It does of course depend on the situation … the choisyas I knew were very large … in a rain shadow on very light soil. They needed plenty of water according to the experienced gardener who supervised that garden for the ten years that I knew it. As she said, the bigger it gets the smaller the amount of rain that falls anywhere near the roots. A smaller shrub will manage perfectly ok in that spot but the bigger it gets the more the problem is compounded. We had the worst drought in many years last summer and a very dry winter and spring… here in a lot of parts of East Anglia, both in clay areas and former heath at least, the soil a foot or more down has been very dry indeed this summer, despite the overcast and drizzly skies. Farmers I know have been and still are very worried about the prospects for next year.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
@Busy-Lizzie Choisya is a shrub that you do see growing here locally on a clay soil. The slightly acidic PH may help. The ideal growing conditions as you mention are more of a freedraining soil. Last winter was very wet followed by an immediate frost a weather pattern I have rarely experienced. Damaging for any plant.
Fungicides and their use is a concern to me, not enough is known about the impact on health.
I have seen these blackened stems in the middle of old Choisyas not easy to decide if diseased of old and rotten. Again this could be due to poor wetter growing conditions in winter.
I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
My Choysia "Sundance" doesn't seem to mind having dry feet. It rarely gets extra water even on my well-drained sandy soil, but it's in a fairly sheltered spot by a north-east-facing fence so it doesn't get baked in the sun all day, just in the mornings (the top does get more where it reaches above the 6ft fence).
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
Where abouts are you in the country @Sam707 ? Choyisa are drought tolerant when established which yours clearly is, to much water is more of a problem for these plants . I think they is something more sinister at play here and that stem you've cut off doesn't look good in the slightest. That stem looks like either verticillium wilt but more likely sooty mold like something been feeding on it
I am in North Cambs. We have had quite a cold and sometimes wet July. Could that be a problem? The wilting started about a month or so ago.
One idea that sparked in my mind last night: how about yellowish aukuba? I have one that is by that fence, a bit further from that spot but facing the morning and lunch sun, it has more plants around, but even after replanting a bout 3 years ago and looking somewhat sorry about itself for the following year, it has now caught a second breath and is doing well. It has somewhat yellowish leaves, not as vigorous growth, so I think it won't need trimming every single year. My back isn't what it used to be.
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We had the worst drought in many years last summer and a very dry winter and spring… here in a lot of parts of East Anglia, both in clay areas and former heath at least, the soil a foot or more down has been very dry indeed this summer, despite the overcast and drizzly skies. Farmers I know have been and still are very worried about the prospects for next year.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
The slightly acidic PH may help.
The ideal growing conditions as you mention are more of a freedraining soil.
Last winter was very wet followed by an immediate frost a weather pattern I have rarely experienced. Damaging for any plant.
Fungicides and their use is a concern to me, not enough is known about the impact on health.
I have seen these blackened stems in the middle of old Choisyas not easy to decide if diseased of old and rotten. Again this could be due to poor wetter growing conditions in winter.