Arbutus Unedo Compactus

What's that one called again?!!

Is it the Arbutus Unedo 'the Strawberry tree' Karen? It is lovely, I have the white flower ones :)) I see...you have the name up, we must have been writing at the same time :))

Oh, you would love this M. It is fantastic!

Oh Lord, it was in the title, Arbutus!!

I lost mine last year (-:

That's lovely....I take it that it grows in the shade...judging by it's neighbours!

Ahhh so you found one, lovely isn't it, thought you would like it, the one I saw was about that size.

I have the white one, it has been slow to get going but is now producing new shoots so hopefully it will do good. Strange how some plants are slow to get going, think though the dry weather has been one reason for it not gettting going very quickly because after the rain came it has put on quite a lot of growth, amazing how rain water is so much better than tap water.

Yes, a huge difference in the way plants respond to rain water! I find it a slow grower. I used to have one that in four years grew from about 2' to 5' tall, but it didn't do well and two winters ago it died. It was in the coldest part of the garden though. Now I have a tiny one, white flowered, at the sunny part of the fence, and this little pink one in a pot. I love this plant so much. I hope they grow this time! Mind you, the other one had a funny name which I haven't been able to find out anything about...I think it was a more tender type. It was labelled Arbutus Maritimus..never been able to find that name anywhere.

Hope you have more luck with this one Karen.

Yes me too, that was the worst cold loss I've ever had...it was really sad because I loved it. It regrew for a couple of months and then just died. Much the same as my Photinia Red Robin has done this year..seemed to be doing so well in the spring, but stopped growing around June and is now wilted and dead looking....wonder why that happens...must ask the experts!

It is a shame I hate losing plants.

It must be something other than the cold that is getting to them...probably poor drainage putting them under stress, and then the cold finishes them off.

Maybe it is.

There are parts of the garden that have a foot of topsoil overgoodness knows how much builders' sand. Terrible stuf. I have to dig it out and add compost, but it's never possible to get it all out. I fear that once the plants' roots get past the compost they are probably starved to death.

More plants die in the winter from the wet especially if they are waterlogged, most plants like to be on free draining soil if possible.