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Gardening advice needed


Gemonimo

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After the -13 temperatures recently I was not surprised to find a whole bunch of my plants looking rather sad - brown leaves but with stalks still green.  Should I drastically cut them back or will new green leaves appear after the brown ones drop off?  The plants in question are: Escallonia, Cistus, Spirea, Oleander and a few others.  My Choysia is looking rather 'burnt' but remarkably my Lavatera is looking quite perky.

Thanks for your advice.

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Hang on before you make any drastic decisions; plants that look completely dead can sprout again from buds currently not visible, both above and below ground.

We have a garden planted in stages over the last the years and as a garden designer you can imagine there are some rather nice things here (dept 36); many are looking very rough at the moment but its far too early to panic: time will tell.

Interestingly, some species that I thought would never survive look very healthy (Choisya Aztec Pearl, a Helichysum grown from a cutting last year) while others I would imagine would be fine are knocking on Death's door ( Azalea japonica, Camellia).

I am always pushing my luck growing plants that are on the limits of hardiness;o every-so-often Nature likes to remind me who's boss!

Colin Elliott

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Well I guess I'll just have to be patient![Www]  In addition to the frost damage, I had the stonework on the front of my house done this year and the fabulous Pierre de Ronsard climbing rose is looking pretty grim.  I've trimmed it radically and hope it will come back as beautiful as ever.  In fact it's so beautiful, I've planted another one on the other side of the house.[:D]
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We've had the same problem, with temperatures down to -17 and a lot of newly planted trees and shrubs, I'm almost dreading spring[:(] It looks like I have lost my Hebe Veronica, my Lavetera looks really poorly as does the Honeysuckle. Last year I planted a Potato vine, it grew beautifully and draped itself across half the veranda, now it's leaves have all withered and gone dark but none of them have fallen[blink] I was thinking about pruning back as the stems are still green inside, but is it possible that it could shoot from the dead leaved areas? I would love it if it could make it to the other side of the veranda this year[:-))].

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  • 1 month later...
[quote user="Gardian"]

Yes, I was only looking at our Cistus today and it doesn't look great!  Crispy leaves etc.

As Andy says, best left for a few weeks.

[/quote]

Seven weeks on and it appears to be rising from the dead!

Four weeks ago, I decided to prune it hard back (I know that Cistus doesn't like that treatment, but it was that or ditch it). It's now sprouting like nobody's business.  It may never be the same plant again, but we'll see.

On another matter, we've noticed that the Wisteria around here appear to have suffered - ours the same, though a much younger plant.  Nowhere near the same abundance nor 'coloration' of flowering than in previous years. The hard Winter?

Following on from that, virtually no bees around.  By now, they'd normally be very busy (sorry!), but only a few sniffing around the Wisteria. I'm fearful that it's going to be a lean year and that many of the local colonies may have died out with the hard Winter.  Any thoughts from the knowledgable?    

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  • 1 month later...

Just an update on the Cistus.

It won't flower this year, but it's far from dead. In truth, the battering it got from the hard winter forced a good 'haircut' and it looks a lot better for it.

New lease of life for next year. 

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