same thing has happened to mine and to most of the skip laurels in the neighborhood, except those that were planted very close to the house and thus protected from the worst weather.

hope someone else chimes in here, but i assume it's winter burn and that the new leaves will grow out vigorously enough so that it will compensate for the burned leaves.

i heard that spraying in the fall (once temps hit 40s consistently) with wilt-pruf will prevent the leaves from getting as much winter damage.

Here is a link that might be useful: wilt-pruf

I am a little south of you, but have battled skip laurels big time. I think my problem has been that they don't like wet feet. I moved them to higher ground and two bounced back and one yellowed out a few weeks ago and still looks bad. Of the five that I bought two years ago, only one has done well from the start.

My advice is to make sure they don't stay wet, definitely a shrub that does not like too much water. Other than that, good luck with this finicky one.

I finally got a close up look at the bushes & it is definitely wind or frost burn. I will absolutely have to get that wilt proof spray for next year since they are on a hill and exposed to the weather. But that hill does keep them from too much water.

Bad news is that we are in for a mega storm w/ bad winds, rain & cold for the next 2 days. Hope the poor things survive this horrible Spring. Thanks for the help. Debbie.