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Dead as a doornail!

are you sure its dead Andrea? what type is it? i have one of the large leaf ones which is only semi evergreen and it does'nt look to healthy either, but i have it on good authority (AndrewR) that this is normal for the variey i have. he advised to scratch some bark off just below ground level and see if it is green underneath (mine is) which means it is ok and will reshoot - this all happened a few weeks ago and i cut it back a bit and it showing signs of new growth already - if it is brown or grey then it is indeed a lost cause!

It is called Italian Skies and it is an evergreen variety. It has been planted for about 4.5 years and hasn't lost any leaves at all all the time it has been in. I did scratch off some bark on the larger branches yesterday and they were still green but the smaller ones were dead. I will get myself out there tomorrow and give it a prune and feed, they like ericaceous food apparently. I may be in luck, I could sure do with a bit!!!!!!