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Magnolia with no buds after drought
neelandsarahSRsJG62-
Posts: 2
Hi…. Young x Soulangeana planted two summers ago. First year flowered, but nothing to write home about, but cut back all around it to give it plenty of sunlight for the future.
Then came the drought and the hosepipe ban. Sad to say it was neglected, being at the front of the house.
Then came the drought and the hosepipe ban. Sad to say it was neglected, being at the front of the house.
Plant is alive… twigs and branches are not brittle, unlike some others that we lost, but this year will be a write off. Will it come back next year? Or can I do anything else to help it.
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"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
My feeling is that if they're still alive they'll be OK in the long run as long as we get a kinder summer but another like last year will finish them
In the sticks near Peterborough
If the plant did struggle and as it's a new plant then it will still be putting down root's, then it's not necessarily a bad thing it isn't flowering yet as it wastes energy the plant can use elsewhere.
If you wish to give it the best chance then make sure it is water well this year and perhaps give it a mulch now.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Shrubs and trees can take a couple of years to establish well ,especially if they have less than perfect growing conditions. As @nutcutlet says - many areas had a fairly brutal summer, which followed a mild winter, and many places had very little rainfall even in winter.
Then there was some very changeable weather, fluctuating between mild and freezing, through this autumn and winter. The long term effect of that has been very damaging for many gardens, and many plants.
It's a bit like rhodos and camellias etc, in that they need good moisture levels when buds are forming, or they're the first thing to get shed in order for the shrub to survive. Foliage also gets shed, and you would see that on many evergreens.
All you can do is make sure it doesn't go short of moisture this year, and the addition of mulch as already said [ any organic matter is fine ] will help with retention of that moisture. Just make sure the soil isn't dry when you add it, and you can add it frequently if it suits you to do that.
If you have lots of other planting nearby, or house walls, lawns etc, that all affects how well the soil retains any water.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
No buds, so no blossom-damage this year, whilst other suffer. What the Germans (and British) call Schadenefreude. Leedvermaak? Haal plezier uit de tegenslagen van anderen.
Dove obviously does not have a GSH.
And fairychild, nearly there, I'm counting down to your 50k.
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I didn't want to write the above but is anyone taking any notice of this? These nasty comments have nothing to do with gardening but still they continue.
In the sticks near Peterborough