evergreen in need of some TLC, or dying?

justfillmein

hi
I could do with a bit of help figuring out what to do with two shrubs I have in the garden.

They were about 5ft and growing fine, until the snow a few years ago damaged them.
They both then started browning at the base, but still had a lot of green in the middle and the top.
I left them to it and didn't do anything to treat them.

So then with the snow this year, they were damaged again.
They had split in different directions with the weight of the snow on them.
So I cut them back to now being about 2ft.

The soil around them is quite compressed.
I'm wondering is it an issue with the soil being in that condition, or is it something that needs doing to the shrubs themselves??


If it's an issue with the soil being compressed, would I

A:need to just get a fork to it to loosen it all up?
B:need to take out some of that soil, and add some fresh soil to the (small)area?
C:would I need to treat the soil in any way?

I don't mind doing the grafting to bring them back to life, but I'm not really interested in putting a huge chunk of change into beauty products to restore them.

Lumen

Pics?

Sounds like they're not hardy enough for where you have them.

Wouldn't go messing with the soil, the roots should well established by now. In any case, plants have to get used to the soil they're in, messing with the soil is only worth doing to help them initially establish, and even then its debatable.

Maybe time to plant something else.

justfillmein

thanks for that Lumen.
(I dont know how to post pics, I've seen it mentioned how to do it, but I'm still clueless;))

In fairness I haven't done anything to take care of them since they have been there.
If it isn't an issue with the soil as you've said, then maybe it's due to my neglect lol.
Do you think there is anything I can do to give them one last chance before ripping them up?

TIA

Lumen

It's a bit difficult to speculate when the best description is "5ft evergreen shrub with some green and brown bits".