This column has had queries about bits of griselinia hedges mysteriously going brown and dying. In the past, honey fungus has been the culprit, but now, according to Ciaran Burke of Murphy and Wood Garden Centre, a new disease is afoot: Sclerotinia fungus. Affected plants should be dug up and destroyed. It would do no harm to remove the soil from the spot. Fill gaps with other hedging plants like privet, escallonia or pittosporum or tie the branches of existing plants across the divide. Late cutting of griselinia hedges in autumn, or early cutting in spring, may leave wounds which are susceptible to infection, as may power-trimmers. The fungus lies dormant in winter and reawakens in spring to infect stressed plants. To be safe, don't trim griselinia after this month. The chemical, Armillatox is known to work on honey fungus, but whether it works on Sclerotinia is unknown.