Hoheria - killed off?
in Plants


I planted the above Hoheria early autumn last year yet I’m concerned that it hasn’t handled the winter too well.
It’s an evergreen yet as the pics show it doesn’t appear in too great shape. The leaves have browned and wilted to the point where it appears dead.
Does anyone have any experience of this or know if a spring recovery is likely? I planted a huge amount of shrubs in the autumn and all have fared well, with this the exception.
Many thanks,
Stuart
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Posts
It's only hardy to -10C which is fine here but yours may well have had a fright in recent cold spells. I would leave it be and wait and see as it may recover and show new buds and growth but patience is needed. I had a hibiscus in my last garden that wouldn't show new buds till late May/early June after some cold winters.
Assuming it does produce new shoots eventually, prune it back to just above the highest one on each stem and give it a feed. Next winter, if cold spells are forecast, give it a layer or two of horticultural fleece to give it a bit of protection.
We have a couple of Hoheria trees in our garden.Before we planted them out, we enriched the soil with ( bagged) manure and some new top soil. we also watered them well during their first season. Perhaps if you dig in some compost etc now it may help a little but I tend to agree with Obelixx in that,during this really cold snap it may have struggled being newly planted. be patient and see what happens over the next few months. By the way, our trees do occasionally lose some of their leaves but it's nothing to worry about.
I'll take on board what you say and be patient to see if it revives. It was planted in the recommended compost type back in Autumn and since posting at weekend I've applied some small tree / shrub fertiliser for new and established plants that I'm sure won't do any harm.
I'm based in NW England and it has been a bit of a ridiculous/extreme winter and I think the final sub-zero windy end to winter may have been the final straw as it was doing ok until literally a few weeks ago.
I'll keep tabs for signs of growth over the coming weeks. Fingers crossed!