Winterberry not growing leaves / cedar shrub chewed by vole

9 years ago

Zone 5b/6a. Two questions:

I planted a winterberry that I bought from store 2 weeks ago. There were no leaves.

Two weeks later today, and there are still no leaves nor any sign of growth. Everything else I have planted seems to be doing fine.

I also had a cedar shrub that is not growing very great. I discovered ALL stems near the ground has been chewed by voles (lots of running track after snow melted). Essentially the surface of the stem is gone, showing white thing underneath. The leaves still look fine for now, but I am wondering if the damage is unrecoverable and I should take it out.

I know I will be installing wire fence this winter.

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Comments (2)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
9 years ago
talk to your seller on the first.. not knowing where you are.. i cant tell you other than to give it a few more weeks ...

peeps call all kinds of things cedars ... w/o knowing with specificity.. i cant tell you whether or not it will grow from below the damage.. but probably not ...

pix might help on both ...

i am not sure you can fence out voles ... so i dont know what you mean in that regard

ken
Dzitmoidonc
9 years ago
Winterberry (Ilex sp.) is very late to leaf out. Bend the twigs. If you can bend them 90 degrees, then they are probably alive. If they snap, then death has paid them a visit. You can also take your thumbnail and dig a small flap in the bark. If you see green, then life. no green, then no life. Some only make a light green, these are quite dark green underneath the brown bark.

So far as the "cedar", do you know what you have? Like ken says, pics help a lot. If the bark has been chewed but the needles are still green, then the plant could be ok. Otherwise you may need to prune or replace.
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