Hi-

We live in Seatle and these shrubs we have were planted by landscapers last Nov because the previous ones were dead. We also moved into this house at that time. It has been normal here up until last week when temps have been 90 a few days. Since then one shrub is dead and the others have a lot of brown spots forming very quickly. Up until this time we have not watered the shrubs at all but have had what I consider to be regular rain.

I have been watering each plant for several minutes each once a day lately assuming it was too hot. Our neighborhood has these all over the place and they all look good except for ours.

Are these shrubs not getting enough water? Any thoughts are appreciated.

Yes they need more deep watering. I would set up a soaker/drip hose at the base and let it go for an hour or longer depending on the water flow. It can take a long time to get the water to the lower root zones.

Any newly planted shrubs need regular watering while they develop a root system. Even regular rain may not penetrate to the developing roots so they need help to establish, especially when in competition to the nearby hydrangeas.

I agree that they need more deep watering and a soaker or drip line hose would be the best way to do it. I'm not sure why you haven't watered them. Most newly planted shrubs, trees, what have you, need to be babied a little.

The plants that died — were they the same type? Do you know why they died? And these new ones are in the same spot? A soil test might be called for.

Having never grown these shrubs before, I'm wondering if they're too close together. Looks like a lot of shrubs in a relatively small space. Is that the usual way they're planted or are they competing with each other for water and nutrients?

I might be way off base with everything except that they need water!

I'm pretty sure the distance is fine. That's how they are planted around here and they do fine. The were planted in Nov and it rained and rained and rained all winter long here in Seattle. I thought 6 months was enough to get them established but I was wrong. I pulled a dead one out and the root ball hadnt branched out at all, it was pretty condensed. Will replace them soon, make larger holes and break up the root ball. We have soaker hose now. They were literally fine one day then dead the next.

You might already know this about planting and if so, my apologies. I'm giving you a link to an article that includes a short video about planting. Even tho it's about trees, the same info applies to shrubs.
https://www.dirtdoctor.com/gar...

What worries me a little about planting in the same spot is that you really don't know if there's a problem with the soil. But based on what you said about the roots, it's likely that the problem was due to improper planting. That's my non-expert guess.

Good luck!

Alot of shrubs and trees that landscapers plant end up dying.. I used to do landscaping for a bit, and the truth is that it's just a job to them, sometimes they are careful and thurough, but even still, they don't spend enough time on the hole, they use trees that have seriously cramped roots from sitting in containers too long, and you generally see a percentage of trees and shrubs planted by landscapers that die and have to be replaced... Think about, even trees growing in the wild, surrounded by weeds, bugs and everything else.. but there's a higher percentage of healthy trees in the wilderness than bought from nurseries and planted by landscaping companies... It's all how their raised and planted :]