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Help- old tree looking poorly

FledglingCottageGardenerFledglingCottageGardener Posts: 26
edited May 2022 in Problem solving
This tree is in our new front garden. I do not know what it is (some type of bay/laurel???) but it looks rather poorly.

I have seen old pictures of the house where the branches/leaves came right down to the ground like a huge bush so I guess it has been hacked around a lot at some point. Not very recently as it looked like this when we first viewed the house in October.

There does appear to be some new growth but also these spots and the tree just looks droopy and unhappy. Is there anything that I can do to help it? I am guessing that it is pretty old so would be a shame to lose it.

Posts

  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    Hello @FledglingCottageGardener, you don't say where you are but we have had a very dry spring and lots of plants are now showing signs of drought. You could try running a hose on it for an hour or two and see if it perks up.
    No doubt other posters will have more advice.
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • FledglingCottageGardenerFledglingCottageGardener Posts: 26
    @Lizzie27 not too far from you by the looks of it- we are in North Dorset.
    I had assumed that it would have very deep roots so not be affected by the lack of rain, but I am very new to this so maybe I assumed wrong!
  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Posts: 8,328
    I wonder if that's a holm oak (Quercus ilex)?  They get damaged by a leaf miner, which might explain the brown patches...
    Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    Hope not @Liriodendron, one very old 70ft-100ft one near us blew down in one of the storms took out the owners fence and made an enormous mess across the road!
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Posts: 8,328
    I know they can get enormous (and live a very long time...) @Lizzie27 - but this tree, whatever it is, appears to have been regularly pruned, probably with hedge cutters.  I think it could be kept manageable by carrying on with the pruning if the OP likes it...

    I agree with the need for lots of water though, whatever!
    Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
  • steephillsteephill Posts: 2,841
    Not all trees have deep roots, many have wide shallow roots as can be seen when storms uproot them.  There is very little you can do to help though as applying pesticides/fungicides is no longer an option. However most large mature trees like yours can withstand attacks by many pests and diseases without any intervention by humans.
  • Arthur1Arthur1 Posts: 542
    Looks like an evergreen oak. They can be clipped as a formal hedge.
  • didywdidyw Posts: 3,573
    Nothing to add on the tree (except to say that often the lower limbs of large shrubs are removed to create a trunk as they grow larger), but your new home looks lovely. That red tiled building looks as if it is from a painting!
    Gardening in East Suffolk on dry sandy soil.
  • FledglingCottageGardenerFledglingCottageGardener Posts: 26
    @didyw thank you. Our new home is lovely, it needs a lot of work doing to it but we are very lucky to have found it.
    However, don’t zoom in too much on that border will you. I have another thread on here about the weeds in it. It is absolutely full of ground elder, green alkanet, nettles, giant thistles etc etc. It was obviously a much loved garden once but after the house was unoccupied for nearly two years, the weeds have well and truly taken over.
    So much for the work that needs doing to the house- the garden is coming first!
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