Late last summer we removed 5 mugo pine shrubs from the landscaping area around our gas lamp post. The area is a pie shape around this post and originally contained the 5 mugo pines, and some sort of ground cover that gets tiny pink flowers, as well as some hiacynths (sp) that pop up in spring. The mugo pines had some sort of disease/pest (I believe it was a pest) that would eat either all the old or new growth (sorry I don't remember which). They looked to be eaten from the inside out, with needles still on the ends of the branches. I was sick of dealing with the problem, so I removed all of the mugo pines and as much of the ground cover as I could (I didn't care for either one anyway).

I planted 5 dwarf boxwoods in place of the mugo pines, as well as one ornamental grass and 3 purple-ish leafy perenials (ugh, can't remember the name). The purple leafy plants turned orange in several spots within a few days of planting. The grass looked like it was dying within a few days as well. After a few weeks, the boxwoods all began to turn golden at the tips, but it didn't spread, just at the tips. In case you are wondering, we were very careful to select the plants for the amount of sun we get in that area, as well as planted them to the proper depth and with the proper mixture of miracle grow/native soil/new soil according to our garden center. Watered them as the garden center instructed.

Now that it is spring, the boxwoods are almost all gold/dead except for way deep into them you can still see a little green. A couple of them are only gold on one side, with green leaves on the back half and totaly gold on the front. The purple plants look about the same as they did a few days after planting them, but a little more orange than before, and the grass hasn't begun to grow yet so I can't comment on that. I don't know what has happened. Does anyone have any idea what I can do? Is it a problem that stemmed from whatever pest or disease harmed my mugo pines? I have not seen any bugs/pests in the area. I plan to replace the boxwoods with more boxwoods, but I don't want to keep throwing my money away. Please help me figure this out! BTW, I live in Columbus, Ohio, if that helps. TIA!