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Why did these plants die and what can I replace them with?

We had two of these plants in pots at the front door of the house, I didn't know what they were at the time but thought they could be evergreen, the white bits disappeared first and then they just got barer and barer and are now completely dead.

The area does gets sun and shade in equal parts and I would like to find two plants to put here, have tried box before but that didn't seem to happy iether so not sure what to do now, don't want to keep planting random plants for them to not survive .. any ideas for this location?

image

 Many thanks to anyone who replies

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Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,138

    I think it may be a spruce of some kind - the pale coloured shoots are new growth which would normally turn a darker green as the season progressed.  But you said that they both then just died image

    We'll need to know more -

    How long had they been planted?

    What sort of compost are they in?

    How often were they watered and/or fed?

    Which way does the front of the house face?

    Is it windy there?


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • took a photo of the plants as they are right now ...

    in answer to your questions:

    they were planted around april/may last year

    planted using regular multi purpose compost

    watered them as often as I remembered (which is not telling you much I know) but they never dried out, fed them whenever I fed them probably about 2 weeks apart in the summer but not afterwards in autumn/winter.

    It is north facing there and quite sheltered from wind.

    We would like to put something in pots in this space that will be there all year round.

    image

     

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,138

    They look to me as if they died of drought - if they were a bit pot-bound when you bought them (as they often are)  it may be that the roots never moved out into the compost in the pot and if the compost and roots were compacted, then when you watered the pots the water may not have penetrated into the rootball.

    If you take them out of the pots now, are their roots spread out into the grey pots or are they still within a tight rootball?

    Also, for permanent planting like that, I'd always use a loambased compost, John Innes No 3, rather than MPC .


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • B3B3 Posts: 27,472

    Bay once established is quite drought tolerant

    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,138

    What to plant instead depends in the main on the size of the planters.

    I'm not sure that bay would be happy in a North-facing situation.  I think that the aim should be that the next plants shouldn't have to be dought tolerant image

     


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • cathy43cathy43 Posts: 373

    You could maybe try a sarracocca confusa, they only do really  well in north facing lovely glossy evergreen leaves and a wonderful scent in the winter. Its the only thing that was happy a my front door

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,138

    Verdun image  I think it would be a trifle unfair (not to mention embarrassing) to ask a garden centre to replace two identical plants that had both been treated the same and had both died at the same time from drought - the plant looks perfectly healthy in the first picture.

    image


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • B3B3 Posts: 27,472

    I have had a bay tree in a reasonably medium sized container for a few years. North facing, but admittedly sheltered.

    In London. Keen but lazy.
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