Weigela

My young Weigela 'Rubidor' has gone from this....





....to this.







This colouration first showed last year and I pruned out the branch but it's almost completely taken over this year. There have only been a few flowers too. I'm at a loss as to what it is and thought it might be blight, but reading on the web it seems to be unlikely.

Any ideas please?

 

Just looked up the RHS page on that variety of Weigela (I think) which looks similar to one I have growing and it says that it might be best to plant it in a position with light shade as it can get leaf scorch in hot sun. The photo above looks like it is growing somewhere fairly open so I wonder is that what is causing the change in leaf colour. The one I have is planted with mid day shade and does not seem to get this leaf colour change and maybe the lower flower numbers might be due to pruning last year or soil needing a bit of a nutrient refresh with a mulch of manure over winter potentially helping with the levels of nutrient needed for more flowers next year.

Happy gardening!

 

Dare I say it, it looks starved to me, whether that is dryness meaning the roots are not able to pick up the nutrients or the soil is very poor and the plant needs some feed.
Has it been planted long?
Maybe clear the grass away from it would help.

 

The grass around it looks parched, and I think I can make out clover in it. In my experience, the clover thrives when the grass doesn't. Feed the grass and it out competes the clover. Grass struggles, clover takes over. I'm sure that's not a hard and fast rule but it's what I've observed in my own gardens over many years.

If the grass is struggling, then it seems to make sense that other plants in the same soil will face the same problems. So if it was me, and bear in mind I'm far from an expert, I'd be giving it a full watering can every day while it's so dry, and a watering can with something like miracle grow at least once a week. I personally use miracle grow because it's super easy, and gives me decent results, but I guess someone more knowledgeable will know better about specific nutrient requirements.

 

@Macraignil - It's in semi shade all day and protected from wind by dense Broom in the neighbouring field. Absolutely no chance of leaf scorch from the sun here, it doesn't get hot enough. It is fed and watered regularly so I assume it doesn't like the soil which is sandy loam, more sand than loam.

@shiney - It's been very dry here but I've watered when necessary.

@pete - This is it's third season. I've mowed the lawns today and all my young shrubs sit in cleared soil, you can just see that through the Weigela in image 3.

@Clueless 1 v2 - Yes the ground looks parched as there are five 60ft pines just 15ft from it. There is very little grass in that lawn currently, so a combination of weeds and self seeded Broom which is mowed off. My garden is rural and still being developed having gradually retrieved it from nature. At this time there is no point in sorting out the lawns until I've finished putting in flower beds.

If you look carefully at the first image below there are two tiny shrubs in front of the pines on the left hand lawn. The lighter one on the right is the Weigela, taken just after planting.





All the shrubs I plant are back filled with a mixture of compost, the original soil and BFB. All the others are thriving so I don't understand why the Weigela isn't. The wind here has been incessant since March with only a few days break from it, so perhaps it's wind scorch. But as I said earlier, it's protected from the wind by Broom.

I must take some up to date images to post.

 

'At this time there is no point in sorting out the lawns until I've finished putting in flower beds.'

I wasn't criticising the lawn. I was using it as an indicator of the soil condition. I'm kind of lucky in a way in that I'm not interested in 'perfect' lawns. I let mine largely do its own thing within reason because I like the almost natural look, but my garden is not really natural because I put work into maintaining that look. This means whereas other folks that regularly perform lawn maintenance might miss certain things, I've spent years noting what the lawn does in certain conditions with little to no intervention, and what the various indicators are telling me.

This is relevant when there are other plants growing in the same soil, because the grass serves as an indicator for soil health. From the pic, it looks like the grass is parched. In my experience grass is usually the last to suffer, and when it does struggle, it's one of three things, either too dry for too long, starving, or both. If I'm right (can't see for sure in the picture) that clover is thriving, in my experience clover thrives when the soil is starved of nitrogen. I can only guess that that's why clover evolved to be able to fix nitrogen whereas grass didn't. Funnily enough, almost to support that theory, my lawn goes through cycles of poor grass, lots of clover, then the grass gradually recovers and the clover fades.

Anyway, point being, I'm not judging your lawn. I was using it as a clue as to why other things in it might be struggling, and my bet would be on simple lack of moisture and nutrients.

 

Sorry Clueless I wasn't suggesting you were criticising the lawn and I understand what you're saying. This garden hadn't been maintained for close to a couple of decades when I moved here five years ago and it's been hard work getting it to a point where it's workable. As I said previously the soil is thin sandy loam on bedrock which doesn't help, so digging any holes to plant is a nightmare. There was nothing but trees, weeds and rubbish in the lawns, which I'm still digging out here and there, including part of an engine. I know the soil is in bad condition which is why I back fill with the mix I spoke of. The lawns themselves are not a priority at the moment and probably won't be for a couple of years.

There's been no rain here for some while and what grass there is - is starting to brown and the trees are starting to shed leaves. However, I do keep the plants watered and fed. Those that the deer haven't eaten.

 

Agree.
Looks likely to be a low ph soil, can you test it? Application of Chalk granules/calcified seaweed worked into root area may help?

 

I will 'up' the feeding and see if there is any response, but I'm not the kind of person that pampers plants. I believe if they can't survive in the ground and climate provided then there's no point in having them.

Sorry @infradig, I have never tested soil in 40 years of gardening - and those being different types of soil.

Thank you everyone for your responses. I apologise if my replies seem offhand, that isn't how I like to come across. My way of gardening is to work with nature and not fight it.

 

I have never tested my soil either.

 

I love that attitude. I try to live by a similar philosophy, hence my back garden looks wild (it's all by design, it's more like a townie's idea of natural, which I think works well for a garden).

An old guy I used to live next door to had the most amazing garden. When he wasn't gardening, he was a keen cyclist. He told me that whenever he was out on his bike in the countryside, if he saw a plant he liked, he'd remember where it was and go back when it was in seed. He'd pinch a handful of seeds and put them in his pocket. Then when he got home he'd just empty his pockets over his garden. No careful planning, just throw the seeds. If stuff grew, great. If it didn't, then it wasn't meant to be. His garden was stunning. Full of wild flowers and they all looked right for their spot.

 

A well kept urban garden would look totally out of place here Clueless, but oddly it seems to work the other way round. A natural garden in a town location often works well.

I can't let my garden become overgrown, although I'm considering meadow flowers on a bank that slopes down from my back lawn. Unfortunately Scotland has a tick problem and keeping my lawns under control helps.

 

Recommend that you rip it out and plant blueberry !!

 

Sorry, but that's not a good replacement idea for a garden that lacks flowers @infradig. It isn't deer resistant either.