Hi all, We received this enquiry today and was wondering if anyone has any advice about Laburnum trees?
Dear Sir/Madam,
Do you know a lot about Laburnum trees? I have a bit of a difficult issue to deal with, and was wondering if you could possibly help?
My mum, however, who is 94, lives in ...., and has been there since the 40's.
One of the original plantings done by my father soon after they moved in was a Laburnum tree which has flourished over the years, flowering profusely and looking healthy.
This year, however, it has not put a leaf on, nor flowered. The person who keeps the garden tidy for Mum has scratched a branch of it, and says it is still green underneath, but we are at a loss what to advise, made worse by us being 250 miles away.
Because it goes back so many years, Mum is understandably anxious to try and rescue this tree. Hence from down here I am trying to scratch around for ideas.
Do you have any ideas, is it a problem this year with Laburnums? Mum says other Laburnums in the area are still flowering, it is just hers that has failed.
If you have any ideas, I would be grateful for them.
Awaiting your reply
....
Any Ideas?
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Replies
First I'd checked the pH of the soil, needs to be 7.0+. Make sure it's not waterlogged as this can cause problems. If not could be honey fungus, peel some of the bark away at the base and see if theres a sort of tissue paper growth there. If there is it's game over.
Assuming there's no local environmental changes, such as excavation for a new wall cutting through the roots, has it shown any signs of stress in the last few years? Tough trees don't die overnight unless something very dramatic has happened; things like waterlogging would take a few years to kill a laburnum, and it would be visibly weakening over that time.
My first thought was just that it's late coming out this year. If other laburnams in similar positions are flowering then you would think not, but every garden has a different micro-climate. I've got a similar situation with an elderly widow who has a Robinia in her garden that her late husband planted when they bought the house. It was looking like a dead tree until two weeks ago, when the first tiny signs of life appeared, weeks behind the identical tree on the other side of the road.
I have to say that June is very late for a laburnam to show signs of new growth, but on the positive side it's likely that there are hundreds of seedlings coming up around it!
Thanks Guys