My gardener planted these 4 bays for me last summer. The leaves have browned on all, more so on some. There is some greenery left. The bark on all of the trees is coming away from the main stem, not sure if that's related.
We have heavy soil here, but the front beds where they're planted are full of top soil and we added in sand for drainage and compost. The garden is north facing so the bed closest to the garage on the right receives only afternoon sun.
Any help much appreciated as what can I do to help them survive? 🙏🌱
Sadly you have learned a really expensive lesson. Your bay trees are comparatively large mature trees as bay are fairly slow growing, so to get them to the size of yours will have taken several years of care and cultivation to get them to the size and shape they are. Which is why they are so expensive. It is always difficult to keep trees like yours happy as they need a huge amount of water during hot spells such as we had last year. The wide variations in temperatures during 2022 caused a great many plants stress and has killed many of them. Having said that, I would wait until at least May/June before writing your trees off as bay are amazingly tough. If you are prepared to put a lot of effort into nursing your bay they "might" show new growth if you wait a bit longer. They grow wild in locations and soil no one would believe they could survive, ie., along the exposed coastal path in Cornwall, on the tops of cliffs with hardly any soil but with a fairly plentiful supply of rain water.(Having said that, we still have a hose pipe ban). I have seen magnificent specimens growing untended for years, in heavy Thames Valley clay soil in the middle of Reading. What you have to remember is lollipop shaping cuts most of the leaves in half and most of the branches off, which means the plant has to fight for its life 5 times harder than a plant which has been allowed to keep it foliage and full supply of branches and a full root run not constricted in a small box with a minimum of soil. Trees and plants are living things. I would not give up on them yet, but I am a sucker for a challenge and have a lot of patience where plants are concerned . The wish for an instant impact garden is often very tempting to people who are not experienced in gardening but they do not realise just how much work has to go into supporting large specimens of trees and shrubs, like gallons of water daily, to support the huge leaf areas and bark. If you trees do survive they will be very sorry specimens and not look anything like they did when you first planted them. It would take a few years for them to recover fully, not with feeding necessarily, but judicious shaping, watering and patience. Or you can just bite the bullet, bin them and start from fresh with a different choice of plants. Looking at your pics., your garden is in a very rural location and you are trying to impose a very formal design into it. Perhaps a softer look, such as your neighbour has, might be an option as I am guessing you might have to deal with an exposed windy site? A lot of people think having regimented layouts means an easier garden to look after but it actually means much more work to keep it looking pristine. Good luck with your decision of what to do, come back to the forum if you have any more queries, there is always someone around who can make suggestions etc.
Just a note for the record: Shaping a bay is not just a quick hedge cutting shears job (electric/motor even). But a slow, studied secatuer pruning. No cut leaves.
I have 4 mopheada that take me lots of mindfulness hours. I also have another 3 in the open garden, plus spires, which I trim with an electric hedge cutter. Cut leaves yes, but little browning. Like Cherry Laurels, which do go brown, you either go for quick and nasty or craft and art.
Back to bark splitting. This uusually needs not just frost, but frost at the time of rising sap. Your stem wounds may be quite old.
location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand. "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
It's been 2 months since I reached out for advice on my bay trees. Despite spring arriving, the bays sadly look worse.
Any advice - what evergreen could replace the bays with?
Half of the rosemary has almost certainly died, the other half doing well and has even flowered. So I think I will replace the rosemary and hope it fairs better 2nd time round. Unless theres a similar alternative that might be hardier?
Ideally I'd like to keep the visual scheme I was going for (symmetrical beds with evergreen lollipops framed by a low evergreen hedge at the back, flowers at the front - currently I have alliums and tulips but need to add more).
Options need to be suitable for the open location and heavy clay soil. Garden is north facing and the right hand flower bed only sees afternoon sun. Low maintenence ideally as I've little to no spare time.
Thanks in advance. You have all been amazingly generous with your advice, forever grateful!
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They grow wild in locations and soil no one would believe they could survive, ie., along the exposed coastal path in Cornwall, on the tops of cliffs with hardly any soil but with a fairly plentiful supply of rain water.(Having said that, we still have a hose pipe ban). I have seen magnificent specimens growing untended for years, in heavy Thames Valley clay soil in the middle of Reading. What you have to remember is lollipop shaping cuts most of the leaves in half and most of the branches off, which means the plant has to fight for its life 5 times harder than a plant which has been allowed to keep it foliage and full supply of branches and a full root run not constricted in a small box with a minimum of soil. Trees and plants are living things.
I would not give up on them yet, but I am a sucker for a challenge and have a lot of patience where plants are concerned .
The wish for an instant impact garden is often very tempting to people who are not experienced in gardening but they do not realise just how much work has to go into supporting large specimens of trees and shrubs, like gallons of water daily, to support the huge leaf areas and bark.
If you trees do survive they will be very sorry specimens and not look anything like they did when you first planted them. It would take a few years for them to recover fully, not with feeding necessarily, but judicious shaping, watering and patience.
Or you can just bite the bullet, bin them and start from fresh with a different choice of plants.
Looking at your pics., your garden is in a very rural location and you are trying to impose a very formal design into it. Perhaps a softer look, such as your neighbour has, might be an option as I am guessing you might have to deal with an exposed windy site? A lot of people think having regimented layouts means an easier garden to look after but it actually means much more work to keep it looking pristine.
Good luck with your decision of what to do, come back to the forum if you have any more queries, there is always someone around who can make suggestions etc.
I have 4 mopheada that take me lots of mindfulness hours. I also have another 3 in the open garden, plus spires, which I trim with an electric hedge cutter. Cut leaves yes, but little browning. Like Cherry Laurels, which do go brown, you either go for quick and nasty or craft and art.
Back to bark splitting. This uusually needs not just frost, but frost at the time of rising sap. Your stem wounds may be quite old.
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
It's been 2 months since I reached out for advice on my bay trees. Despite spring arriving, the bays sadly look worse.
Any advice - what evergreen could replace the bays with?
Half of the rosemary has almost certainly died, the other half doing well and has even flowered. So I think I will replace the rosemary and hope it fairs better 2nd time round. Unless theres a similar alternative that might be hardier?
Ideally I'd like to keep the visual scheme I was going for (symmetrical beds with evergreen lollipops framed by a low evergreen hedge at the back, flowers at the front - currently I have alliums and tulips but need to add more).
Options need to be suitable for the open location and heavy clay soil. Garden is north facing and the right hand flower bed only sees afternoon sun. Low maintenence ideally as I've little to no spare time.
Thanks in advance. You have all been amazingly generous with your advice, forever grateful!
JC van Tol is a good variety for this purpose, and is self fertile so you’ll have the added bonus of some red berries at Christmas.
https://www.gardeningexpress.co.uk/ilex-aquifolium-j-c-van-tol-standard-self-fertile-holly-tree
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.