Don't know if any can explain a problem I've had with my hedging
I am not a gardening expert by any means so I'll first of all describe the
hedge I have, it is a small green leafed and sometimes has little pink
flowers and a fragrant smell. The problem I have is although the hedges (I
have three) have been growing happily for 30 years or more over the last
three winters they have lost their leaves and looked dead only to come back
to life again in springtime and looking healthy again. Now if they had
always done this I wouldn't worry but they always used to keep their leaves
all year round.
Is this a problem connected to the 'global warming' thing or is it old age
creeping on (the hedge not me!).
When it first happened I was all for chopping down and replacing but the
fact it resurrects itself has saved it so far
Sorry about the vague description I'll photograph and post if it helps.

H

"Sacha" wrote in message ...

On 2011-05-21 19:04:35 +0100, "Harry D" said:

Don't know if any can explain a problem I've had with my hedging
I am not a gardening expert by any means so I'll first of all describe the
hedge I have, it is a small green leafed and sometimes has little pink
flowers and a fragrant smell. The problem I have is although the hedges (I
have three) have been growing happily for 30 years or more over the last
three winters they have lost their leaves and looked dead only to come
back to life again in springtime and looking healthy again. Now if they
had always done this I wouldn't worry but they always used to keep their
leaves all year round.
Is this a problem connected to the 'global warming' thing or is it old age
creeping on (the hedge not me!).
When it first happened I was all for chopping down and replacing but the
fact it resurrects itself has saved it so far
Sorry about the vague description I'll photograph and post if it helps.

H

Try looking up Escallonia to see if it's familiar. If it is that and
depending on where you live it may be losing its leaves because of
recent cold winters.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon

Yes, it does appear to be Escallonia and I've always kept them at around 5'
in height and trimmed a couple of times a year. Thank you very much for the
advice I will try the suggestions and hope for the best! It just seemed
strange that they evolved from evergreen to deciduous over 3 years and are
now looking fine again.
We live in the deep south of England so our winters are probably as good as
you're going to get in this country
I think one of the hedges must be a different variety of Escallonia as it
has a much stronger scent and the leaves feel quite 'sticky', more so than
the other two, and this one doesn't die off to the same extent.

Thanks again

Not necessarily. In summer the warmth "contours" run (to a first approximation) east-west, so you get steadily cooler as you go north. But in mid winter the contours run roughly north-south, so the west of the country is warmer than the east. If your bit of the deep south is, say, Kent, then your lowest winter temperatures are going to be lower than places on the W coast which are a good deal more north - think of the famous gardens at Inverewe in Scotland, for example.

What really makes it more difficult to grow things in the north (annual things, rather than hedges) is the length of the growing season, which can be a full two months less than in the south. So it's always a balance - you can't sow stuff as early as in the south, but you have to try to sow it early because your growing season will end earlier.

"Sacha" wrote in message
...
On 2011-05-22 10:11:23 +0100, "Harry D" said:

"Sacha" wrote in message ...

On 2011-05-21 19:04:35 +0100, "Harry D" said:

Don't know if any can explain a problem I've had with my hedging
I am not a gardening expert by any means so I'll first of all describe
the hedge I have, it is a small green leafed and sometimes has little
pink flowers and a fragrant smell. The problem I have is although the
hedges (I have three) have been growing happily for 30 years or more
over the last three winters they have lost their leaves and looked dead
only to come back to life again in springtime and looking healthy again.
Now if they had always done this I wouldn't worry but they always used
to keep their leaves all year round.
Is this a problem connected to the 'global warming' thing or is it old
age creeping on (the hedge not me!).
When it first happened I was all for chopping down and replacing but the
fact it resurrects itself has saved it so far
Sorry about the vague description I'll photograph and post if it helps.

H

Try looking up Escallonia to see if it's familiar. If it is that and
depending on where you live it may be losing its leaves because of
recent cold winters.

--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon

Yes, it does appear to be Escallonia and I've always kept them at around
5' in height and trimmed a couple of times a year. Thank you very much for
the advice I will try the suggestions and hope for the best! It just
seemed strange that they evolved from evergreen to deciduous over 3 years
and are now looking fine again.
We live in the deep south of England so our winters are probably as good
as you're going to get in this country
I think one of the hedges must be a different variety of Escallonia as it
has a much stronger scent and the leaves feel quite 'sticky', more so than
the other two, and this one doesn't die off to the same extent.

Thanks again
--

There's one called E. rubra which has sticky leaves that have a sort of
resin-like scent to them. As Jake says, it may just be gettiing old
and/or it could be the much harder winter last season. It might be a good
idea not to chop it at all this year or at least, very lightly. The last
few winters have had some harsher periods than the milder, wetter winters
we're used to down here so leaving your plant alone might be a good idea.
In a greenhouse we thought we'd lost a rather precious Passiflora because
someone trimmed it back much too hard and then we had last winter.
Luckily, it has come back but it's taken its time about it.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon



I suspect two things are happening to your hedge, one is cold, its been
colder than usual the last 3 winters and Escallonia is a coastal hedging
plant and doesn't like it cold for too long.

The second problem is a newish fungal disease that causes leaf loss and has
been spreading up from west Cornwall, I am afraid once it arrives all
attempts to get the plants to look good ends and you have to grub them out,
if its the former all will be well by June if the later they will continue
to look poorly. You can try cutting them hard back clearing all the debris
and then feeding and watering


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