These plants are at least 15 years old at this point and we've only trimmed them once a year, very conservatively, afraid of damaging them. Last night we had a big rainstorm (NC piedmont) with severe winds. When we came outside this morning, it looks like the front half of the bushes have bent over and the back half are still standing straight up and down like they're "supposed to."
Only the top 8 inches or so of each branch has leaves on it, the inside is all bare. I think we've just been maintaining them incorrectly and this is our reward for that.
We were hoping that if we gave them a couple days, they might stand back up straight. Does anyone have advice on how to get them to look better again? We don't have the funds to replace them at the moment, but I don't want to get in trouble with the HOA for having our yard look like crap. I wish we could put a more ecologically useful plant in both front garden beds.
We appreciate any advice!
by Kpax90
2 Comments
These look very healthy to me. Some plants do the bending thing after a heavy rain, I believe due to turbidity and increased water uptake. I’m not a botanist.
It’s normal for the branches behind the leaves to not have leaves. From an evolutionary standpoint this would be a waste of energy. Leaves are energy factories, and the factories don’t work if sunlight can’t reach them.
Just wait until the plants dry off and continue trimming. I try not to take more than 1/5 of the foliage during a trimming, and I don’t trim leaves so far back that it reaches the inside part with no leaves
Also, if you do trim a boxwood back to the brown inside, it will grow back. Very slowly, and with great effort. But it will.
Don’t make a habit of it. And don’t cut off all the green on a plant.