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| Itea ilicifolia |
They [mice] stripped bark from a large specimen of Itea ilicifolia, a particularly treasured shrub given to me by the late Rosemary Verey. This mouse did not collect and store, it used the Itea as a ready-made larder - the fresh growing stems stripped slowly upwards as they went. When I discovered the ravaged plant in late February whilst trimming back the previous years' flower stems, I noticed a halting in the growth, the dullness that appears on a plant that is suffering, and the change in colour attracted my eye. Parting the branches, the damage was widespread and had obviously been cause over a period of time.
Extract from The Haphazard Gardener available from www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1781764131
Oh what a shame. Can you save it?
ReplyDeleteAll of the plants shown are mentioned in The Haphazard Gardener - sadly a garden I no longer own...the Itea didn't survive, the mice had been too busy for too long. But like all gardening it opened up another planting opportunity.
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