Those who are very knowledgeable about plants

[User79865765]

Help. I have this evergreen shrub in my garden. It’s been there for years, before we moved in 13 years ago. It’s a bit like a laurel but the leaves are a sort of silvery grey green. It’s just suddenly turned yellow and looks like it’s on its way out but it will leave the most enormous gap in our hedge which restricts the view of our horrible neighbours. The gap will be about 4m wide x 3m tall.

any ideas on what the shrub is and whether it can be saved. I’ve noticed others in the village have done the same thing so it is probably a disease?

And it would help to post the pictures! Ignore the very green leaf in the background. That’s a camellia next to it.

It isn’t a rhododendron

Another

I think it might be a spiny oleaster? I had something very similar in my garden. Had a very 80s vibe and had a strange powdery mildew type coating on the new leaves. I removed it from the garden. Don't miss it at all.

It does look like oleaster (eleagnus) - also looks extremely unhealthy. If the rest of the hedge is unaffected but other similar plants nearby are also suffering the same fate then it is probably some kind of pest/fungal condition that particularly targets these plants.

personally I'd remove it and stick some temporary screening in the gap until a quick growing replacement can be planted.

It really isn’t happy. It’s bizarre, it was fine and then it just wasn’t.

Ah yes just googled and it definitely looks like oleaster.