
Best wishes, Lannerman