lilypools wrote:
Hi,I live in East Yorkshire, between Hull and York and I have a bay tree
in my front small garden which is about 10ft high and 10 years old
(since it was planted in my garden). I had been planning on having it
trimmed back this year but over the winter it appears to have died. The
leaves are mostly still in place but all dried up and I cannot see any
signs of budding. I have another shrub next to it, not sure what it is,
that is suffering the same. Next door has a smaller bay tree which
looks totally healthy. Do you think it is a lost cause or does anyone
have any suggestions as the best way to proceed to try to save both
plants? Thanks

Leave it alone for at least a year looking dead to see if it will
recover. Mine isn't looking too good at the moment either. It didn't
like the cold winter much and about half its leaves are dried up. I am a
bit further north and in a very windy spot.

I once accidentally killed all the top growth of a small bay tree by
using soft soap on it to kill scale insects. It also took off the waxy
leaf coating and the entire plant desiccated in the sun. It looked as
dead as a doornail for a season and was discarded into one corner. It
came back from the roots. For a bigger tree I'd expect the bigger
branches to stay alive even if all the thin growth had been killed.

Regards,
Martin Brown

"Sacha" wrote in message
...
On 2010-03-28 17:42:19 +0100, "Jeff Layman"
said:

A barbeque is improved tenfold by throwing a half-a-dozen bay leaves on
the coals every time the meat is turned, particularly if a cover is used
over the BBQ.

Do you actually get to eat the meat or just sniff it? ;-)
--

What meat? ;-)

--

Jeff

"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
...
The message

from sutartsorric contains these words:


I looked up frost and the BBC weather pages gave this,

"Frost severity
There are several degrees of severity for frost with a slight frost
0°C to minus 3.5°C, a moderate frost from minus 3.5°C to minus 6.6°C,
severe frost from minus 6.5°C to minus 11.5°C and a very severe frost
below minus 11.5°C."

That places -10C into the severe frost category, and seems to back up
my theory.

What's wrong with your theory, is that the BBC weather categories
above
are unrelated to definitions of plant hardiness.

Nick's statements about bay did not contradict each other.


So to sum up....

......is it Laurel and not Hardy?

David WE Roberts wrote:

"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
...
The message

from sutartsorric contains these words:


I looked up frost and the BBC weather pages gave this,

"Frost severity
There are several degrees of severity for frost with a slight frost
0°C to minus 3.5°C, a moderate frost from minus 3.5°C to minus 6.6°C,
severe frost from minus 6.5°C to minus 11.5°C and a very severe frost
below minus 11.5°C."

That places -10C into the severe frost category, and seems to back up
my theory.

What's wrong with your theory, is that the BBC weather categories
above
are unrelated to definitions of plant hardiness.

Nick's statements about bay did not contradict each other.


So to sum up....

.....is it Laurel and not Hardy?

Oh dear.

Oh dear, oh dear!

L o n g, d r a w n o u t grown...

--
Rusty

OK, I think the gist is to not give up all hope just yet. It does look a real mess - will I be ok to cut it back at all to try to make it look a bit better or should I leave it all together to see if anything appears from the base?

lilypools wrote:

OK, I think the gist is to not give up all hope just yet. It does look
a real mess - will I be ok to cut it back at all to try to make it look
a bit better or should I leave it all together to see if anything
appears from the base?

I would cut it right back in say, May, to the ground. I'd lay money on
the top not growing back - unless there are signs of viable buds by late
spring.

--
Rusty

On 30 Mar, 17:01, Rusty Hinge
wrote:
lilypools wrote:
OK, I think the gist is to not give up all hope just yet. *It does look
a real mess - will I be ok to cut it back at all to try to make it look
a bit better or should I leave it all together to see if anything
appears from the base?

I would cut it right back in say, May, to the ground. I'd lay money on
the top not growing back - unless there are signs of viable buds by late
spring.

--
Rusty

You could always score the bark to see if there is any green showing
under it, or has it all gone browm?
David Hill

Thanks everyone