I use leaky hoses on my borders for plants whose roots are near the surface. They won’t provide enough water for trees and shrubs that size. Do as I said and leave a hose running at the base of each tree … or give each tree two buckets full of water three times a week until the end of September… whether it rains or not. If the trees survive repeat next year, starting in early March.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
It's as I said in my last post, lack of water is the problem. I agree with everything Lyn says. If you follow her advice then you should save the shrubs. I would suggest that in this case the soaker hose won't do any good, the laurels need good soakings as Dove says. It would need torrential rain for days to get to the roots.
Me too Lyn and I've learned from my mistakes from my first planting of laurel in 1993. Crikey was it really that long ago? I scraped by with that one, only just though.
Those are quite short and bushy already . I think I would just take off 6 or 8 inches from the longer shoots.
I would clear the grass from around them though, so that they're in a border rather than in individual little circles. The grass will compete with the laurel and it will be hard to cut without risking damaging the stems.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
I'd considered doing a border @JennyJ but decided against it because our Cherry blossom trees shed LOADS of petals and leaves throughout the year. Our neighbours have trees also and their leaves tend to blow into our garden throughout the year. We had large flower beds right around the perimeter before and opted to get rid of them for this very reason. Even with the blower, it was near on impossible to get the leaves out from that area.
Over the past couple of weeks, we've actually noticed the grass is not growing as much around where the laurels are planted. Our hope is that we'll no longer need to use the strimmer around them in about a year or so if the trees fill out at the bottom.
You mentioned that they are quite short at the moment. The smallest one is currently about 4 foot, the larger ones are 5 feet tall. So, you reckon I should prune off 6 to 8 inches from JUST the longer shoots? As in, just the leading shoot? Or 6 to 8 inches off all of longer the stems?
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Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Thanks again
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Over the past couple of weeks, we've actually noticed the grass is not growing as much around where the laurels are planted. Our hope is that we'll no longer need to use the strimmer around them in about a year or so if the trees fill out at the bottom.
You mentioned that they are quite short at the moment. The smallest one is currently about 4 foot, the larger ones are 5 feet tall. So, you reckon I should prune off 6 to 8 inches from JUST the longer shoots? As in, just the leading shoot? Or 6 to 8 inches off all of longer the stems?
Thanks for helping!