Question
Hi,  

I was wondering if you could provide me with some information in reference to my Peking Cotoneaster which I planted this May.  

I live in Montreal, Canada.  I planted a row of them to use as a hedge.  My concern is that we are early July and the leaves have began to turn yellow and red.  I know we have not had the greatest summer weather, but this is crazy.  Our soil has alot of clay.  I have been watering regularly and trying to keep the weeds at bay with mulch and regular weeding.

We have received an abnormal amount of rain, so I was actually wondering if there was too much water.  I have fertilized them once so far.  

And lastly, they have not grown nearly as much as I had expected them to having been given some information from the garden centre.  How quickly should I expect them to grown.  They are not in an extremely sunny spot.  They  receive aoorox 6 hours of direct sunlight daily (when it finally stops raining).

Please advise.  Thanks for your time.

Answer
Hello Monique

Thank you for your question.

Your planting position - not too sunny, but light - is just right for these plants.  I think your clay soil may be the problem.  Cotoneasters like a well drained soil - which clay definitely is not!  Add to that a wet spring, and your generous watering and my guess is that your poor plants are drowning!

What to do?  Well, it means work, but your  plants have only been in the ground about 6-7 weeks and haven't grown much, so it should be possible to dig them up.

Dig the planting trench (rather than a hole for each individual plant) deeper that it needs to be, break up the bottom  (the pan) with a garden fork and put a good layer of grit in the bottom to aid drainage  together with a layer of well rotted garden compost.  Replant your cotoneasters, adding some general purpose fertilizer to the panting material - and yes, water them in! and replace the mulch.   Then leave them alone for a while - about a month should see new growth coming on.  Good luck.