Manuka bushes / UK winter?

Hey!

Does anyone have any experience with manuka bushes in the UK? Do they cope well with our winters or do they need a lot of protection?

 

It's a type of leptospurmum, which seem to be ok with minimal protection....well at least in the southern counties of England.
I've lost a couple of tea tree shrubs over the years mainly through drying out too much in summer, I won't include all the seedlings of leptos and callistemons during 2009-10

 

South East - doing well - leptospermum scoparioum survived last winter in a broken pot on patio.

 

I've got a couple of manuka bushes in my garden. They've been surprisingly resilient! The key is to give them a sheltered spot, preferably against a south-facing wall or fence, where they get a bit of protection from the harshest winds and frosts.

Mine have come through the last two winters with minimal damage. Just make sure the soil drains well, they don't like sitting in water.

 

I had one that did not really settle in the garden here (which is in the south of Ireland but a good distance from the sea) that I planted in a south facing position with a good amount of shelter to the north as I had read about them being less than fully hardy. It died in the severe cold spell last December after not looking very healthy for a while.
Happy gardening!

 

Only one I have is leptospermum "silver sheen", they say minus 5c minimum, but I've had it since 1997 and we have had some colder winters than that.
It is south facing and in a mix of other shrubs so may get some protection from them.

 

Ah that's great. I have 3 of them but they were only in 1l pots so I've repotted and put them in the greenhouse as i wasn't sure they'd survive yet.
I hate keeping things in pots as they always get root rot

 

Apparently they grow in sandy coastal soils in their native NZ. I have often thought that some enterprising soul could start up a nice little industry by planting them on the clay burrows (sand tips) here in china clay country and put bee hives amongst them to get the extremely expensive manuka honey. You do see leptospermums growing happily around here in gardens.

 

Haha that's true!

I have bought a bee hive too
My garden was so full of flowers this year that it makes sense to try it out

 

Yeah the mites are a worry as it seems you literally can't get rid of them.

Well if I'm lucky I may get 0.001% Manuka honey

They'll probably all fly to the RHS garden that's 1 mile away from my house most days.

 

How far away is the RHS garden the rest of the time?

 

I believe it's quite mobile