Ask Gerry

My Cordyline which died because of the bad snow last year has re-sprouted from below the soil. Instead of one new re-growth, I have three. Should I dig two of them up and re-plant them elsewhere as the three are in very close proximity to the other. Also my Mahonia and phormium have re-sprouted again after being damaged by the snow.

My 8 year old 60m Escalonia hedge was badly affected by frost last year. I cut it back strongly in early summer and each bush seems to have had new growth. Is there anything I can do to protect it this year, besides praying?

Had healthy griselinia hedge 30m long 5m high 6ft wide.Neighbour cut same with tractor mounted hedge cutter august 2010. Result mangled.Got professional help cut another 4ft off sprayed against disease.fed with liquid fertilisor nov 2010. Looking at hedge 90% of it has no leaves at all.There are no new buds . Will it recover and bud next year or is it goosed.Stems also looked burned.

Regarding my hedge which was badly damaged by frost, but it is now showing regrowth. I asked should I cut it down. feed it or leave it alone.

I have a Griselinia hedge about 6ft high and 60ft long!!! I thought it was killed by frost as all the leaves have fallen off and there was just bare branches. However now there is a good bit of growth comming from the bottom of the plant!! Should I cut down the hedge? Feed it? Or just leave it be? Will it grow back do you think?

I thought my 18ft Cordyline had survived the bad winter as it continued to grow and flowered recently but this week I noticed the bark is falling off about a foot from the bottom of all three trunks... Assuming that this tree is now dead I am going to cut it down and let the new growth which has appeared out of the ground to continue to grow.. I was wondering should I leave the stumps of the remaining tree bare after I cut them or should I treat them with something?

The past two very cold winters have taken a considerable toll on our eucalyptus tree. Apart from some recent new growth at the base, the entire tree looks dead and at times smells of rotting timber. , many Thanks for any help.

I wrote to you last April asking how to save my 30 yr old Cordyline in which I really thought had died from our harsh winter, I cut all the side branches and the top off, and just left it standing at 12ft tall. This week I've noticed 4 new shoots appearing around the base of the trunk, do I need to feed it now or do i just leave it.

I have a lonicera nitida hedge which is 60 years old and was in excellent condition until this year. The entire hedge (about 200 feet) is now withering (I have attached a phot). I think the snow earlier in the year may have caused the problem. I have tried treating the headge with Miracle Grow compost and Grow More fertiliser but to no avail. If you have any suggestions as to what I could do to try to revive it.

bad frost damage to griissalinia hedge any suggestions? do you think if i cut it out hedge will recover? It looks very brown and dead in parts. thank you for any advice you may have.

We planted a griselina bareroot hedge in March 2010 it was growing well until April 2011 now half of the hedge has turned brown and lost all the leaves. Are these trees dead. one or two of the remaining trees leaves have started to go yellow lately and i'm afraid they will to go brown and loose their leaves.

I notice that there are signs of life at the base of ny hedge which I thought was killed by last years frost. Is it your advice to cut away all the dead wood in the hope that growth will take off.

I have a mahonia and phormium which were doing well until the bad weather. Both plants died off, re-sprouted and died again. Today I've noticed a sprout from beneath the soil on the mahonia and two weeks ago the phormium began to sprout. How can I protect them in case of more bad weather?

This large pittospornum has been in our garden since before we built our house on the site. This year the tree seems to be a bit sick, with much less leaves than usual. The leaves that are on it seem to lack vigour also. There have been some limbs cut off about 4 years ago, but they mostly seem to have healed / be healing. Is it possible to transplant theses to other parts of the garden and will they grow on next year? when and how should be transplanted?Is it likely that the cold winter has caused this? If so, is there any hope for the tree? I have some more photos but could only upload one.