you don't know severe winter in zone 7 GA .... in the last two weeks up here in MI ... its been single digits with wind chills from -5 to -25 below ... now that is severe ... lol i was out yesterday and i saw no damage on any of the 50 or so GG's i have ... which leads me to believe that the severity of winter is not your problem ... soooo .. what to do ... i suggest nothing until they start to grow this spring ...GG's go through some color change.. and without pix its hard to tell if that is the issue or whether you have other problems .... so lets just be patient for a bit ... but lets be realistic... when you buy one or two plants.. you can take care of them.. and baby them... and get them going.. but when you are working on a scale of 26 plants .. in all reality you shouldn't expect a 100% success rate ... you may lose one or two ... and don't worry about that.. you can replace them .. but these are pretty aggressive plants.. and even if you have some die back .. they will rebound strongly once they get going .... this year.. you are responsible for all water.. they should be watered PROPERLY .... which means a good soaking.. and then let them dry out before watering again ... this involves your finger in the soil ... there is no way for me to tell you more than that ... in my pure sand.. i might water every other week or so ... once per week in the hottest part of summer ... you should also insure that all grass and weeds are removed in a 2 foot circle to reduce competition ... and a good layer of mulch should be put around each ... if watering is problematic... a little moat around each before you put down the mulch will allow you to put a few gallons of water there which will then soak in over time .... now.. if you have that famous GA clay .. i just don't know what that will do to my recommendations.. and hopefully someone with clay experience will correct me if any of the above needs adjusting .... often .. with potted stock ... you should see how the hired help whips these things around... grabbing the top of the tree and just whipping the pots around.. being evergreen .. the damage isn't seen for a year or two ... i wouldn't be surprised if someone grabbed yours and threw it to the next guy who them put it on a pallet.. etc.. you get the picture.. a little brown is not really a big deal in the 50 year life span of your babes.. so try to relax about it .. if it were all 26 plants.. then i would suspect you messed up somehow.. but if its one or two.. or a few plants ... blame some one else.. lol ... let us know what happens in April or may ... just take the hand pruners and snip out the brown once you are sure it will not green back up ... and the plants will be fine.. good luck ken

have any of you HARDENED them off to full sun application .... IF THEY CAME FROM A GREENHOUSE/shadehouse ... perhaps they are burning up.. because you blasted them out to full blistering sun???? when i order conifers.. i always try to remember to ask upon order.. or call them back when i get them.. to ask if they came from a greenhouse ... the next question would be how your zone compare between yours and where they are shipped from ... if they are growing lushly in z8 .. and you plant them asap in z4 in very early spring ... again.. there might be hardening off issues .... but to temps this time .... just speculating ... the grafters in WA and OR... tend to leave them outdoors the second winter.. or what they call winter.. lol ... but GG's are a rooted plant ... and it wouldnt surprise me if they are in green or shade houses .... ken

I think many conifers grow very slowly. Pine trees are the exception. They grow very fast. You may consider those, but they are wayyyyyy more than 20ft. Another fast growing conifer is the Witchita Blue Juniper. It will get 4-8 ft wide and 15-20 ft tall. If you plant them, make sure to plant 4 feet next to each other. It can be used as a screen or a windbreak and will need no pruning. It also has appealing color. Goodluck with what ever you choose.

I have zero tolerance for burlapping plants to get them through winter. In my world, that's a plant not worth bothering with. What I'm saying is, these will green up just fine-don't worry about that. Coffee grounds are a fine addition to compost heaps and the like. A few sprinkled around plants which ultimately will become large beings is insignificant in any direction. Someone was probably relating the false narrative that GG's being conifers require acidic soils. That's not true of genus Thuja, which is what these plants are a part of, nor will a few coffee grounds sprinkled about have any meaningful impact on soil pH....even if that did matter, which it doesn't in this case.