I still can’t believe the fabulous weather we are having. Not one day goes past that isn’t ideal for doing something in the garden. This week I have made a start on pruning.
CUTTING BACK
I haven’t let the recent cold stop me from cutting back shrubs. I tackled a couple of very overgrown hydrangeas and chopped off all of the old mophead flowers, much to the astonishment of a visitor, who thought spring was a better time to do this. I reckon that the new growth will be tough enough to cope with the temperate weather that global warming is throwing at us and it ought to think itself lucky that it isn’t under five feet of snow… those were the days…..
I am carrying on the shrub maintenance and ventured out to see an Escallonia hedge in a friend’s garden. The hedge is having a few problems, which are thankfully nothing to do with me pruning it last year. Some of the plants have lost a lot of leaves and the remaining foliage is looking very brown...”What can I do?” asks Ruth as we survey the problem…
ESCALLONIA PROBLEMS
The hedge, which is the small leaved variety, is about 6 years old and it is not unusual for the leaves of this type of Escallonia to blacken and shed in winter, especially if it received a touch of freezing breezes. “It never happened before,” Ruth says. The hedge is now taller now and catches more wind, and something may have changed around it too so it is important to look around to see what has been going on around it. have sheds or walls being removed? Have the roots been disturbed? Are sheep getting in? There doesn’t seem to be anything different, so it must be something else.
CUTTING BACK
I haven’t let the recent cold stop me from cutting back shrubs. I tackled a couple of very overgrown hydrangeas and chopped off all of the old mophead flowers, much to the astonishment of a visitor, who thought spring was a better time to do this. I reckon that the new growth will be tough enough to cope with the temperate weather that global warming is throwing at us and it ought to think itself lucky that it isn’t under five feet of snow… those were the days…..
I am carrying on the shrub maintenance and ventured out to see an Escallonia hedge in a friend’s garden. The hedge is having a few problems, which are thankfully nothing to do with me pruning it last year. Some of the plants have lost a lot of leaves and the remaining foliage is looking very brown...”What can I do?” asks Ruth as we survey the problem…
ESCALLONIA PROBLEMS
The hedge, which is the small leaved variety, is about 6 years old and it is not unusual for the leaves of this type of Escallonia to blacken and shed in winter, especially if it received a touch of freezing breezes. “It never happened before,” Ruth says. The hedge is now taller now and catches more wind, and something may have changed around it too so it is important to look around to see what has been going on around it. have sheds or walls being removed? Have the roots been disturbed? Are sheep getting in? There doesn’t seem to be anything different, so it must be something else.
A FEW SUGGESTIONS
Escallonia is generally disease and virus free, but fungal leaf spot can be a problem, causing total leaf loss in the case of already weakened plants. So I am here to make a few suggestions to give the shrubs a new lease of life. I will start with my 6-step plan for a better hedge:
Step 1: I cut half way up one of the main trunks of the Escallonia plant and lightly scrape the surface bark to inspect for life, in the form of green or white tissue with traces of sap. Step 2: It looks good, so I give the affected hedging plants a reduction in height and width by approx a quarter, (or until I cut into sappy wood).
Step 3: This job is usually done at the end of March/early April, but in warm, dry spells it can be done earlier. When pruning the Escallonia plants, it’s important to make sure that the cuts are clean without ragged edges. Disease is more rampant on poorly pruned specimens, especially if you are doing this early like I am.
Update: February 2010 and the escallonia is fit and healthy. I was wondering if it was sickly because the shrub was next to a leylandii hedge, doesn't look like it.......Step 4: To prevent disease transfer between plants, I wipe down the pruners with alcohol or surgical spirit before and after pruning.
Step 5: Enforce strict garden hygiene around the Escallonia. There are a lot dead leaves at the base of the hedge. I would normally leave these to rot down and give the hedge a bit of a feed but in this case I rake them out and destroy these a safe distance away by burning. Any dead or badly damaged leaves on the plants will need to be taken out and destroyed as well. Fungal spores may exist on these dead or damaged leaves and spread the disease through wind and rain dispersal.
Step 6: An Escallonia plant under stress will suffer more from the effects of diseases and viruses. The hedge will need to go through a de-stressing period by keeping them well watered in dry spells and keeping them fed throughout the growing season. I suggest to Ruth to apply pelleted chicken manure once a season; this should be adequate in her light open soil but it is not effective in heavy, sticky clay soils. In that case, we would need to apply a foliar feed such as Phostrogen or Miracle-gro when the leaves return. For now though I suggest to Ruth that the hedge can be given a shake of fertiliser for leafy hedges to promote new leafing.
Give your escallonia the best start. Check out the best planting methods for bare rooted and container plants
SIT BACK AND WAIT
“All you have to do now, Ruth, is to sit back and wait for new leaves to come. If none have appeared by late summer, I'm sorry but you should remove the affected plants and replace with something other than Escallonia…. resistant to whatever the Escallonia died from.”
It’s not the news that Ruth wants to hear but I’m sure it won’t come to that if the hedge is looked after.
Give your escallonia the best start. Check out the best planting methods for bare rooted and container plants
SIT BACK AND WAIT
“All you have to do now, Ruth, is to sit back and wait for new leaves to come. If none have appeared by late summer, I'm sorry but you should remove the affected plants and replace with something other than Escallonia…. resistant to whatever the Escallonia died from.”
It’s not the news that Ruth wants to hear but I’m sure it won’t come to that if the hedge is looked after.
Has the frost killed off the young shoots of the escallonia hedge? Check out the latest addition
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