Sheri....you can prune 'dead stuff ' at any time. The amount of shade is surely a contributing factor to the shrubs ' decline. But if it MY choice, I would absolutely not limb up my trees in order to give these very common plants more sunlight! The trees contribute real value to your property.....the ligustrum......not so much. In the late winter or early spring, you can cut the plants all the way to the ground....no more than 6 inch stumps. This is the "rejuvenation pruning " we were talking about earlier. In a few short weeks, the plants will begin to rebound rapidly. You'll be shocked at how quickly ligustrum will regrow. It's only a stop gap measure, however. You'll need to begin a fungicidal routine that might not be effective for very long. OR you could remove the ligustrum and replace them with something that thrives in the shade. If you are certain that you have no insects (scale?), then your shade trees should be inspected for scale, aphids, or other sucking insects. Black sooty mold only grows on the sweet liquid excrement of insects. Overstory trees are often the home of the insects and the honey dew rains down on anything below.

Ken, Good call on the html code. The only one I didn�t try. No, the entire yard is not red mulch. This area has the kids� playground equipment. And I do have red mulch in the flowerbeds that are not next to the house and along the hedge line. Mulch is a necessity in Florida. It keeps the moisture from evaporating too quickly. Not sure how much you need it up north. Next question, I only use weed killer in the natural section of the yard (away from these shrubs). This area hasn�t been graded. No, my neighbors love me. The rest of my yard is exceptional. My lawn is as thick as the carpet in your living room. And I get compliments every day on how my yard always looks great. And no machinery on mulch; my lawn mower is the biggest equipment either way. I tried only watering when I saw wilt, but it seemed to stress the plants way too much. In the summer, the heat of the way seems to do a number. I fertilize every two months because I notice the leaves start to show the veins and they begin to fade to yellow. I was instructed to do so by my local nursery. Our soil composition is Florida is mostly sand (not rich soil like you have). It does lack nutrients quite a bit. But maybe like you said, the fertilizer could be an issue of stress. I have tried a few things over the past two years. Watering only when needed, no fertilizer, soil transplant, peat moss, and I don�t trim this section any longer because it doesn�t grow at all. The rest of the hedges grow like weeds. I just trimmed two weeks ago and the tops are already shooting up. Thanks for the help. Just trying to figure this out.

Pineapple guava would be a good candidate ... forgot about that one. Clumping bamboo keeps spreading out creating a larger clump and it is labor intensive to dig out to keep it where you want it. It may become a problem with your fence later on down the road. I, personally, would not do bamboo next to a pvc fence. Seriously, you'd need an electric saw that would work in the soil to get it cut out and keep it in bounds. I know this first hand. I have both clumping and running. The running is the easiest to cut to keep in bounds. I can cut through it with lobbers. The clumping gets so densely packed it is pretty much impossible to cut through ... or at least I have not found a way. Just my two cents, but with your type of yard I would avoid bamboo.

if you have the energy and money.. i say start over.. with a better plant ... especially if this is the invasive plant ... is that the north or south side of the fence behind ... the fence could have been installed after the plants were mature.. shading the lower parts ... the alternative is to google 'rejuvenation pruning of shrubs' .. and start whacking them down.. in a 3 year cycle.. to regenerate the plants down low .. if you do replant.. move out at least 3 feet from the fence ... congrats on the planned nuptials.. ken