Let’s look at the picture above. What do you notice?
Clearly the middle four cedars (Thuja occidentalis ‘Smaragd’) are declining. When the owner got back from his summer holiday he was horrified and the site garden manager started dropping the word refund.
I have yet to see declining cedars recover and green up.
The obvious
Cedars are very thirsty in their first year so perhaps the owner had failed to water them adequately. Then I also suggested that perhaps the owner loves to barbecue weekly and the heat affected the new plants. Still stuck on her refund, the garden manager gave me a long look. Yes, I was serious.
Cement patios also reflect incoming sunlight which might have negatively affected the hedges. It’s certain true in the case of trees in urban areas.
Clay?
Then I found out that at planting time there was an obvious clay layer visible in the soil and obvious waterlogging. Clay is so dense it blocks water from percolating down and so the water pools up. Since water pushes out oxygen from soil pore spaces, plants have a tendency to suffocate and die. Or when they don’t die, they definitely struggle.
Permanent solution
I also found out that this cedar hedge was a second replacement which is certainly a tip off. The barbecue addict owner considered his options and a third cedar hedge didn’t excite him. Instead, he opted for a more permanent solution. He erected a wooden fence. Permanent, assuming the barbecue doesn’t burn it down.
The remaining two healthy cedars were replanted elsewhere on site.
Permanent solutions
Some situations require neat permanent solutions. This case above is one example. I know of many others. There comes a time when fighting bad conditions no longer makes sense. In one case, I had to replace weak, dog-urine stained turf with river rock. Case closed. Don’t be afraid to consider permanent solutions.
