Hi @rwest78rw - thank you for your reply. Your hebes did very well to recover and that's good to hear. We're (hopefully) moving in about five/six months so perhaps when the time comes I'll do as you did and take it with me. I can only try! Thank you for getting back to me.
Hi @Mrs-B3-Southampton,-Hants; thank you for your reply. I may well wait until the frosts are over, cut it back and see what happens. As I mentioned, we're hopefully moving in the next six months so this will give me some time to see what cutting it back will do. Good to hear your hebe is ok! Thank you for getting back to me.
I will also throw in a vote for not giving up. I've got a number of hebes around the garden, all of them self-seeded, though most are from the oldest one that was responsible for lots of tiny seedlings in our gravel parking area one year. I potted them up and then when they were big enough I put them around the garden in various positions and soil types. Pretty much all of them suffered in the frost this year but I've cut the brown out and they are all sprouting again, in fact most of them already had new growth beneath the brown bits. I only trimmed them a week or so ago, being chilly up here still, but in my experience they are made of tough stuff. If you like that particular plant then you've nothing to lose by giving it a trim and waiting to see what happens
No longer newish but can't think of a new name so will remain forever newish.
Hi @Stephanie newish gardener...many thanks for your reply. You have more hebes than I have (I have two but the other one not pictured is ok) so you know your hebes! I shall perhaps wait 'til the frosts are over (hopefully not long now?! I'm in Worcestershire) then prune them back. Fingers crossed! Thank you for getting back to me.
Mine look exactly the same! Iv been blaming my husband as he put treatment on the lawn! Fingers crossed they do recover. I did scratch mine on the brown stems and they were still green underneath. So fingers crossed as they do look a sorry state
Do not give up on the Hebe shrubs. Depending on how establish the roots are, even when pruned far back, they may recover. You have to remember, the winter and spring temperatures have been very cold this year, so not a surprise with die-back. Many trees and shrubs have been slower to wake up too, so it's all still hopeful. Generally, die-back on small leaf plants tend to be difficult to recover, whilst larger leaf shrubs tend to respond better when pruned back into older wood. But, they can take over a year to spring back.
Hi @kelbel8888 - thank you for your reply and apologies for the delay in replying. I'm sorry to hear your hebes look like mine but it's encouraging that there's green when you scratch the stems. I too found green in my 'scratch test' on them, so I have some hope. Let's pray to the hebe gods! Good luck with yours; it may take a while but hopefully all is not lost.
Hi @Borderline - thank you very much for your reply. Yes, it's been a funny old winter/spring I think; I'm sure I heard that April was the frostiest April for the last sixty years?! Plus we've had so little rain (but here in Worcestershire we've now had a fair amount over the last week!); no wonder some of our plants are showing the strain. My poorly hebe has been in the ground for three years in a south-facing border and has never looked like this before. But as you say, it's been a cold old year so far, really. Thank you again for your reply and encouraging words.
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Pretty much all of them suffered in the frost this year but I've cut the brown out and they are all sprouting again, in fact most of them already had new growth beneath the brown bits. I only trimmed them a week or so ago, being chilly up here still, but in my experience they are made of tough stuff.
If you like that particular plant then you've nothing to lose by giving it a trim and waiting to see what happens