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Conifer (I think!) problem..

harriet.victoriaharriet.victoria Posts: 2
in Problem solving
Hello all! 

Firstly, I am a trying gardener. Very new to it all, so please bare with me! We bought a house that at one point the garden had lovely caring gardeners that created a wonderful garden of centre islands and borders. They were elderly and when they passed the house was taken over by a younger couple that didn't even cut the grass. When we bought from them the garden was overgrown and a bit of a handful!

We spend the last two years clearing out all the weeds and centre island because quite frankly it was too much upkeep for us personally. We want to get to a position where we have a nice lawn for the pup and nice border hedges and trees which we can easily keep on top of (probably boring for keen gardeners, but for us its just the right amount! I must prefer decorating with plant pots of colour and keeping everything else around simple and green! Especially with a dog that loves to dig up plants anyway) 

So, we removed a load of overgrown trees and hedges (full of sticky weeds and nettles) from around what I believe to be a conifer, I could be wrong - please see photos! I love this tree, it adds shade and privacy to what will be a very nice sitting area when we get round to doing it, but one side if brown and has a huge gap in it. Fortunately, its the side thats pointing a way from the house but I would like it to look nice again! Please see photos - any advice on what I can do for this tree? This side of the garden still needs a lot more work, but we are trying! 

The problem side: 



Up close: 



The good side:

Posts

  • hogweedhogweed Posts: 4,053
    Very possibly there may have been another big shrub or tree on that side which has caused the damage. Not an awful lot you can do now but you may want to plant a shrub there again to grow up and hide the brown bits!
    This may be a waste of time and effort but you could try tying together some branches on either side of the gap to sort of fill it. Like a bad comb-over! It may work or not!
    'Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement' - Helen Keller
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited June 2018
    The problem with this sort of evergreen is that once an area has gone brown it will not rejuvenate and it will remain brown  :(  Afraid your choice is to leave it as it is or take it out and replace it.

    Or, you could plant something near it that will mask the brown area ... an easily grown evergreen like a Choisya perhaps, that will grow into a mound to mask the brown area and that you can keep to a reasonable size quite easily.  



    Choisya 'Aztec Pearl'  ... pretty and with a lovely scent. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • autumngloryautumnglory Posts: 255
    It won't ever grow back in the brown parts. I'd dig a wide border around it and plant a couple of large evergreen shrubs in front of it to hide it. Something like aucuba, holly, photinia or even a camellia if you want flowers.
  • josusa47josusa47 Posts: 3,530
    Or plant a climber such as clematis or honeysuckle that will scramble through it.
  • harriet.victoriaharriet.victoria Posts: 2
    Dovefromabove said:
    The problem with this sort of evergreen is that once an area has gone brown it will not rejuvenate and it will remain brown  :(  Afraid your choice is to leave it as it is or take it out and replace it.

    Or, you could plant something near it that will mask the brown area ... an easily grown evergreen like a Choisya perhaps, that will grow into a mound to mask the brown area and that you can keep to a reasonable size quite easily.  



    Choisya 'Aztec Pearl'  ... pretty and with a lovely scent. 
    Oh I have something like this in my garden already - well slightly different (picture attached) it did flower for a couple of weeks but they've gone now but it was so pretty when it flowered. Is the attached a Choisya?? I'd love to have another one to cover the gap! I'm sad I can't recover it, but at least I have a positive idea for covering it now! 



  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Yes, that's a Choisya 'Sundance' 

    https://www.crocus.co.uk/plants/_/choisya-ternata-sundance-lich/classid.824/ 


    Yay! hi5  You're turning into a gardener  :D

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • glasgowdanglasgowdan Posts: 632
    You could remove all the low branches to the top of the dead section to leave a bare trunk. It'd look different, but ok. 
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