Mark Wright at war with gardeners over £30K of dead trees

Mark Wright at war with gardeners over £30K of dead trees: Towie star slams landscapers as 60 bays planted at his £3.5M Essex home died over winter… despite same type thriving down the road at Billie Faiers’ home

EXCLUSIVE: 60 bay trees that Mark Wright planted at Essex home have died
Read more: Mark Wright’s ‘devastating’ £30,000 disaster at £3.5m mansion

Mark Wright has become embroiled in a row with gardeners who landscaped his £3.5million mansion after blaming them for recommending £30,000-worth of trees which have since died.

The former Towie star has revealed that the 60 bay trees he had specially imported over from Tuscany in Italy at £500 each had died over the winter.

And MailOnline can reveal that apparently identical bays planted by Wight’s Towie co-star Billie Faiers at her home in Brentwood, just seven miles away, are thriving.

When Wright complained, the company that supplied the trees, Lush Landscapes, accused him of using the wrong kind of soil, it’s understood.

But Wright, 36, said the trees – which line the boundary of his gleaming country pile near Ongar in Essex – should never have been recommended because they cannot withstand British winters when ‘left out in the open in anything below minus five degrees’.

Oh no: Mark Wright, 36, has revealed his suffered a ‘devastating’ £30,000 disaster at the £3.5m Essex mansion he shares with wife Michelle Keegan

When Wright complained that the trees he had ordered had died, the company that supplied the trees, Lush Landscapes, accused him of using the wrong kind of soil (Mark Wright’s garden)

He added that temperatures just before Christmas plummeted to -15C.

Wright planted the magnificent display at the mega-mansion he shares with actress wife Michelle Keegan in November 2021.

He proudly posted a video of the four metre-high plants – which can almost double in size – on his Instagram page set up to document his house-build.

The 60 bays were understood to have been planted to keep prying eyes out.

Showing them off to the camera, Wright boasted: ‘Look at these, standing at four metres high, for a big privacy screening – all the way down the field.

Read more: ‘I had a little bit of a nightmare’: Mark Wright suffers ‘devastating’ £30,000 disaster at £3.5m Essex mansion he shares with wife Michelle Keegan

‘They are massive. Fresh in this morning from Tuscany. Beautiful. 60 of these will be planted today and some smaller ones in the back as well.’

However, just a year and a half later, Wright admitted on Monday that the trees had been a ‘devastating’ and costly disaster.

Speaking to Heart Radio, where he presents a show on Saturdays, he said: ‘It’s that kind of weather outside where you start thinking about planting your spring/summer plants. I had a little bit of a nightmare, I’m not gonna lie.’

He continued: ‘I planted some trees in my garden and they all died, and it’s devastating because I spent so long watching them thinking “please grow”.

‘They were my boundary trees to give me a little bit of privacy, and the company blamed it on the soil because obviously the wrong soil can make your plants go bad.

‘I ended up finding out they recommended the wrong plants to me, and it was because they’re not supposed to be out in the open in anything below minus five degrees and at Christmas time it was like minus 15 when it snowed.’

A spokesman at Lush Landscapes which supplied the trees said: ‘We’ve spoken to Mark about the situation but that is all we are prepared to say. There is no further comment.’

Lush Landscapes also planted £20,000 worth of bay trees at the new-build home of Billie Faiers and husband Greg Shepherd last summer.

Gardeners working on the couple’s home this week told MailOnline they had experienced no issues with the plants and were at a loss as to why they were looking green and lush but those at Wright’s nearby were brown and dying.

Gardening experts say that the trees at Wright’s home do not appear to have been properly cared for, either placed in the wrong spot or left ill-prepared for cold weather.

Rebecca Bevan, senior national consultant for plant health and sustainability at the National Trust, said: ‘Bay trees (Laurus nobilis) have been grown in UK since the 1500s and usually do fine but are best in a sheltered, sunny position as they originate from warmer climates.

Gardening experts say that the trees at Wright’s home (pictured) do not appear to have been properly cared for, either placed in the wrong spot or left ill-prepared for cold-weather

‘Looking at photographs of the trees at the bottom of Mark Wright’s property, where they have little protection, the brown colour does suggest damage from cold prevailing wind. It’s not an ideal spot, they’re too exposed.

‘This problem would have been even worse for recently imported trees which were probably even less prepared for the sudden cold. It’s possible they have completely died from the shock.

‘I really can’t account for why the trees of his TOWIE co-star are healthier without understanding the micro-climates of each garden. Soil conditions and mistakes with planting could be a factor but if they were growing well up until winter, it’s probably the cold.

‘A good landscaper should advise that bay is not the right plant for an exposed site but that does not mean they are unsuited to the UK generally. It was a really unusual winter this year.’

Maria Mitchell, manager of Sutton Manor Nursery, said boggy soil or cold and exposed conditions could have damaged the expensive bay trees

‘I really can’t account for why the trees of his TOWIE co-star are healthier,’ Ms Bevan explained (Billie Faiers’ home)

Lush Landscapes, which supplied Mark Wright’s trees, also planted £20,000 worth of bay trees at the new-build home of Billie Faiers (pictured) and husband Greg Shepherd last summer

Gardeners working on the Faiers’ home (pictured) this week told MailOnline they had experienced no issues with the plants

Mariah Mitchell, manager of the Sutton Manor Nursery in Kent, which specialises in importing and selling Mediterranean plants in the UK, said: ‘Bay trees are extremely hardy – especially the variety Mark Wright had planted – and they certainly can withstand British winters as long as they are treated properly.

‘Looking at Mark’s trees they are either completely or at least 50 per cent brown.

‘I think there’s two reasons for this. One is the trees could’ve been over-watered. If Mark has a built-in irrigation system and they are watered every day, that isn’t good for the plants. They only need to be watered around twice a week.

‘Bay trees thrive on free-drainage soil so if it’s waterlogged and boggy that will do them damage.

‘The other, most-likely, reason is the cold, particularly if the soil has frozen and there hasn’t been enough protection there.

‘We recommend using a horticultural wrap to cover the soil at the base of the plant before the frost and ice sets in, because if water seeps into the soil during sub-zero temperatures it freezes the roots.

‘Looking at Mark’s Instagram page he had a lot of snow before Christmas. You have to brush the snow off the leaves as much as possible because the snow can leave scorch marks on the trees – as it appears to have done on those Mark has planted.

‘It’s also important to remember to take off the wrap before the temperature warms up because if you do not get sunlight on top of the soil it doesn’t dry out enough.’

MailOnline can reveal that apparently identical bays planted by Wright’s Towie co-star Billie Faiers at her home in Brentwood, just seven miles away, are thriving (the bay trees before they were planted)

Nikki Barker, a senior horticultural advisor at the Royal Horticultural Society, added: ‘We have imported specimen plants from Italy for decades – they have a longer growing season so we often get plants such as bay or magnolia from there’ (trees at Billie Faiers’ home)

The recommended time to plant bay trees in Britain according to the RHS is between April and September (Billie Faiers’ home)

The recommended time to plant bay trees in Britain according to the RHS is between April and September.

Wright’s expensive mistake comes after plans to make his dream family home a fortress were criticised by two local councils in November.

At the time, he and his wife put in a new planning application to make the estate more secure by surrounding it with a ‘rendered wall’ between 1.8 metres and 2.1 metres high.

Both Epping Forest District Council and Stanford Rivers Parish Council hit out at the ‘inappropriate’ plans, claiming they’re not in keeping with the tone of the ‘rural area’.

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