Article by DavidMarks
Our main Skimmia article can be found
here. But sometimes our readers askspecific questions which are not covered in the main article. This page liststheir comments, questions and answers. At the end of this page there is also a formfor you to submit any new question or comment you have.
COMMENTS / QUESTIONS LEFT BY OUR READERS
| Date: 30 April 2017 |
From: Helena F |
| QUESTION: How can you tell the difference between male and female skimmia? We have japonica Rubellas, some of the leaves are deep green and some slightly yellow.
ANSWER: The variety is really the best way to know. Skimmia japonica rubella are male. Yellow leaves on a skimmiaindicate often that the soil is too alkaline. |
| Date: 5 April 2017 |
From: Richard |
| QUESTION: I have skimmia marlot which I planted in back garden a year ago. It waspink but now white. I have clay soil is in sun. Is that why it has gone white?
ANSWER: I assume you are referring to the variety “Magic Marlot”. Typically the flower buds whichappear in autumn are cream coloured. They then turn to a lovely deep pink but then as the flowers open they turn white.Soil and weather conditions can also affect their colour. |
| Date: 29 March 2017 |
From: Tricia |
| QUESTION: How close does the female Skimmia need to be to the male variety for thefemale to produse the berries
ANSWER: I don’t have any specific information about skimmias but bees will fly half a mile or sobetween plants. Also, skimmias flower early in the year when there are few other nectar sources available for bees. Somy guess would be that that if the two plants are in the same garden, almost irrespective of the garden size, the beeswill find both skimmia plants. |
| Date: 27 March 2017 |
From: Rona |
| QUESTION: When and how do I dead head the berries on my skimmia?
ANSWER: They will fall off naturally in a couple of weeks. However you can remove them wheneveryou want, it won’t hurt the plant. |
| Date: 4 March 2017 |
From: Elizabeth F |
| QUESTION: Do you know if there is a variegated skimmia please?
ANSWER: Yes there are some. Skimmia japonica “Magic Marlot” is a good example. |
| Date: 21 February 2017 |
From: Phil |
| QUESTION: I have a skimmia japonica red diamind and would like to know if this is amale or female.
ANSWER: That’s an unusual variety. I did some research and believe that Skimmia japonica ‘Red
Diamonds’ has both male and female flowers. This means that it can produce berries as a stand alone plant.
The source of that information is given below:
https://www.shootgardening.co.uk/plant/skimmia-japonica-red-diamonds |
| Date: 11 February 2017 |
From: Not Given |
| QUESTION: Why doesn’t my female skimmia grow berries in winter? I’ve planted a maleone beside her, but no luck.
ANSWER: The commonest reason is that the varieties you have bought are not as you thought. Thelabels may have been mixed up or the plants incorrectly identified. A second reason is that insects are not aroundat the correct time of year to pollinate the female. This could be caused by the position of the plants, a windy place is not goodfor pollination. |
| Date: 23 December 2016 |
From: Kay |
| QUESTION: If kept indoors, how often doesSkimmia japonica need to be watered and how much water?
ANSWER: Skimmia japonica is strictly an outdoor shrub. I’ve never tried growing them indoorsbut I doubt that they would survive indoors for a year whatever level of water is given to them. |
| Date: 23 December 2016 |
From: Kay |
| QUESTION: Skimmia plants are currently on sale in garden centres, is it safe to plant them now (November) or wait till springtime.
ANSWER: They will be fine to plant out in November as long as the ground is not frozen. Just make sure you acclimatise them for a week to outside conditions. Some nurseries produce perfect looking plant which have not been hardened off.
They may look good but can be shocked by suddenly transplanting to open ground. See here for a little more about hardening off plants. |
| Date: 26 October 2016 |
From: Linda |
| QUESTION: I have a skimmia japonica ‘Magic Marlot’, is this male or female and do I need the other sex to get berries?
ANSWER: The variety skimmia japonica ‘Magic Marlot’ is male. To be absolutely clear, male skimmia japonica will not produce berries even if a female variety is nearby. Female skimmia japonica (such as ‘Nymans’) can produce berries if a male skimmia japonica is nearby. |
| Date: 2 November 2016 |
From: Not Given |
| QUESTION: Skimmia plants are currently on sale in garden centres, is it safe to plant them now (November) or wait till springtime.
ANSWER: They will be fine to plant out in November as long as the ground is not frozen. Just make sure you acclimatise them for a week to outside conditions. Some nurseries produce perfect looking plant which have not been hardened off.
They may look good but can be shocked by suddenly transplanting to open ground. See here for a little more about hardening off plants. |
| Date: 26 October 2016 |
From: Linda |
| QUESTION: I have a skimmia japonica ‘Magic Marlot’, is this male or female and do I need the other sex to get berries?
ANSWER: The variety skimmia japonica ‘Magic Marlot’ is male. To be absolutely clear, male skimmia japonica will not produce berries even if a female variety is nearby. Female skimmia japonica (such as ‘Nymans’) can produce berries if a male skimmia japonica is nearby. |
| Date: 2 September 2016 |
From: Linda |
| QUESTION: Have just re-potted my well established skimmia into ericaceous compost as most of the leaves are yellow – should I remove all the yellow leaves or will they turn back to green eventually?
ANSWER: Some may revert back to green but the majority willstay yellow and drop off when new leaves form. I would not remove the yellowleaves because they will still be capable of producing a small amount of energy- especially important because you have just re-potted it. |
| Date: 4 July 2016 |
From: Carol F |
| QUESTION: When can I transplant my Skimmia japonica Rubella, from border to container?
ANSWER: I would avoid transplanting when in flower but anyother time of the year should be fine. Keep it watered well and keep it outof the midday sunshine. |
| Date: 2 July 2016 |
From: Jeanine |
| QUESTION: Can I prune my Skimmia now and how best to do it?
ANSWER: If you look at an established Skimmia you will notice that the foliage is all at the end of the stems.If you prune it, you will remove all the foliage and this may well causeproblems. I have never tried it. It would all depend on how quick the lowershoots produce foliage after pruning. If that happens quickly the shrub maysurvive. If it takes too long the shrub will not be able to gain energy from thesun and may not survive.
My advice would be to try it only if you plan to throw the shrub away becauseit is too large. |
| Date: 4 June 2016 |
From: Joyce R |
QUESTION: I would be grateful if you could advise me about a Skimmia whose leaves are yellowing as in your photo.It is planted in a large raised bed which is filled with ericaceous soil and planted with rhododendrons.
I have fed with acid lovers feed and also tried tea bags but it hasn’t solved the problem.ANSWER: I have updated the pest and disease section above toinclude two more reasons why Skimmia leaves can turn yellow.
Click here to skip to to that section. |
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COMMENTS / QUESTIONS LEFT BY OUR READERS
ANSWER: At this time of year I would use Sulphate of Iron rather than azalea feed. The leaf mulch will be fine to use.Azalea feed may encourage leafy tender growth which would not be good at this time of year. Sulphate of iron will simply increase theacidity of the soil allowing the plant to take up a more natural amount of nutrients.
ANSWER: Either use ericaceous compost or 50% ericaceous compost and 50% John Innes No 3. The container size you mention sounds fine.
I really don’t know the answer to the amount of compost, I judge it very roughly by eye.
ANSWER: Skimmia Pabella is a female variety of skimmia. It is a mutation of Skimmia Rubella which is male.
It will only produce berries if a male plant is nearby. You mention it produced red berries for two years which indicates that there wasa male skimmia in a nearby garden. I would assume the plant has been moved for some reason.
If you want red berries, Skimmia Rubella would be the ideal choice for pollination.
ANSWER: The variety is really the best way to know. Skimmia japonica rubella are male. Yellow leaves on a skimmiaindicate often that the soil is too alkaline.
ANSWER: I assume you are referring to the variety “Magic Marlot”. Typically the flower buds whichappear in autumn are cream coloured. They then turn to a lovely deep pink but then as the flowers open they turn white.Soil and weather conditions can also affect their colour.
ANSWER: I don’t have any specific information about skimmias but bees will fly half a mile or sobetween plants. Also, skimmias flower early in the year when there are few other nectar sources available for bees. Somy guess would be that that if the two plants are in the same garden, almost irrespective of the garden size, the beeswill find both skimmia plants.
ANSWER: They will fall off naturally in a couple of weeks. However you can remove them wheneveryou want, it won’t hurt the plant.
ANSWER: Yes there are some. Skimmia japonica “Magic Marlot” is a good example.
ANSWER: That’s an unusual variety. I did some research and believe that Skimmia japonica ‘Red
Diamonds’ has both male and female flowers. This means that it can produce berries as a stand alone plant.
The source of that information is given below:
https://www.shootgardening.co.uk/plant/skimmia-japonica-red-diamonds
ANSWER: The commonest reason is that the varieties you have bought are not as you thought. Thelabels may have been mixed up or the plants incorrectly identified. A second reason is that insects are not aroundat the correct time of year to pollinate the female. This could be caused by the position of the plants, a windy place is not goodfor pollination.
ANSWER: Skimmia japonica is strictly an outdoor shrub. I’ve never tried growing them indoorsbut I doubt that they would survive indoors for a year whatever level of water is given to them.
ANSWER: They will be fine to plant out in November as long as the ground is not frozen. Just make sure you acclimatise them for a week to outside conditions. Some nurseries produce perfect looking plant which have not been hardened off.
They may look good but can be shocked by suddenly transplanting to open ground. See here for a little more about hardening off plants.
ANSWER: The variety skimmia japonica ‘Magic Marlot’ is male. To be absolutely clear, male skimmia japonica will not produce berries even if a female variety is nearby. Female skimmia japonica (such as ‘Nymans’) can produce berries if a male skimmia japonica is nearby.
ANSWER: They will be fine to plant out in November as long as the ground is not frozen. Just make sure you acclimatise them for a week to outside conditions. Some nurseries produce perfect looking plant which have not been hardened off.
They may look good but can be shocked by suddenly transplanting to open ground. See here for a little more about hardening off plants.
ANSWER: The variety skimmia japonica ‘Magic Marlot’ is male. To be absolutely clear, male skimmia japonica will not produce berries even if a female variety is nearby. Female skimmia japonica (such as ‘Nymans’) can produce berries if a male skimmia japonica is nearby.
ANSWER: Some may revert back to green but the majority willstay yellow and drop off when new leaves form. I would not remove the yellowleaves because they will still be capable of producing a small amount of energy- especially important because you have just re-potted it.
ANSWER: I would avoid transplanting when in flower but anyother time of the year should be fine. Keep it watered well and keep it outof the midday sunshine.
ANSWER: If you look at an established Skimmia you will notice that the foliage is all at the end of the stems.If you prune it, you will remove all the foliage and this may well causeproblems. I have never tried it. It would all depend on how quick the lowershoots produce foliage after pruning. If that happens quickly the shrub maysurvive. If it takes too long the shrub will not be able to gain energy from thesun and may not survive.
My advice would be to try it only if you plan to throw the shrub away becauseit is too large.
I have fed with acid lovers feed and also tried tea bags but it hasn’t solved the problem.ANSWER: I have updated the pest and disease section above toinclude two more reasons why Skimmia leaves can turn yellow.
Click here to skip to to that section.
WHY NOT LEAVE YOUR QUESTION / COMMENTSABOUT THIS PAGE?
ENTER THEM BELOW. EMAIL ADDRESS IS OPTIONAL.
YOUR COMMENTS WILL BE ADDED ABOVE WITHIN A FEW HOURS.
IF YOU WISH TO ATTACH A PICTURE PLEASE ATTACH IT TO AN EMAIL SENT FROM OUR
CONTACT PAGE.
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