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Black pearl and others dead or alive

tomdexterscottMoEpri-ttomdexterscottMoEpri-t Posts: 21
in Problem solving
Hello,

For a couple of years I have been successfully cutting the flower spikes and then neatening the euphorbia with great success that it comes back tenfold. 

However this year I got a gardener. Cut a long story short. It seems that he just strimmered the entire garden. Including the the black pearl. It did have leafs before Christmas but now just resembles sticks in the ground. Will this come up or has he killed it. As normally by now it started to show life and new stems appear. 

Also, he decided to cut some of my shrubs. No idea why, one of the evergreens has now lost all leafs and again resembles sticks. Some of which are brittle. When I scratch, there is green beneather the bark. 

Also he hacked my white angel to an inch of its life, this doesn't look like it will bounce back. 

Pics attached. Any recommendations and advice welcome. Debating on taking them out and planting new. 

Thanks. 


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Posts

  • PlantmindedPlantminded Posts: 3,580
    I'm not familiar with the White Angel but your Euphorbia and Teucrium should recover, just give them time.  The Euphorbia species you have needs to have all the last year's stems that have flowered reduced to ground level in early autumn, leaving the next year's flowering stems as buds at the base of the plant.  There's still some foliage there so I'm hopeful for you, although you probably won't get flowers this year.  You could tidy any of the blackened stems up by pruning them to ground level now.  For your Teucrium, I'd tidy the plant up by reducing the stems to about  the same height and see if it recovers.  Good luck and have a stern word with your gardener!
    Wirral. Sandy, free draining soil.


  • tomdexterscottMoEpri-ttomdexterscottMoEpri-t Posts: 21
    The gardener won't be coming back. Only got him in as I had done my front and back and got a lot of shrubs and prenials that I didn't know when to cut or prune or how much. Wished I had bothered. Every plant he hacked at. 

    Thanks. Some others have said that. So I have cut down to ground and put mulch around. Hoping they come back. Esp the black pearl as I love that plant. 
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    edited March 2022
    Not a gardener then @tomdexterscottMoEpri-t :/
    The damage these people do. I hope the other evergreens etc are ok.  If he has a 'face' on social media, make sure you leave a review so that others can avoid him.

    The Euphorbia will be fine - eventually, a said, and it has some new growth. I haven't grown Teucrium for along time so can't be sure of that.
    The names you've given are just the varieties. Can you clarify what  type of plant the white angel one is? If it's the plant in the 1st pic, it might be a Senecio of some kind. They can be iffy anyway, so that might not be ok, but it can depend on your location and climate etc.
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    How long have you had the Senecio in your garden?   It wouldn’t survive a winter in my area,  it may have died anyway. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    A lot of people claiming to be gardeners are really only grounds maintenance. Safe on lawns and hedges and not a lot else.  They cut everything in to a lollipop neat shape and think thats OK its tidy. Every year my friends gardener butchers her apple tree in winter. The following summer it throws out lots of water shoots. Does he prune them at the right time to give flower buds? No . He waits until winter and then butchers it again.
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    @Lyn I was interested to read that this Senecio is not even hardy in Devon.
    Last year my local Garden Centres were full of them. I think it is very unlikely that many have survived and those that have are a sorry sight. It does make me cross they are expensive to buy and are classed as perennials. 
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    Teucrium Fruiticans is a dense, shrubby, very drought-tolerant Mediterranean shrub that here thrives on neglect, in poor, rocky soil with minimal water. It can take a good hacking back, so no worries there, but I wonder if it might not do better in the gravelly soil in the raised bed behind the euphorbia? The soil it’s in looks quite rich and damp. If it was doing fine before where it currently is, however, fine. They are pretty adaptable.
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I wouldn't be surprised if they were on sale in garden centres here @GardenerSuze.
    It's as bad as the bedding plants we were talking about the other day.
    I expect with those, again,  many people will assume it's something they're doing wrong.
    @Lyn is at height in Devon though, which can make a difference. Perhaps at lower level they might be ok there.
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    It is one of those plants that draws you in at a Garden Centre but as a gardener it screams do not buy me I am tender! Even with perfect summer growing conditions it can loose it's white leaf colour and turn green
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    @Fairygirl It is one of those plants that draws you in at a Garden Centre but as a gardener it screams do not buy me I am tender! Even with perfect summer growing conditions it can loose it's white leaf colour and turn green when it rains!
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
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