Hi guys,

I am a newbie on here so please forgive me.

The laurel hedge at my partner's house appears to be dying or dead. This surprised me because I have my own privet hedge and laurel is a real pain because it is almost impossible to get rid of. I have looked online for obvious answers but most are not helping.

What is happening is that the leaves are drying out, going brown and then the whole thing is looking dead. The interesting part is that this is not isolated. When I look around, there are hedges all over the local area which look like they are in serious trouble (for reference, I am looking in the Belfast area, northern ireland). I am left wondering whether there is an outbreak of something which I should know about? Is there anything I can do or is the plant actually dead and needing replaced with something else?

Thanks

Looking further... maybe this is not laurel. It is a smaller, rounder leaf which is a paler green... cannot find a site which helps me identify.

There are some hedge supplier websites which google will easily find for you. From these, you will discover the common hedging plants and photos, etc.

From your description, I wonder whether it might be Griselinia littoralis, an increasingly common hedging plant from New Zealand, which might have found last winter a bit on the cold side for it in England. Though one near us (near M25 to NW of Londond) is undamaged,

[quote=echinosum;920581]in EnglandQUOTE]
In Northern Ireland, I mean.

"talksalot81" wrote in message
...

Hi guys,

I am a newbie on here so please forgive me.

The laurel hedge at my partner's house appears to be dying or dead. This
surprised me because I have my own privet hedge and laurel is a real
pain because it is almost impossible to get rid of. I have looked online
for obvious answers but most are not helping.

What is happening is that the leaves are drying out, going brown and
then the whole thing is looking dead. The interesting part is that this
is not isolated. When I look around, there are hedges all over the local
area which look like they are in serious trouble (for reference, I am
looking in the Belfast area, northern ireland). I am left wondering
whether there is an outbreak of something which I should know about? Is
there anything I can do or is the plant actually dead and needing
replaced with something else?

Thanks


I think it would safe to blame the winter weather you guys got, it may well
come back from down near the roots


--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
Holders of National Collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cvs
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk

I think you are right about the identification - this is almost certainly the plant.

We had thought about the cold weather but we probably had less cold a time than much of the rest of the UK, so I had wondered about a disease. It really does look like all of these plants in the area are in trouble.

Remedy wise... I presume I am stuck just digging it up and starting again? What is the best bet for an alternative hedge type which will grow nice and quickly and be happy enough in a small garden in a built up area?

Thanks

We were fairly lucky just around where I live, nothing like as cold as was routinely experienced across large swathes of the country. So the fact that it survived where we are isn't much of an indication. In your case, the fact that it looks like every single plant in your area is dead sounds like a clear case of frost. Apparently they particularly dislike icy winds. Some pest attack would inevitably be more patchy.

I have absolutely no idea whether Griselinia will sprout again from the roots when frosted to the ground, if frost is indeed the problem. If it does, it may not show until high/late summer. One of my cordylines was frosted in 9/10, and didn't put out any shoots until late July. My other one was frosted this year, and I still have nothing despite the very warm spring we've been having.

For a hardy hedging plant, evergreen, fairly fast growing, reasonably easy to manage, I usually suggest Berberis. There are several species/varieties you can choose from. They usually have pretty flowers, then berries (edible, but you need to choose carefully if you want palatability), can be hacked back hard as you like if you let them grow too much, and the central stem is fairly thin (unlike laurel) allowing a fairly thin hedge to be practical. You can also choose varieties with purple leaves. Escallonia would also be a common choice in your climate.

I have just found this Griselinia littoralis PFAF Plant Database which says it does often regrow when frosted. It also says it survives down to about -10. So if it was never anything like -10 where you are, then frost might be the wrong answer.