Buxus - front facing

karllewis14 · October 2023

Hi all you wonderful folks,

so u have over 50m of buxus round my house. A large portion of it is doing great , however am struggling with one specific part of it. There is a small section which gets most sunlight and also probably bares the brunt of the wind. We have built a new home on a relatively exposed site (relatively near to a shore line ) , but some of the buxus are turning yellow - almost that it's struggling with the environment ? Is that a fair assessment? As you can see from the photo, the upper half is doing great but it's the lower part am concerned with.

they get plenty of water. The soil is wet , I have fed them 1-2 a year only but just wondered if you experts had any advice on getting them back to a nice green colour or am I facing a losing battle?

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6030279/uploads/editor/bj/l6um595jrbm2.jpeg

AnniD · October 2023

It could possibly be due to waterlogged soil in that area, but there are several reasons why box can turn yellow. The decorative stones may also be having an effect in preventing good drainage.

Whereabouts are you ? (A general location wil do). Are you in the UK ?

karllewis14 · October 2023

Yes , Northern Ireland . That trench that I dug beside the tarmac does run down slightly at a fine angle into a corner so maybe it is drainage as you say. What could I do to improve that? I have the stones in there but I also put a permeable black weed membrane too...

Fairygirl · October 2023

It also might be getting a lot more exposure to salt laden wind than the healthier parts. Box often looks like that at various times of year, often due to cold and/or wind.
How decent was the prep? It copes with all sorts of soil types, but it needs a decent medium to get going, like any hedging or shrub.

karllewis14 · October 2023

Was well prepared , so I went over a foot down - was filled with compost , fresh graded soil as well as buxus feed when planting.

This was applied to the whole perimeter planted, you can see that the top of the plants are flying and then the other side ( better shade-- latest picture attached ) is going great too! It's just this corner that looks rubbish and I don't know what to do...

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Plantminded · October 2023

Try removing some of the stone mulch in that area to check whether the soil is definitely wet. From the look of those plants I'd say they were suffering from dehydration due to more sun and wind in that area as you have described. I have a small hedge of buxus in my front garden which is exposed to sun and wind. The plants were planted as bare roots and as the soil is dry I kept them well watered during their first two years of growth. Whenever there's a sign of yellowing leaves, I apply diluted seaweed extract to the leaves and root area. It definitely helps to restore their green foliage. Once you've established whether your soil is not waterlogged, it may be worth a try.

karllewis14 · October 2023

yeah i have regularly checked, not sure its the best test but i place my fingers down into the soil and it feels damp and def not dry! We have had alot of rain of late here in Belfast and i had been watering them prior to that! ill maybe try the diluted seaweed approach .... else i saw someone suggest replacing some of them with the euonymous green spire perhaps (in another thread)

Plantminded · October 2023

If your soil is permanently wet in that area, Euonymus won’t be too happy either. I would try to resolve your drainage problem before planting anything else. Take the plants in that area out, remove the soil and membrane and see if there’s rubble or pipework or a seam of clay or stone preventing the soil from draining.

karllewis14 · October 2023

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6030279/uploads/editor/ul/bsdwrqeyf9jx.jpeg

Plantmindrd thank you for this - so I built my house 2 years ago and it was built on a clay based soil , now as I said before the trench does run down into a corner and indeed the drive way comes down to this area too..... and I dug it around the edge of the kerbs but I did go 1 foot down ....

this picture was just a work in progress but does focus on the problem area of the house.

is there anything I could do to help drainage in this area ?

go even deeper down ( in this problem area ) and then put loys of organic matter in as opposed to the fine soil ?

Thanks so much to you all for your help so far!

Fairygirl · October 2023

I think that photo solves the problem @karllewis14. You've created a sump by just adding soil. You'd need a good bit of organic matter in there to improve that. Difficult when it's such a small gap though. You could add some fine gravel mixed in too, but I think I'd take the box out and pot them up for now until you can improve that section.
It'll just keep happening otherwise.
In that sort of site, it's often the opposite problem because it can be drier/poorer and have sharper drainage due to the footings of hard landscaping each side. Building work can mean the site is compacted, and with clay - it compounds the problem. Been there many times and it takes a bit of work to get soil in decent condition for planting. With the wet conditions you'll have, same as my location, it makes it a solid barrier which is no use for most plants.

JennyJ · October 2023

I think you need to break up the bottom of the trench and make sure that water drains through OK before replacing the soil and replanting. Just adding organic matter won't help if the bottom of the trench isn't allowing water to drain through.

You might be able to lift and pot up the plants while you do the work if they're not too far gone, or heel them in in another part of the garden.

Buxus - front facing

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