GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post - Skimmia post-mortem

Sacha[_10_] · 09-05-2013, 09:50 AM posted to uk.rec.gardening

On 2013-05-08 22:08:05 +0100, said:

Further to my earlier post. I moved my Skimmia to an easterly facing
border. However it also only had a small root ball... I also noticed a
lot of ants in the soil. Would ants have an impact on the Skimmia?

I don't think the ants would in themselves - or not that I know of -
but they do indicate the soil is very dry. Their presence could disturb
the roots and deprive the plant of water if they're building a nest
underneath the plant, for example. But for some reason Skimmias do
seem to just sort of keel over and give up, at times. We have a couple
in the garden here which have started dying down one side and will have
to come out. There's no apparent reason for it and I've known it happen
in other gardens I've had, too. With regard to one without a good root
system, plants can be a bit like people - some are 'good do-ers' and
others aren't! With every good intention, a garden centre or nursery
can produce or buy in a batch that just isn't very good but for no
obvious reason.
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk