Q. I have a tree that
appears to be dying but I don’t know what it is. I was reading your article
about the disease on ash trees and tried to access the pictures of ash trees
but couldn't find them. I believe the tree is about 15 years old.
 |
| Readers tree |
A. Thank you for sending
me pictures of your tree. I can tell you it is definitely not an ash tree. It
was difficult to identify from the pictures but from the close-up of the leaves
I think it is Japanese privet, sometimes called wax leaf privet.
This
is a tree or sometimes grown as a shrub commonly planted in southern Nevada. If
this is wax leaf privet you should see clusters of white flowers followed by
black berries about the size of blueberries in the same clusters.
 |
| Privet with leaf drop and twiggy dieback due to irrigation |
They
frequently have the same problem here which is dieback of small branches which
makes them look very “twiggy”. I posted
a picture of this plant growing in southern Nevada on my blog that shows this
branch dieback and leaf drop I am talking about.
This
plant doesn’t like our desert environment or drip irrigation very much. It
definitely does not like rock mulch. They prefer growing in a much lusher
environment.
The
only time I really see them looking good is when they're surrounded by a lawn
that receives a lot of water. You might try putting bedding plants that require
watering water every couple of days and surround the tree with wood mulch or a
very lush lawn.
They
do great in East Texas all the way back to the Carolinas but do not look all
that well in landscapes located in the dry or desert West.
See these links in this blog
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