Hoheria - killed off?
stuartroche9BEtjl5b
Posts: 3
in Plants
Hi, first time poster and I’m looking for some advice from someone far more knowledgable than me!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
0
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 don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
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!
Did your Hoheria recover? We planted one same label and size as yours in the autumn and now it looks just like your photo. Hoping it will recover, wasn’t expecting it to lose leaves as thought it was evergreen.
thanks
Laura
Pleased to say it made a full recovery. I was surprised by how strongly it bounced back and continued to grow/establish itself well over the summer, as per the attached pic taken back in Sept (tree circled in red). It’s shot up in height too, which isn’t too bad considering it looked like a dead twig at one point!
If yours follows the same pattern as mine then you’ll start to see some new buds from early spring then in no time it should be pretty lush with leaves again.
I know what you mean about expecting it be evergreen… despite a winter that hasn’t been too harsh (we’re in NW England) it’s again been subject to a bit of leaf loss over the past few months, although thankfully nothing like as bad as last year. This is the third winter it’s been through now so I suspect the more they establish the less susceptible they are to the harsher months.
Hope yours comes good - I’m sure it will!
Many thanks for taking the time to reply and the great photo too!
Pleased to hear that yours made full recovery so fingers crossed ours will too.
I will keep a look out for signs of new growth.
thanks again I feel a lot more hopeful now
kind regards
Laura