I've planted a fatsia in my garden but it doesn't look at all well. The
existing leaves are yellowing and the new leave seem very floppy and brown
on the underside. The soil is clay but has a lot of compost and mulch dug in
to help aerate it which seems good enough for my rosemay. Does anyone have
any idea what the problem might be.

Thanks

Jane

In article , (Jane
Taylor) wrote:

Does anyone have
any idea what the problem might be.

I notice that that they tend to look sickly in full sun. Same applies to
Aucuba. If your Fatsia gets a decent amount of shade then it's some
other problem.

Steve Harris - Cheltenham - Real address steve AT netservs DOT com
A useful bit of gardening software at http://www.netservs.com/garden/

"Steve Harris" wrote in message
...
In article , (Jane
Taylor) wrote:

Does anyone have
any idea what the problem might be.

I notice that that they tend to look sickly in full sun. Yup. Where is it
planted? In partial or even full shade they thrive and even flower (even in
Edinburgh). They don't like full sunshine though and they do like rich soil
Rosemary on the other hand thrives in poor , dry soil in full sun.

Anne

I used the rosemary as an example to show I'd improved my clay soil enough
to keep it alive. It's only doing okay because of the amount of compost I've
dug in. The soil is clay, pretty rich and in partial shade so doesn't ever
dry out and crack. I should really move the rosemary. My lavender failed
there miserably. The fatsia is in sun some of the time and is in at least
part shade most of the day. My biggest worry was that the soil wasn't well
drained enough. It's certainly not dry.

Thanks for your help. I don't feel like it would survive a move and although
I've got a shadier spot, it's pretty dry and wouldn't be suitable. I think I
might try it in a big pot and nurture it over the next 12 months.

The message
from "Peter Green" contains these words:

The fatsia is in sun some of the time and is in at least
part shade most of the day. My biggest worry was that the soil wasn't well
drained enough. It's certainly not dry.

Thanks for your help. I don't feel like it would survive a move and although
I've got a shadier spot, it's pretty dry and wouldn't be suitable. I think I
might try it in a big pot and nurture it over the next 12 months.

Years ago we had a garden with a monster fatsia growing in a very dry
spot; it looked very decrepit but feeding and tidying dead old leaves
restored its looks and vitality. I don't think they mind dry, or moving;
they are incredibly tough.

Last winter, a neighbour who wanted to get rig of their 4ft fatsia dug
it up (badly) then offered it to me a couple of days later. I bunged it
in a hastily excavated temporary hole in the veg garden; moved it to
another because I needed to work where it was, and finally got round to
planting it properly somewhere else, a couple of weeks ago. So the poor
thing has been homeless for several months. Nevertheless it's still
alive and although the top buds died, new growth is starting lower down.

Janet.