Please can you advise what this plant is and how to look after it. I live in South Devon. Many thanks.
Hi, it's a fatsia japonica. They are pretty easy, best in a partially shaded position. They can suffer a bit with a cold winter or sunny position but tend to bounce back in the spring. If that's recently planted, you might want to move it to a position with more space as they can get a decent size, several metres x several metres.
Looks like a fatsia possibly F. Japonica I've never had one, but they're quite popular, so I'm sure advice will be along
Agree a Fatsia jap. I've found they do best with some shade but like the warm and damp. Is it newly planted ? Hard to tell how much of a "leader" you have but I'd be tempted to try and lift up the lower stems and loosely tie them in to a support. Not only look better but allow access to water/feed and mulch as/when required.
Yes, its a bit yellow, they do that. Looks dry and needs a feed to green it up, if its just been newly planted that should mostly sort itself out once it going. The new growth, which will come soon, will be more upright. I'd cut that old flower stem off.
Thanks for all of your replies. Do these plants naturally grow with their leaves bent downwards, is there anything i can do to help it be a bit more upright?
Not really but the new growth should be upright, its what they do, especially when they flower in autumn.
The downturned leaves normally occur in winter as a defence mechanism against the cold. Strange that yours should be doing that now. Has it recently been moved? It would be better in a shady position. I would move it, remove the flower stalk and several of the lower leaves and water it. Wait until it recovers before feeding.
I agree it's still coming out of winter mode and should perk up a bit when in growth. Smaller specimens seem to suffer more with an average winter but they are quite hardy when bigger or in a sheltered position.
I give my Fatsia a good drench with 10ltrs water and 2 capfulls of Tomato Feed. It will pick up in a few days.
