Helen Yemm: the perfect plant for a ruby anniversary, bay and camellia problems
Ruby wedding worry
I should be very grateful if you could suggest a suitable, spectacular plant for a gardening couple celebrating their ruby anniversary. We gave them a rose bush a few years ago, which is growing well, but I want to choose something different. However, I know little about the soil type or sunniness of their garden.
An anonymous worried partygoer – via email
First, may I take this opportunity to say that in my opinion plants make really lousy presents for gardeners, unless they are specified by name and a local source is suggested.
As one who has been on the receiving end in the past (acquaintances know better now…) it is awful having to fit the thing into a garden that is already “planned”, however haphazard the execution of those plans may be; and secondly it is an enormous responsibility keeping the thing alive until you see the donor again… and again… and possibly again. A bottle of half-decent plonk and a garden gift token, in small denominations so it can be used bit by bit, enabling the recipient to think gratefully of you as he, she or they spend it, would be incredibly well received, however.
If all of that falls on deaf ears, so to speak, worried partygoer, how about a hydrangea with dark leaves and particularly deep red blooms, that flowers about now. It goes by the name of Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Merveille Sanguine’, but is generally known by the loose English translation H. macrophylla ‘Bloody Marvellous’. Which is what getting as far as a ruby anniversary probably is, after all. (search either name on Google to find suppliers).
Camellia in distress
I am desperate as my recently moved mature camellia is dying. Please help with any tips to save it.
Andy Dudley – via email
I must say I am surprised. Camellias are some of the easiest evergreens to move, since even quite mature ones have relatively compact and shallow roots and as long as you treat them well (water them before the move) provide them with a suitable new home (preferably in sheltered dappled shade, with leafy soil, or soil laced with ericaceous [lime-free] compost), in my experience they scarcely notice the upheaval.
I can only surmise that it was not happy before (which is why you moved it, perhaps). So what can you do about wilting, apparently dying spring/summer evergreen transplantees such as this? The answer is, I am afraid, not a lot. They often gradually recover, losing a lot of leaves in the process (the plant’s natural response to stress).
Make sure they are adequately moist at the roots but don’t overdo it, and give them a deep mulch to keep the roots cool, which is particularly important for natural woodlanders such as your camellia, then just hope for the best.
In some cases, it helps to halve the height/bulk of the bush (so the disturbed roots don’t have to work so hard) while with particularly fussy evergreens it pays to expect the worst after disruption. Moving big hebes, shrubby euphorbias and cistuses, for example, is asking for trouble.
Curled-up leaves on bay
Frances Alder reports unsightly and distorted leaves on her bay tree. Bay sucker (Trioza alacris), the baddie responsible, is a nasty insect that breeds on leaves of bay, its nymphs causing disfigurement but not death of the tree.
The first signs show in late spring or early summer. These suckers appear to have loved our mild spring and the problem seems to be worse than usual this year.
Typically, one side of individual leaves curls, thickens and goes pale and eventually turns brown. Investigation within the curl reveals the feeding sucker nymphs, who protect themselves with a white woolly wax and excrete a sticky honeydew. This, in the case of a bad infestation, can encourage the growth of sooty mould (similar to that caused by scale insects).
Light infestations can simply be controlled by pruning now – midsummer and for a few weeks onwards is the time for careful secateur-pruning of ornamental bay trees anyway. It is also a good idea to clear up leaf litter (especially beneath larger bushes), since this is where bay suckers may spend the winter, to re-emerge in spring to feed and breed.
You can use a systemic insecticide (as in BugClear Ultra) to try to control the suckers and nymphs, but keep some un-sprayed leaves for drying for the kitchen, or leave at least two weeks between spraying and using the fresh leaves. Spraying may deter a second generation of bay sucker that will become active in September.
