Hebe help
Sparrows
Posts: 3
Morning All, I'm hoping you will be generous enough to share your expertise with a newbie to the forum please. I have some hebes that are going brown in areas and generally looking a bit sad and unwell and theh need to be saved if possible.
They were already in the garden of the house we just moved into but it's a new build and putting plants into solid clay and compacted aggregate funnily enough is killing them off.
As a short term rescue I've lifted all the plants and put them in pots. Next week the entire garden is being dug out and all of the material replaced with proper top soil. Once this is settled the plants can go back in but I'm hoping there is some way to recover the hebes so they go back to the nice green dome shape rather than the green and brown patchy raggedy shape the poor things currently are. Do they need pruning? Putting into good ground and leaving alone?
Ive never grown hebes before so any advice would be much appreciated, thank you all for your generosity and kindness in sharing your knowledge.
Posts
Some Hebes can die back if pruned too hard, and some don't recover from that. Do you mean large areas are fine, and it's only some areas that are brown? Has there been another shrub crowding them - that will cause brown , dead areas.
When the flowers die off, it leaves little brown 'sprouts' - but that's on the stem ends. It's best to prune those off to keep the plant tidy. Is it just that?
Too much wet at the roots isn't good either, so have they been waterlogged?
If you can upload a pic, that will help. Click the camera icon in the top right hand corner and follow the instructions.
Any other info you can offer will help too
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Thank you for your super speedy response. I'll pop some pics on when I get home from work this evening. There are sections of each plant where they have gone brown and are dying off, the size of the dead bits varies from plant to plant but one is almost all brown and I think may not be saved. No flowers as the plants were new in about five months ago and they haven't grown as they were unable to spread their roots due to the very poor and solid matter they were in. Not crowded as they were well spaced, although in a very shady area, north facing so not sure if these were actually put in the best place for them. I'm still trying to comprehend how anyone can have thought anything would grow there at all as it is compacted aggregate and almost nothing else.
Thank you again for your help and I'll sort some pics later.
Not all hebes are fully hardy, it could be frost damage from the winter. Hopefully if you lightly trim them, cut out any dead and put them in better soil and more sunlight they'll pick up.
If they were newly planted five months ago ( ie winter) and the ground's unfavourable, it sounds like they've just failed to grow and thrive, especially in an aspect that doesn't suit either. Even big, sturdy mature plants might struggle to do well under those circumstances unless you're skilled enough to keep them right. You can alter the conditions under their feet, but you can't alter the aspect and overhead conditions.
Ideally they need a sunny spot, good, well drained soil, and lightly pruned after flowering. Hard pruning isn't always successful. Frost isn't really a major issue - unless it's minus ten for a long period, or one of the really wussy ones, or on a bit of soft new growth at this time of year. It's wet, cold ground that does for them usually.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Thank you all for your advice, it seems my best hope is, once there's some decent soil, plant them in a brighter spot (they can migrate to the sunny back garden) and give them time and see what they decide to do. I do have my doubts as to whether a couple will recover but fingers crossed that good ground and some sun will do the trick. I'll trim out the dead bits and see how they go. Thanks again all for your helpfulness.