Here’s my old-man post for the month…
Had a lot of landscaping done in the front yard this year. All new grass, beds, soil, much, and plants. The work is guaranteed for a year, and I intend on speaking with the company that did the work, but I figure in the meantime I would ask on here. There are various trees/plants planted in the mix; hydrangea, magnolia, japanese maple, gold spirea, and some others. I understand it might take a while for the roots to… well reroot. But, it’s been a few months and they just don’t look fantastic. Leaves are browning and dying, flowers are doing the same, and they just don’t seem too healthy. They receive water normally, but are not overwatered. I also fertilized everything with “plant food” fertilizer from Scotts I believe, about 2 weeks ago.
The company that did the work is big and reputable and I know they will stand by their work. I’m just wondering if I’m doing something wrong, or if this is normal for the first season. Any tips are appreciated.
Do you have good drainage in the surrounding areas? With the heavy amount of rain and not very good drainage, I lost a few plants myself from oversaturated soil base.
I straightened out my drainage and it has been more dry as of late so I am hoping they come back.
I see the tips of the leaves on jap maples brown all the time. which jap maple did you get. big leaves or small thin fine leaves? the second one is fragile. either way, ive seen it time and time again and they come back full in spring. Id nip the dead flowers off the hydrangea and the like. Golden cypress can get crispy if you don’t keep them happy from the get go. Variety of junipers even once established will brown out in spots and youll be clipping dead off them forever, or so it seems. How are you watering them? placing hose to the base of the shrub and letting it soak in or spraying the leaves/whole shrub with your hose? if its sunny out and your doing the latter it can burn the leaves. Did you watch them do the install? did they use hydrogel when they planted them? did they scruff up the roots out of the pot or just drop them from pot to hole? did they stomp around the outside of the shrubs or nicely backfill them? These are possibly minor details but im OCD when I plant shrubs cause they can shit the bed like nothing. also, ive purchased bad batches of shrubs. potted in clay or straight sand. pull them from the pot and its a disaster. then they all die no matter how much attention you give them. Ive had it happen with trees too. pics would help of the landscapes current situation. Grass everywhere is getting crispy and dry. did they do the lawn? Sod or hydroseed? I wouldn’t be alarmed really unless everything is looking like its a bad week away from being pulled out and replaced.
sounds like rough handling prior to installation. some people think plants can just be dropped off the tailgate onto their root ball or container and it won’t hurt them. more often than not it ends up killing all of the bottom roots which can eventually kill off part or all of the plant. evergreens are also susceptible to being grabbed by the green parts when handled. they get crushed on day 1 but take a few weeks to actually die off and brown up.