Landscaping: what smoked my smokebush?

Replies: 15 Views: 164

Author	Comment
cheerpeople northwest, IL (Zone 5a) September 08, 2009 02:13 PM	This just happened overnight or so it seemed. The part of the shrub on the left is untouched, but the rest of it looks like the right. My husband says there aren't any chemicals that would cause it that they are spraying on the corn now- crop dusters- and nothing else in my garden was hit. We have not had frost... any thoughts? K View Larger
themoonhowl Prairieville, LA (Zone 9a) September 08, 2009 09:49 PM	Have you checked the roots for damage? you may have something eating on the roots
flowers_delight Leicester, NC (Zone 8a) September 11, 2009 10:34 AM	cheerpeople, Did someone damage one side with the weedeater or lawnmower? I killed half of my grape vine that way when I ran over a main root with the lawn mower. If something else is not going on with the roots as moon says don't worry it will come back in the spring.
pastime Waterman, IL (Zone 5a) September 12, 2009 07:47 AM	Mine did that one year. I thought it was dead and chopped it down, but it came back the next spring to my surprise. Now I cut it back every fall.
cheerpeople northwest, IL (Zone 5a) September 12, 2009 08:18 AM	The plant has continued to look even worse than that pic. The 'healthy section' is looking bad and the bad section is turning brown. I don't want to dig around and do damage to the roots of this already stressed plant. I don't know how I'd cure a root damage situation anyway. I have no ability to end problems with moles and voles. I've tried for years. Kitty has caught a few voles. That being said I don't see anything obviously dug up or tunneled near the plant. No lawnmowers of weed wackers near this plant. It is in the center of a garden. Pastime- that's VERY good to know. Did yours do it before frost like this? Did the cut back plant come back shorter or fuller or any change? View Larger
pastime Waterman, IL (Zone 5a) September 13, 2009 08:27 AM	It did it some time in the summer. It turned brown and crunchy and lost it's leaves. When we cut it down I thought that was it. Bye, bye tree. But it grew back the next year and it did it again. I have another one on the other side of the arbor and it did not do that. Go figure. I cut them both back in the fall. Otherwise they would take over the area and I have other plantings there now. I like their color next to the rusty, iron arbor and I think they add a little garden interest. Here's a picture I took this morning of the one on the right side of the arbor. The other one I keep shorter because I have lots of dayliles growing around it. All the growth is coming out of the old stump. They tend to have weaker branches now and want to fall over. I have no idea what species they are or if they were meant to be smoke trees or smoke bushes. They were planted way before the arbor and patio were there. If a branch gets too tall and floppy, I cut it off. I like their color, that why I keep them, but as single specimens they would look funny and floppy. View Larger
Lynnie6868 (Zone 5b) September 13, 2009 08:34 AM	I have a smokebush I planted last year...it's weird too. One side of it has done nothing, no growth, no die back, just the same as when it was planted. The other side of the bush gets those big long straight shoots, which I trim down hoping the do-nothing side will do SOMETHING. So one side is a little round basketball size, the other is straight up branches. I don't know WHAT to do with it.
cheerpeople northwest, IL (Zone 5a) September 13, 2009 09:46 AM	Past time, thx for the pic. It looks very nice. I wondering if the one that looks like its dying before frost- ( not sure if that is the one in your nice pic) is it in full sun? Is the one that doesn't do that in more shade? Lynnie, hmmm. Maybe these are sporadic growers. Unpredictable in nature.... Not sure. Mine asked 'normal' the first year ( last year)
Lynnie6868 (Zone 5b) September 13, 2009 09:55 AM	I have pics of it on my desktop, I'll try to post them later (I'm on the laptop right now). Mine is in the middle of a shrub border, so once the baby shrubs grow the bottom of the smokebush won't matter so much. It could be a weird vertical accent lol It was on sale last year (maybe for good reason?) so it can be weird if it wants. I'm giving it time but I could always cut it back in the future.
pastime Waterman, IL (Zone 5a) September 13, 2009 01:03 PM	Yes, it is in full sun. The one on the other side of the arbor is shaded somewhat. I found a picture I took back in '07 of the new spring growth coming from the old stump. It grew really fast too. View Larger
Lynnie6868 (Zone 5b) September 13, 2009 06:24 PM	here's mine...it looks like 2 different shrubs View Larger
pastime Waterman, IL (Zone 5a) September 14, 2009 07:46 AM	That's weird, the lower leaves are green. I don't know what's going on. I'd still cut it back so the shrub looks uniform next spring and you may get more branching. Hopefully the whole shrub won't be green then. You got a strange one there. I like the weeping evergreen you have in the background.
Lynnie6868 (Zone 5b) September 14, 2009 08:43 AM	pastime I have cut it twice it keeps doing that! lol Maybe I should cut the green side...or maybe I should replace it with a wine & roses weigela haha I'll go out & threaten it today. "You can be replaced!" Thanks the weeping evergreen is a weeping Norway spruce...I wanted one for a long time & I got impatient & bought it before I was ready, then built the area around it...so the whole thing was thrown together.
pastime Waterman, IL (Zone 5a) September 14, 2009 09:50 AM	You can always start an evergreen garden there instead. My DD is a landscape designer and I go with her sometimes on a buying trip. There are so many really cool looking evergreens out there. I saw some this year that blew my mind.
Lynnie6868 (Zone 5b) September 14, 2009 10:05 AM	oh I LOVE conifers! I do have some in there...I have the weeping spruce, the "smokebush with a sense of humor", a dwarf alberta, a couple of woodwardii thujas (round) and some fragrant abelias. And a verdonii hinoki false cypress (that little guy was expensive). I'm moving a harry lauder walking stick there when it goes dormant. I have another area that will be conifers & boulders once I get it together. I was just eyeing a dwarf blue cypress....
pastime Waterman, IL (Zone 5a) September 14, 2009 04:41 PM	You go girl!