Help - half my garden died over the winter

Amanda65

Hi all

I am probably the most un-greenfngered MSe'er although try really hard to enjoy gardening but sadly the 'bug' hasn't yet bitten I do however like my garden looking nice and have gone out there today to do a bit of a winter tidy up, only to find that the right hand side of my garden appears to have died over the winter :eek::eek:

There is a border with about 8 conifers that are all brown and dry, a bushy thing that I am unable to identify which has died and a dead hydrangea. The lawn and border / trees on the left hand side are all fine.

Any clues as to what it might be please ??????

gazza975526570

Amanda65 wrote: »

Any clues as to what it might be please ??????

Probably just the coldest winter in 3 years.

Is the side thats ok more sheltered/closed to a wall?

Its just one of those things (i lost some conifers too)

Gives you a chance to plant somwthing new

savemoney

Your not alone. I lost a fair few plants this year and a established bush by looks of it. I am hoping some plants may just spring up

Mean time taken some cuttings in my electric propagator to try and save some money on new plants

knithryn

Your neighbour on that side hasn't been doing anything odd, have they? Like using strong weedkiller on their side of the fence which will have affected your plants?
It might also be useful to know if this is a west, east, north or south side, and your location (I haven't checked your profile to see where you are yet) to see if it might be chilly winds from one direction. This will also affect what plants you should consider as replacements.
It is, however, as stated in an earlier post, an opportunity to try some new plants...

PS Hydrangeas are often a bit bare looking at this time of year anyway. Scratch the bark a little, if it's green underneath then it's still alive!

peachespeaches

Leave them a bit to see if anything sprouts from the base. As the person above says, the hydrangea will look dead at the moment but it will start to sprout again soon hopefully, then you can cut it back or at least cut the dead heads off. Many fuchsias die down to ground in winter and sprout from the base come spring. Most of the shrubs in my garden are pretty bare apart from the buddleia and the holly. Dont get rid until youre absolutely sure. I had some lupins in pots which i forgot about and thought they would be done for, but during the last week there has been new shoots from the base.

Just noticed you mentioned conifers, you may well have lost these, or at least they may show permanent signs of frost damage. Hang fire though.

Sometimes, when there is a freeze, then we get early morning sun, the plants which face east suffer most as they go through a freeze thaw freeze thing too rapidly, whereas the stuff that gets no sun may actually do better as it stays at a constantly lower temperature.

Amanda65

Thanks everyone.

You're right - the hydrangea is still alive :j

The conifers are completely brown and the branches are mostly brittle and when you touch them all the brown needles just fall off However the middle of the trees, although still brown, do have what appears to be alive branches when you snap them in half.

We are in Surrey and the garden in south facing and this side of conifers is on the right looking from the house down the garden. The trees are against a wooden fence, which has a high wire fence behind that as next door is a school playground. I can't therefore imagine anything could have been sprayed on them.

So is there anything we can do other than remove the trees and re-plant something else ? OH is adament that he doesn't want to just look out on a fence, but I don't really want to look out on dead trees

Escal

Don't be in too much of a rush. The conifers might come back once the weather warms up a bit. They do drop needles sometimes and although this exposes the inner, dead material, a new flush of growth might see them looking fine again.

Mortal

I agree...also, I wouldn't be in a hurry to cut off the hydranger heads just yet. If we have another hard frost, it'll kill off the newly emerging buds

Amanda65

Mortal wrote: »

also, I wouldn't be in a hurry to cut off the hydranger heads just yet. If we have another hard frost, it'll kill off the newly emerging buds

Ooops - me and my secateurs were a bit snip happy so the dead heads have all gone

Mortal

You could always chuck over a bit of fleece if a hard frost is forecast

peachespeaches

Mortal wrote: »

I agree...also, I wouldn't be in a hurry to cut off the hydranger heads just yet. If we have another hard frost, it'll kill off the newly emerging buds

Dont worry Amanda, I always do it round this time of year and havent had any probs.