About a month ago I planted two of these. Both now seem dead as the leaves are brown. Any hope or treatment for them?

On 14/07/2013 15:40, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Sun, 14 Jul 2013 15:07:12 +0200, Contessa
wrote:


About a month ago I planted two of these. Both now seem dead as the
leaves are brown. Any hope or treatment for them?

IME ceanothus are not long-lived, but assuming it was newly bought
from a garden centre, it shouldn't have popped its clogs yet. The
weather has been dry over the last few weeks and is especially hot
ATM. Did you water it a) in its pot before you planted it b) when you
planted it and c) have you watered it since?

A way to see it it's still alive is to scratch the bark of a twig with
your thumbnail. If the wood just under the bark is green, it's still
alive. If not, try scratching another spot a bit further down the
stem.

It should have had a good soak in a bucket of water before planting then
every couple of days a good bucket of water in the evening for each
plant so that the water soaks down to the roots at the bottom.
Messing about with a watering can with a rose on it is the worst thing
that a person can do in this weather.

In article , david@abacus-
nurseries.co.uk says...

On 14/07/2013 15:40, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Sun, 14 Jul 2013 15:07:12 +0200, Contessa
wrote:


About a month ago I planted two of these. Both now seem dead as the
leaves are brown. Any hope or treatment for them?

IME ceanothus are not long-lived, but assuming it was newly bought
from a garden centre, it shouldn't have popped its clogs yet. The
weather has been dry over the last few weeks and is especially hot
ATM. Did you water it a) in its pot before you planted it b) when you
planted it and c) have you watered it since?

A way to see it it's still alive is to scratch the bark of a twig with
your thumbnail. If the wood just under the bark is green, it's still
alive. If not, try scratching another spot a bit further down the
stem.

It should have had a good soak in a bucket of water before planting then
every couple of days a good bucket of water in the evening for each
plant so that the water soaks down to the roots at the bottom.
Messing about with a watering can with a rose on it is the worst thing
that a person can do in this weather.

Another useful tip, is to dig the planting hole (set the soil aside)
then completely fill the hole with water. Wait until the water has all
soaked away then proceed with planting.

Janet

On 14/07/2013 17:02, Janet wrote:
In article , david@abacus-
nurseries.co.uk says...

On 14/07/2013 15:40, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Sun, 14 Jul 2013 15:07:12 +0200, Contessa
wrote:


About a month ago I planted two of these. Both now seem dead as the
leaves are brown. Any hope or treatment for them?

IME ceanothus are not long-lived, but assuming it was newly bought
from a garden centre, it shouldn't have popped its clogs yet. The
weather has been dry over the last few weeks and is especially hot
ATM. Did you water it a) in its pot before you planted it b) when you
planted it and c) have you watered it since?

A way to see it it's still alive is to scratch the bark of a twig with
your thumbnail. If the wood just under the bark is green, it's still
alive. If not, try scratching another spot a bit further down the
stem.

It should have had a good soak in a bucket of water before planting then
every couple of days a good bucket of water in the evening for each
plant so that the water soaks down to the roots at the bottom.
Messing about with a watering can with a rose on it is the worst thing
that a person can do in this weather.

Another useful tip, is to dig the planting hole (set the soil aside)
then completely fill the hole with water. Wait until the water has all
soaked away then proceed with planting.

Janet

That does depend on your soil.
I saw that done in a new garden, the soil was almost pure clay and it
took a couple of days for the water to go.
I don't like planting into soggy soil. I'd leave it for a few hours
after soaking before planting, then I would water again using a bucket.

On 2013-07-15 00:20:40 +0100, David Hill said:

On 14/07/2013 17:02, Janet wrote:
In article , david@abacus-
nurseries.co.uk says...

On 14/07/2013 15:40, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Sun, 14 Jul 2013 15:07:12 +0200, Contessa
wrote:


About a month ago I planted two of these. Both now seem dead as the
leaves are brown. Any hope or treatment for them?

IME ceanothus are not long-lived, but assuming it was newly bought
from a garden centre, it shouldn't have popped its clogs yet. The
weather has been dry over the last few weeks and is especially hot
ATM. Did you water it a) in its pot before you planted it b) when you
planted it and c) have you watered it since?

A way to see it it's still alive is to scratch the bark of a twig with
your thumbnail. If the wood just under the bark is green, it's still
alive. If not, try scratching another spot a bit further down the
stem.

It should have had a good soak in a bucket of water before planting then
every couple of days a good bucket of water in the evening for each
plant so that the water soaks down to the roots at the bottom.
Messing about with a watering can with a rose on it is the worst thing
that a person can do in this weather.

Another useful tip, is to dig the planting hole (set the soil aside)
then completely fill the hole with water. Wait until the water has all
soaked away then proceed with planting.

Janet

That does depend on your soil.
I saw that done in a new garden, the soil was almost pure clay and it
took a couple of days for the water to go.
I don't like planting into soggy soil. I'd leave it for a few hours
after soaking before planting, then I would water again using a bucket.

Another possibility is to put a length of pipe down into the soil
beside the newly planted shrub or tree and direct the hose through
that. If there's a lot of other mature planting in the area, it means
that the new plant gets the water direct to its roots and doesn't have
to share it with things that are fending for themselves. But I agree
that this is almost certainly lack of watering in hot weather. Usually,
we seem to be encouraging people not to over-water but it is a fact
that newly planted shrubs, trees, hedges all need a good deal of water
while establishing themselves and especially in dry weather.
--

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

On 14/07/2013 15:40, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Sun, 14 Jul 2013 15:07:12 +0200, Contessa
wrote:


About a month ago I planted two of these. Both now seem dead as the
leaves are brown. Any hope or treatment for them?

IME ceanothus are not long-lived,

Not IME. They may not make 100, but 30 years shouldn't be beyond them.
I had C.'Zanzibar' going for 14 years, through some of the hottest
summers and coldest winters, and it also survived being pulled over and
half out of the ground by wet snow. As it's variegated, it might
possibly be considered weaker than a normal ceanothus. When I moved and
left it behind it was about 4 metres high and 3 across.

And it is not unusual to see 5 - 6m or even higher bushes is some of the
bigger NGS (and other) gardens. Although, of course, it would depend
where you are. I don't know how well they'd get on in the colder areas
of the UK.

--

Jeff

In article ,
Jeff Layman wrote:
On 14/07/2013 15:40, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Sun, 14 Jul 2013 15:07:12 +0200, Contessa
wrote:

About a month ago I planted two of these. Both now seem dead as the
leaves are brown. Any hope or treatment for them?

IME ceanothus are not long-lived,

Not IME. They may not make 100, but 30 years shouldn't be beyond them.
I had C.'Zanzibar' going for 14 years, through some of the hottest
summers and coldest winters, and it also survived being pulled over and
half out of the ground by wet snow. As it's variegated, it might
possibly be considered weaker than a normal ceanothus. When I moved and
left it behind it was about 4 metres high and 3 across.

And it is not unusual to see 5 - 6m or even higher bushes is some of the
bigger NGS (and other) gardens. Although, of course, it would depend
where you are. I don't know how well they'd get on in the colder areas
of the UK.

It isn't just the cold, but the wet, and the local fungi. A lot
of such plants die from root-rot, and that can happen in a few
years or after many decades. I had to get rid of mine because it
got too big for the location, and they don't respond well to hard
pruning, but I wouldn't have expected a long life.

This is because, despite my soil being 60% sand and being in one
of the drier parts of the country, thyme, rosemary, sage etc. are
all short-lived. I have also lost quite a few unrelated plants
after a few years, for the same reason, including buddleia.

So the fact that it's short-lived for some people and long-lived
for others, with no apparent reason, doesn't surprise me.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

"Jeff Layman" wrote in message
...

(snip)
IME ceanothus are not long-lived,
Not IME. They may not make 100, but 30 years shouldn't be beyond them. I
had C.'Zanzibar' going for 14 years, through some of the hottest summers
and coldest winters, and it also survived being pulled over and half out
of the ground by wet snow. As it's variegated, it might possibly be
considered weaker than a normal ceanothus. When I moved and left it
behind it was about 4 metres high and 3 across.

And it is not unusual to see 5 - 6m or even higher bushes is some of the
bigger NGS (and other) gardens. Although, of course, it would depend
where you are. I don't know how well they'd get on in the colder areas of
the UK.

I have two here which are more than ten years old and they cope fine with
the winter cold (down to -20C). they are however against a wall, so remain
quite dry in the winter.

Phil
Northern Highlands of Scotland

In article ,
says...

"Jeff Layman" wrote in message
...

(snip)
IME ceanothus are not long-lived,
Not IME. They may not make 100, but 30 years shouldn't be beyond them. I
had C.'Zanzibar' going for 14 years, through some of the hottest summers
and coldest winters, and it also survived being pulled over and half out
of the ground by wet snow. As it's variegated, it might possibly be
considered weaker than a normal ceanothus. When I moved and left it
behind it was about 4 metres high and 3 across.

And it is not unusual to see 5 - 6m or even higher bushes is some of the
bigger NGS (and other) gardens. Although, of course, it would depend
where you are. I don't know how well they'd get on in the colder areas of
the UK.

I have two here which are more than ten years old and they cope fine with
the winter cold (down to -20C). they are however against a wall, so remain
quite dry in the winter.

Phil
Northern Highlands of Scotland

I've got a 10 yr old one in the open, northfacing garden in the soggy
west coast of Scotland. Much warmer in winter than Phil but wetter and
seriously windy.
It's 8 ft high and wide and absolutely smothered in flowers this
summer (and bumble bees).

Easy to grow from cuttings.. I had a fish-box of them in pots to sell
at recent garden opening and they were gone within minutes.

Janet. (Isle of Arran)

Thank you for your reply.
Yes, I did water it before, during and after planting.
I hadn't heard of the bark scratching test but I'll do it and report back.

Thanks for your reply. Yes it did have a good soack in a bucket before planting. I water with a hosepipe but perhaps this doesn't amount to a bucketful.

Thanks for that tip-will try it with the next new plant.

Thanks for another reply. The soil is quite heavy clay so perhaps I won't do that after all!

Thanks for your reply. There aren't really any established shrubs there as the new plants are in an unloved border that we've finally tried to sort out. There are about ten new plants and shrubs in there now and the others seem OK.

I've just scratched the bark and the wood underneath is green! So, I guess it just needs a lot more water.

I'm intending to move back to down Cornwall soon (if I can sell my house) and hope I have more success with gardening then!