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Is this a poorly mexican orange blossom?

Twa_PehsTwa_Pehs Posts: 11
edited May 2023 in Problem solving
HI everyone. I have been lurking here for a little while after buying a house with a garden for the first time at the end of last year.  We are enjoying getting to know it and figuring out whats what, its a steep learning curve but we have learned lots thanks to this forum and now I am hoping you can help me with a specific problem....

We have this sad looking bush which google lens says is a mexican orange blossom.  Is that the case?  What can we do to help it?  As you can see from the photos its quite sad looking but has much greener growth underneath at the bottom.

Any advice for novice gardeners would be appreciated.






By the silvery tay
«1

Posts

  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    I think it's a poorly chioysia (sp?)
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    edited May 2023
    There are Choisia varieties with yellow leaves. Sundance is one.  Not to my taste, but yellow always is equated with sick..  It needs sun, in the shade, eg.underneath branches, it goes green.

    A touch of winter damage, but it is as fit as they come.
     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."
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    Probably Choisya "Sundance" which is supposed to have yellow leaves (brighter in sun, greener in shade and lower down where it shades itself)) but it's not supposed to have the snurped up brown bits. I wonder if it got some cold/frost damage?. The good news is it looks like there's plenty of new growth coming which should soon hide the damaged bits.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • bcpathomebcpathome Posts: 1,313
    Grow it in a sunny spot ,it’ll recover in time .
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    It's a strange plant, needs sun to keep the yellow foliage, but too much and it burns.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    I bought one by mistake. I am a merciful gardener. It's sulking at the back of my A&E corner.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • Twa_PehsTwa_Pehs Posts: 11
    JennyJ said:
    Probably Choisya "Sundance" which is supposed to have yellow leaves (brighter in sun, greener in shade and lower down where it shades itself)) but it's not supposed to have the snurped up brown bits. I wonder if it got some cold/frost damage?. The good news is it looks like there's plenty of new growth coming which should soon hide the damaged bits.
    I did wonder if it was cold damage. We had an extremely cold winter here with a couple of weeks of -10 in the daytime and much lower overnight.  I had to chop down a nice big Cordyline that had died and gone mushy.

    Should I trim off the worst of the damage?  I was going to wait until after it flowered but there seems to be no signs of that happening...
    By the silvery tay
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    They always get damage here over winter, but it's as @punkdoc says - they can be difficult to site well. You can certainly prune off the dead foliage now, and it should produce more. 
    It seems to be growing in a very overgrown site though, so it's worth clearing all that and adding some nice organic matter around it - anything will do. Compost, rotted manure etc. Make sure the soil is nicely dampened though, and that will help prevent moisture loss, and also feed the soil which is far better than artificial feeding, especially for shrubs.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • Twa_PehsTwa_Pehs Posts: 11
    Thanks for that.  I'll give it a prune and a tidy up and see how things go. 

    It's been on my to do list for a while to clear that spot out a bit more and get some compost in there but have found it hard to find the time recently. I should finally manage it this weekend.

    Its already in a sunny and sheltered spot so hopefully a a tidy up an a trim will perk it up.



    By the silvery tay
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Should help it a good bit @Twa_Pehs. A little bit of tlc can work wonders  ;)

    Plants want to grow at this time of year, so unless you're in a location which would affect that - ie seriously cold/windy/exposed etc,  it's unlikely to do any harm, and should do plenty of good   :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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