Dropping plant- help what is wrong?

[chickadeeee]

As the title says, any suggestions?
Curling, black leaves and generally droopy ☹️

Can anyone help? 🌳 🌲

I don't know what the plant is - but wonder if it might be frost damage? I have hardy plants in my garden which have been damaged by hard frosts and got black leaves and then recovered.

It is a spotted laurel, I think 🤔

It could br frost damage, thanks 😊

Yes to spotted laurel, Aucuba japonica. Could be frost damage - does it face east?

Looks like a Pittosporum. Could be a number of problems. They don’t like to have wet feet, so if it had too much water or poor drainage that could be the issue. Could also be pests, have a close look under the leaves, the bugs can be tiny and could even be shield bugs on the branches. Assuming there are no pests a good prune and a bit of fertiliser should help.

My garden is south facing however we did have a cold spell a few weeks back

I don't think to a pittosporum

It looks like it is melting

I have a looked and cannot see any bugs

The leaves below look ok but the ones near the surface look like the picture

If I were to prune, how much?

I was tempted to cut right back but it seems a shame to

If it only the outer leaves like this that does sound like frost damage?

seriouslyareyouseriouswould you prune?

I think maybe I'd leave it because there is more cold weather coming, and when it warms up just remove the damaged leaves. Just to emphasise that I'm not an expert and it may be something completely else.

This website suggest leaves can turn black from too much sun, but I guess it would have done that before if your garden is south facing? Internet also suggests they need protection from strong winds - could have been a perfect storm of frost/bright direct sun and wind? We have been having some crazy mixed up weather recently (assuming you are in the uk).

www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/shrubs/aucuba/aucuba-plant-care.htm

I think wind damage seems the most likely, thanks for the link. That is definitely the plant 😊

Mine looks so sad 😞

The RHS website suggests that it could be waterlogged, which would also explain why lots of the leaves seem to be yellowing. Given the wet winter we've had, that wouldn't be surprising. But all is not lost - hopefully the link works and you can see what they suggest.

www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=314

whereiwanttobe thanks for looking it up, i am not sure we have had a wet winter where I live, SE, however, I will try to remove blackening and feed with the one suggested on RHS.

It is so tricky to diagnose

If it was waterlogging you'd expect the whole plant to be suffering, not just the outside leaves. SE too here and we haven't had a particularly wet winter. I think I'd leave it until the risk of more frost has passed.

Thanks magpiecomplex

Don't worry too much - it's a pretty tough plant