Advice on brown leaves

Hi. This tree belongs to my grandmother who is now 93 and cannot remember what it is other than it was planted from a cutting some years back. She has however become quite fond of it and is now upset as you can see from the photo it is going brown (this has happened quite quickly).

I would be grateful if anyone could advise either what this tree is and / or what might be wrong with it as we cannot spot any insects or fungus.

Many Thanks

 

Hi, my thoughts would be towards a fungal attack via the soil from something like Phytophthora or Honey Fungus. Again, in my opinion, the plant is probably best removed completely including the roots.

Blackstart

 

I think its dead, could just be drought.
It looks like one of the smaller varieties of Chamaecyparis.

 

If I recall Monty correctly - that type of tree doesn't show any signs that it's been underwatered until it's too late. Others will droop to tell you that they need a good drink - that tree will simply go brown and die with no warning.

 

Botanically. Conifers really are a strange quantum. I have a friend, a Fellow of the Linnean Socy. He's based at Kew. He has written a book on conifers. Back to conifers we might grow in our gardens. Conifers tend to have a very special attraction to gardeners. Sad to say. Regardless of what our horticultural knowledge might be. We so often make the wrong choices.
Perhaps, staying with what might be classed as a garden conifer. Get the books out and start searching. Conifers as such in the wild world, are those tall evergreen majestic monsters mainly in the North Americas. Thanks to those intrepid plant hunters, let's say. The conifer has come to Britain. Be honest. Would you consider planting a junior who has the ability to grow say 100ft. Of course not. So our fore bearers, our botanical scientis got to work. Now we have a vast catalogue of garden types. Sadly one part of the conifer's DNA hasn't been mastered.
sad to say. As we browse around the garden center, we focus on a conifer. It looks good. Being unaware. Our new conifer, may actually be dying.

In the case of our friend. This is simply a suggestion. You can get in there and cut out the center stem. This will probably clear the visible dead stuff. Now using garden string/twine. Draw the outer growt closer to the center. Tie and secure. Peovide the roots are healthy, then the plant has a chance of survival. The cut area will not produce new growth, but the former out growt may well grow faster and naturally close up and hopefully, give you back your treasured conifer.