Problem with PG Tree and a few other ?s -- Pic inside

21 years ago

When I purchased my PG tree at the nursery, I noticed that the leaves were kind of curled and that they laid a little close to the stems -- not really "perky", you know. All the PG trees there looked like that so I figured (a) it was normal or (b) it would perk up once planted. Well, it's been planted for a week or so now and no difference. The other ones in my neighborhood look much better. (Although they certainly were planted longer than a week ago!) Here is what it looked like when I brought it home from the nursery.

Notice that you can only see the underside of many leaves because they are slightly curled. They lay a little close to the stem too as if the plant was wilted. At least, that is what I see -- am I just seeing things? Is this normal?

My second question is in regards to rain. We just got torrential downpours with more on the way. The limbs are nearly kissing the ground! Will it bounce back? That happended to my Endless Summer and even after I cut the blooms off a few days later, she never bounced back! I'm worried for my PG!

My last question is this: Do I need to do any sort of winter protection? How about any pruning? Since it is so small, should I just leave it be?

Sorry for so many questions. I really appreciate any advice you can offer!

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Comments (3)

ego45
21 years ago
Curling leaves = normal transplanting shock.
Within a week (daily watering + not extremely hot weather required) it will bounce back as nothing happens.

Re: drooping.
PGs are very droopy in young age by nature due to the fact that such heavy blooms are not supported by strong enough young stems.
As plant ages, branches become thicker and thicker (if not pruned) and will stand more vertical, though overall cascading effect still be present.
Of all paniculatas I saw, 'Tardiva' and 'Kuyshu' had the most upright habit and PG and 'Unique' were the most droopy ones.
tmac96
Original Author
21 years ago
I hope you are right regarding the transplanting shock. The only thing that concerns me about that is that the plant was showing the curling leaves BEFORE I transplanted it. The picture above is of the tree the day before I put it into the ground. That is how it looked at the nursery. Regardless, I hope it looks better in the next few weeks. If not, maybe when it leafs out next spring, it will be okay. I hope!

I'm glad to hear that my tree should get stronger. I know it will droop a little. In fact, I like it that way. That's why I chose the PG instead of the Tardiva that they had at the nursery. I just didn't want it to droop SO much that I was afraid the stems would break!

Thanks for your help!
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yellowgirl
21 years ago
Tmac,

No winter protection needed for paniculatas. They bloom on new growth of next season and are very hardy in your zone.

One of my P.Limelights was growing upward until the unrelenting June rains came. The drooping plants never got a chance to pop back up between rains and ended up in a permanent downward splayed position. (for the rest of this season anyway) There is some slight improvement when the blooms are removed but not much. I do however notice that new growth is heading straight upward from the drooping branches so I'm sure next year the plant will correct itself. (until the next batch of downpours)......yg