One side of gardening dying!
Lavender 33
Posts: 3
I would really appreciate some help with what the problem is in our garden. When we moved in 3 years ago everything was alive and established.
After the first spring our lovely lilac tree never came back and now it has been a horrible sight of dead sticks. I have read suggestions to scrape back bark and it isn't green underneath so I'm guessing that means it is dead?
In succession other things on that side have stopped growing/blooming and look dead to me.
After the lilac a small brown barked tree next to it (don't know the name) died and one a bit further away in the border too there is another tree which has been looking dead for last two years. Most recently this year a small what looks like an elder tree went brown at the top at end of blooming and then went very bare and now looks like it is dead too.
Please can anyone advise what may be the problem? I am planning on taking all of these out and digging over and trying to replant as it looks so horrible and bare. I was going to replace the lilac with another as it was so beautiful for the short it bloomed when we were here. We haven't added anything to soil or done anything around there since we moved in. I haven't tested the soil. The only things growing at grown level is a ground cover plant (don't know name). The garden is west facing and it is quite a shady part of the garden.
Many thanks,
Lucy
Posts
Many thanks for your responses and suggestions.
Yes, I had thought about possible external causes but our neighbours side seems ok although they don't have a border adjacent to the fence like we do.
Around the time that it happened our neighbour was developing the house and removed a very old and large outhouse which must have been there for at least 40 years I would guess. It had crossed my mind that some possible hazardous substance had been released during this. Although as the out house was on a paved area I imagine it probably wasn't this as it would have had to be air borne and would have spread further than just the neighbouring border.
Thanks for the honey fungus suggestion. I hadn't noticed any of the mushrooms but I will have a dig around tomorrow.
A friend suggested it could be a waterlogging issue but I didn't realise something like that could cause such severe damage.
I won't replant until I can get to the bottom of it. Thanks for the pot suggestion. It's a tricky one as the border is slightly slopping down and next to it is grass. I would like to get something there ASAP as the fences are low as well.
I was trying to attach a picture but it wouldn't let me for some reason so I will try again. I forgot to add I planted a buddleia in the border which I moved from another place in the garden and so far this has been fine.
Many thanks,
Lucy
Just a couple of suggestions. A large outhouse, did the outhouse have a toilet in it that was perhaps leaking? Or another suggestion, the removal of the outhouse will of exposed the soil, ground to the air and sun and instead of trapping moisture below it any moisture is now evaporating away and the soil has dried out. This may effect the moisture of the soil over quite a large area around where it was.
Is the soil a lot drier than it used to be. Did the outhouse provide some partial or full shade to your garden and at the hottest part of the day so your garden is now exposed to a lot more sun than it used to be.
Did it provide shelter from cold wind in winter and drier air in summer?
Many thanks Cottage Compost for your suggestions. No toilet I don't think but think it's quite possible it was providing shelter and that could be part of the problem. I had a dig around and the soil was quite dry but no sign of honey fungus. All ground cover plants and bulbs are still growing.
There is a medium sized cypress tree growing just on the other side of the fence. I don't suppose that has anything to do with it?
I have attached a link to some photos in the hope that this might make it clearer. Any further help greatly appreciated.
http://imgur.com/a/LTJQE
Just to add-these photos are taken in winter but it looks like this year round!
Last edited: 12 February 2017 09:49:26
After looking at the images, I have to say it does match the pattern of honey fungus. I think you need to dig one of them up and inspect the roots. The rhizomorph(s) which move between plants are not always easy to find - they could be under the fence line, for example. I occasionally see one crossimg my veg plot. However, they are usually obvious when you dig up the rootball of an infected shrub. It could be other root pathogens such as phytophthora rather than HF. The cypress looks too far away to have any effect and all they really do is make the soil dry and can't have caused all of this damage.