never heard of it.... are you sure there are no utilities buried underneath .. like a gas or water line .... or hydro as you say up there ....

ken

We have had a similar experience and found out that the cause was millions of tiny seeds dropping within the plant. In our case the plant was a strain of Boston Ivy and it occured sometime in late summer and went on for a couple of weeks or so.

Boston ivy is related to the grape vine and produces similar berry-like fruits.

If you have an infestation of shot weed (Arabis) and these are being disturbed enough somehow to eject their seeds this produces a sound like sand grains falling onto other plants and ground litter (like old, dry leaves). This is a common cool season annual weed on humusy soils (including old bark mulch) where I live, up, flowering and going to seed early in the year.

Update: i decided to further look into this bush by taking a leaf off and imagine my surprise when I ripped the leaf in half to find WORMS!!! I am guessing that them moving around is what is making the sound. Does anyone know what kind of bush would have worms moving in it????

That likely wouldn't be plant-species specific. It also possibly isn't desireable... but they may not be a long term problem. Identify them (I think there's a pest forum here) before you do anything.

KarinL

Caterpillars pooping could account for the sound if there are quantities of them.

Maybe you could post a photo of bush, close up of the leaves, so we can help with an ID.
How interesting to learn about bush with worms eating it being noisy. I have never had a noisy bush!!
Without a name for the bush, worms may be harmfull or just part of the yearly cycle of life.

Ok well we have figured out it is a pest problem and they are going to be ripped out ASAP. There are some leaves that have 5 or more worms inside them. We plan on doing a lot of landscaping and don't want anything else getting infected so out they go. Thank you all for your input :D

are these shrubs boxwoods? in my short gardening life, i have only ever heard sizzling sounds from bushes once and it has been from a massive infestation of boxwood leafminers. the sizzling is the sound of thousands of little critters eating your boxwood. they are insipid little things. you slice open the leaf and there are orange grubs inside. the adults spawn in the spring (around now and over the next few weeks) into flying mosquito like things and then inject the underside of new leaves with their eggs which then proceed to hatch and eat through your leaves until fall, at which point, they go dormant and sleep over the winter until next spring.

the good news is it won't spread to other plants, only boxwoods. english and american boxwoods are somewhat more resistent. also, the eggs are mostly only laid on new leaves not old ones. plus, this infestation will end up giving your boxwoods a little leaf prune and the subsequent unaffected growth (assuming you treat the insects now) will create a much bushier looking boxwood.

the time to control it is now, with a contact insecticide when you see the flying insects and/or with a systemic to kill the pupae while they are young and while the leaves on the boxwood haven't developed a hard waxy layer so they don't absorb the insecticide. the affect leaves are already goners - target the new growth. i've read that imadicloprid (isotox) is very effective.

the only bad news is that this bug is extremely prolific and you will have to do this spray regimen for probably three years on all the boxwoods in your garden in order to be fully rid of them.

good luck. i'm battling with them now myself..

Does anybody remember the gypsy moth invasion of 2 decades ago in the northeast? we would walk in the woods and HEAR the caterpillars eating the leaves. It was really awful. This post brought back memories that aren't so pleasant.

Leaves are awfully thin. How do worms actually live inside them, without being visible from the outside?

Branwen, sounds like boxwood leafminer or boxwood psyllid.Both cause the leaves to cup tightly,and if you open a leafball you will find a white cotton like substance and little worms or orange insect. This is what is making the buzzing sound.
Control with carbaryl spray(Sevin) or systemic insect control.It will take many applications to rid the boxwood of this problem.

Anita, I was just going to post about the great gypsy moth invasion around 1980. We'd lie in bed, listening to what sounded like a soft rain--but it was the awful caterpillars. Millions and millions of them, chewing and pooping. They defoliated tens of thousands of trees. The trunks looked alive as they were covered with squirming caterpillars. Disgusting. Some trees still have marks around them where people put aluminum foil or tape to try to stop them from climbing. And there was no real explanation as to why it happened, and it's never happened again (so far).

Good spray for this pest is Bayer's Advanced Garden insecticide - idminacloprid. It's systemic so will get inside the leaf and attach the beasts where they live. Shame to rip out big boxwoods. Wish we could grow them up here.

any news about your boxwoods? i just wanted to edit my previous post which had a little bit of misinformation. isotox does not contain imidacloprid, is not very effective against leafminers, and is very toxic to boot.

i second oldroser's suggestion above to use bayer's advanced garden insecticide which contains imidacloprid. it comes in a milky solution to mix in water for soil drenching or in pellet form to scatter around the root base. while i do not like to use chemicals in my garden, i have been desperate enough - because i have such a severe infestation and i have many other boxwoods - to apply imidacloprid. the adult insects are recognizable for their mosquito-like form and orange bodies and in my zone they are swarming now.

Wow, I haven't checked this in a while, been really busy. I'm still not sure what they are but they do sound like the boxwoods you are talking about kitova. You are right on the colour of the worms inside the leaves and yes there are bugs that resemble mosquitoes flying around the bushes now. Very gross. Considering my entire front yard is made up of wood chips and not one blade of grass I am considering ripping out the bushes (which look horrible, especially after pruning them today with a lot of bare spots) and making that area a garden and growing grass for the rest of the yard. Thank you so much for solving the mystery lol. I had a feeling those flying bugs were from the bushes. YUCK!!

After that you can take them out and relax - perhaps the sizzling sound coming from the bushes then being that of barbecuing.

I have a Boxwood also and no bugs or anything else - jujust really pound buzzing.

No bugs, no worms, and it's been doing it for years.

My father in law also gave me some crap about plants not making any noise but 7 of us hear it !!!

Here's a BYGL article from last year (with some excellent photos):

noisy boxwoods