Can anyone identify this for me please ? I want to move it as it's very unhappy in dry shade under a tree. Is it the shade or the dryness or both that's doing the damage?
Probably water dripping off the tree and lying on the leaves. I have one looking the same, It was fine up to last year but the hawthorn hedge behind it has grown out too much. I will be cutting the hedge back hard in the winter, it did not get done last year. If you can move it to a more open aspect it will be happier. It will stand a fair amount of dryness. I would not move it in the next two months though, as it may get too hot and dry for it. Move it in the autumn or next March.
I am assuming it is a phormium. Are the leaves fairly soft? The dead leaves at the bottom should pull off with a good tug. When its happy it should send up flower spikes which look like spears to start off, then open out like little bunches of bananas, followed by dangly black seed pods.
You can tidy it up for the summer by cutting off all the brown bits. I would get rid of the grass infiltrating it. Really old leaves tend to lie on the ground, and I pull them off. The leaves are tough, wear good gloves, and don't attempt to shred for compost. The tough fibres get wrapped round the blade and clog it. One for the council green waste bin.
It looks a bit more like a Luzula to me, or some sort of grass/sedge. There's something about the leaf density which makes me think it's not a Phormium, and one of the leaves looks slightly ridged down the middle, like you get with Carex pendula.
I don't think I've ever bought a phormium @fidgetbones. Ill google your suggestions @KeenOnGreen. Carex sounds vaguely familiar. I'll try that one first. The seeds look sort of grassy.
Carex is the one. Thanks both😊 Checked RHS. Planted in precisely the wrong place. Couldn't have got it wronger😀
😊 reply appreciated anyway and it's an awful tangled mess under there. If anyone wants a definitive picture of weeds for dry clay shade. I can post one😉 I'm thinking of getting a phormium or or two but there seems to be an awful lot of them😯 @fidgetbones
@b3 We have three Phormium's that I recommend from the usual sludgy green ones that you see everywhere (Cream Delight, Evening Glow and Platt's Black). Platt's Black is quite a rapid grower, and as we keep them in big pots, we have to divide them almost every year. Cream Delight is quite a rapid grower, but it's in a massive pot, so not a problem. Evening Glow is much more slow growing, so is fine for pots. If you're putting them in the ground and have a reasonable amount of space, then you're fine with any of them.
Thanks @KeenOnGreen. Ive been filling a cleared bed. Ive planted some perennials and interspersed them with some annuals for this year. I'll see how the perennials go and then I'll know how much space I've got to play around with. Ill make a note of your recommendations. You make the sludgy green sound so appealing.
I've moved the carex and two rooted 'babies' (don't know technical term😊) dropped off so I've potted them up in case the main plant objects to being moved. I think I got down below the roots so it should be ok.
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Carex is the one. Thanks both😊
Checked RHS. Planted in precisely the wrong place. Couldn't have got it wronger😀
I'm thinking of getting a phormium or or two but there seems to be an awful lot of them😯
@fidgetbones
I've moved the carex and two rooted 'babies' (don't know technical term😊) dropped off so I've potted them up in case the main plant objects to being moved. I think I got down below the roots so it should be ok.