How to tackle dead or dying shrubs
 

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.

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

I agree about the fuchsia, but as it acts as a support for a rampant chocolate vine I'm inclined to leave it unpruned.

Right, I'll do that.

No, I definitely haven't been pruning the hydrangea in the winter. I left it in the hopes that it would recover but it hasn't. I suspect the problem is it's in too-intense competition for water and nutrients from the cherry tree and the other shrubs around it. I'm tempted to move it - the question is where (full sun or dappled shade?) and when (now or ...?).

I dug around the roots to see if there were any shoots or greenery but there weren't (in previous years there have been shoots by now). So I dug it up and replaced it with another one and some fresh compost. As you say, it was probably the fast frost and I hadn't wrapped it for protection.

Thanks for all your suggestions - and I completely agree about our county.
Thanks again!

helloMabel, Sorry,its too late to move it now, what i would suggest is that you give it ample water this summer and move it next winter, also, I wouldnt go too mad trying to feed it, unless it suddenly starts to perk up. A good
mulch would also help it.
Lannerman

Thanks, I'll do that.

Hi, I'm a Newbie living in North Wales, but hope this helps.

1. My hardy fushias which narmaly retain leaves have suffered from the 20cm of snow we had here (first in 25 years), however my yellow leaved one and my more normal one are breaking from the base. There is hope for yours!

2. Leave the hebe until Midsummer to see if it breaks from the base, then prine back to the new growth. Some hebes may have split there branches near the ground. This is normally terminal, but you can take cuttings from any health growth before it dies.

3. Can't help with the hydrangea. I've never come across the non flowering problem.

4. Euphorbia mellifera: In my fathers Cornish garden (St Ives) they grow in the soil & self seed, growing out of walls etc. Mine is normaly green all winter but has been reduced to dead sticks. I am giving mine more time as we have only just stopped having frosts. I think you could wait for it to spring into life too.

Good Luck (Sorry about the length too!)

Mine has got a large number of 3-4cm thick 'branches' which are all stone dead, and a tiny green shoot coming out of the base. So there may be life in yours. On the other hand, mine is in the ground not in a pot, so not all of its roots will have been frozen. On balance, I think your chances are slim.

I am going to replace mine by one of the many seedlings that I have - I've got large ones growing amongst other plants in the greenhouse, as well as this year's seedlings newly sprouted. It give me the opportunity to move it - I didn't know what it was when I acquired it, and wasn't prepared for a 2m diameter football outside the kitchen window!