Mr Grinch's Garden

I give my Buxus a Seaweed foliar feed every now and then but I've just googled and there is a 'Buxus Health Mix' foliar feed,not a cure for box blight but does look interesting and would be worth a try

 

I have fed them once this year Loli with seaweed but will do them again to give them a final boost. Its funny the Box Cones i have planted in the little raised bit although with lots of root growth went bronze, with orange bits around the edge, sure sign of sun and drought damage. I fed them a few times and they have greened up well BUT the cone in the same soil conditions in the shade stayed green and looks brilliant, this would tell you that its not waterlogging but heat and dry damage thats the issue, which is confusing as the Crenata planted next to the cones looked ill and showed signs of waterlogging (poor root growth, yellow dying leafs).

 

I've a couple of Box cones in planters in full sun that I've fed and watered but still look 'bronze',they're fine in the winter but your right Mr G it is the drought conditions making them suffer,plus mine desperately need moving on or need their roots trimming at least...I'm very tempted to get some of the 'Box Health mix' as I'm planning a small Rose Parterre and the cost of the Buxus I might as well fork out a bit more ...
Sorry I digress

 

Pulled another plant up today which seems more effected. In a different part of the garden to. Checked surrounding plants they seem ok bar the odd leaf to pinched out those leafs. Again, root run amazing, hard to get up.

Annoying.

 

Wow, chilly this morning. Very autumnal i hate to say. Haven't smelt it yet though.

G

 

Nice one Shiney. The trouble is, i cant get it right the taking of cuttings. Tried it with Box and failed are the Euronymous easier ?
If these Box do succumb, do you think a dark green euronymous would be a good replacing or a variegated form ?

The lambs ears are going well be the way

 

I would put both in the "relatively easy" category. Box can be stuck in the ground and left over winter to root, I doubt that Euonymus will do that, but taken as conventional cuttings in pots I would say they are equal. ("stuck in the ground" is a bit more technical than that and requires a V-shaped trench, filled with sharp sand)

I put mine (Box or Euonymus) in 50:50 perlite/multi purpose, under mist, and am disappointed if I don't get 100% ... but Loli gave me some Euonymus cuttings at Shiney's which were already potted up. They were too short, in 100% MPC with limited drainage, so I didn't put them under the mist as I figured they would get too wet, I stood them on the greenhouse path so they were shaded by the benches, and I was careful not to water them very much - in fact worried that I was over-neglecting them. Anyways, I don't think I have lost a single one, so Loli's method would have saved me £500 on mist propagator and lots of time carefully mixing in Perlite with my MPC I'm going to look more closely next time I see her in case she is using nail varnish to cover up the true colour of her green thumb

Having said that, I would advocate free draining compost, rather than 100% MPC, 2L pots with about 15 cuttings in each, and a plastic bag over them to keep them humid, and then put them next to a North facing wall so they get no direct sun (once night temperatures get below 10C they will need more warmth, so if space I would put them on North facing windowsills, or the very South end of East/West sills so they are shaded from sun most of the day).

Euonymus is a different animal, more vigorous, larger leaf, so I think you need to decide if you can make something of those attributes. I am figuring to plant a knot garden with Euonymus, but I don't know if it will turn out to be too vigorous. Its a thug though, so should grow "anywhere". A nursery near here has the national collection of Euonymus (admittedly mostly tree varieties ) but I might ask him what he thinks - he thinks I'm bonkers already! but he's very knowledgeable so might have advice, or an alternative suggestion.

 

If you want to plant half-a-dozen Euonymus in a most-poisoned spot, over this winter, to see how they do I am sure I have enough spares for an experiment - depends if you mind that they will look odd / out of place?

 

Very kind Kristan, will see if i can find an area.

 

Im sure its the lack of prep in my West facing border that is the issue. The east side gets morning and early afternoon sun in summer, the soil looks darker, the plants look healthier and although does get dry in very hot spells, i seem to water less. The west facing bordergets sum in the afternoon and evening and is very much hotter. The soil, when dry is greyish although darkens down when wet, harder to dig and i have noticed less worm life in it. The plants seem to struggle on this side despite extra watering.

The difference between the two ? I created these when we first moved in in 2006. I was eager to get gardening so did the west border first. Dug the soil but did not add any organic matter, only adding some when i planted plants. The east side, the soil seemed easier to dig so i dug it over but importantly added loads of organic matter.
So to this day although the soil is still heavy, colour, texture worm life is good. The west, very hard to dig in summer, worm life small, colour not that great.

So, the only option for me i think, is have the border plants dug up, dug and add organic matter.
Then re plant them. Maybe even the shrubs up to give them a boost and feed.

G

 

The above could well be your problem with the west side border Mr. Grinch. There is no need to dig up the plants just top up the bed with manure/compost. You can either dig it in round the plants or let the worms do the work, they will eventually take it down.

My soil is sandy so tends not to hold nutrients. I haven't given my beds any special treatment, home compost once may be twice a year if they're lucky and a sprinkling of chicken manure pellets or BFB when I remember. I don't remember having lost any plants apart from those due to weather conditions. If you're continually digging up plants they don't have a chance to get their roots established and that could be part of your problem.

 

But i dont think there are that many worms to work it in Sheal. If i add 2 inches of organic matter, ive still got the hard pan of the top of the existing to get through.