I thought at first that it was browning due to an unusually very hot/dry summer we had. I did water it some w the hose but you know just not the same as rain. It is not mulched. It was planted here 3 years ago and is about 3 ft tall. I suspect it may have been planted slightly too deep from it's original depth, as it was moved w the tractor, quite heavy and it was difficult. Over time the whole thing has settled a little. I'm not sure if that has anything to do with what is happening now. When it first started looking sad I did fertilize it w triple 13. It had an infestation of bugs, I don't know exactly what they were but looked something like these
https://www.google.com/search?... (black assassin bugs) I ended up spraying them w malathion and the bugs did leave. Some of the leaves look curled under. Some spotted, some just dead/brown altogether. Even the bark on the trunk/stems look bad. They did bloom this past spring. They have steadily went down hill since then. The strange thing is one side looks better and the other side is more affected, but it is slowly spreading along.
These shrubs are important to me as I dug them up from my grandmas house.
What can I do to save them? I am in SW MO, zone 6b.
