the only disease is lack of water .... you are responsible for all water this year.. and browning tissue means they arent getting enough water.. deep enough into the root zone .... drag out the hose... put it on a trickle.. and leave it at the base of each tree for 6 to 8 hours .... take a hand trowel .. and on one of the worst looking plants.. dig a small hole 6 to 12 inches deep and see if it is cool and moist in there.. if not.. lack of water is your only problem .... do not let them dry for the rest of this season .. and in drought next year ... BB are a full sun plant.. they do not brown in full sun, but for lack of water ... a healthy well watered plant deflects disease ... there are many snake oil salesmen who will gladly sell you chemicals to put on an under watered plant ... a healthy plant can take care of itself ... ken

You know all it looks like to me is fall on its way...if you knocked those dry leaves off I think that your plant would look fine. The branches are bowing a bit to their weight, which is why they are not as erect as they were. Deciduous plants monitor photoperiod (day length, actually night length) but temperature, moisture, etc can affect timing. The majority of the shrub looks great. I wouldn't worry. Sara ps you can prune this shrub in all kinds of ways, generally best to do in spring. You can coppice it each year and keep it fairly 'small' or you can prune into a multi-trunked small tree. It wants to be a good-sized plant so keep that in mind. It is hard to propagate them from cuttings but you can 'layer' it - rough up the bottom of a branch a bit and pin it to the ground, using a bit of rooting hormone if possible. Google 'plant propagation by layering'.

When I bought my house eleven years ago, one of the attractions was an 80 foot mature hedge of Oleander, variety Eugenia Fowler. It had gorgeous double pink flowers somewhat reminiscent of camellias. I planted blue morning glory in it and it was a spectacular mix of pink and blue. In the second or third year since I bought the house I saw the same symptoms you described. This was after the county clipped the hedge. I could not get out there and do it because I had just had a baby (everything goes to pot after a baby). I think they had dirty clippers. In two years the entire hedge died. It took me years to remove all of the dead wood because I simply could not afford to remove it all at once. Once the wood was dry enough my kids and I pulled them apart and filled up seven big trash cans -twice. It took two trash days to haul it all away. Since then I have been nickel and dimeing -buying a couple plants at a time to replace the hedge. Nothing grows terribly well there except California rose. Not very hedge-like but it does discourage fence hoppers. I have cape honeysuckle (3), Privet (Growing sloooowly)(5), that pale purple Lavatera from the Mediterranean(1), Pyracantha (1)and Lady Banks rose(3) plus the aforementioned California Rose. The Cal native is the tallest at 6 feet. I'm hoping the Lady Banks will get huge and all over. Then I can just clip it out of the road like I did the Oleander. In the meantime everyone gets to look at my epically ugly wobbly chain link fence that I cannot afford to replace. No privacy in the meantime. I'm afraid I will be very old when I finally have a decent hedge there again.

it would help to know if they are deciduous azalea ... do they normally lose all their leaves in winter???? mine are... and its been one horrible summer.. and they are losing leaves from the heat ... drought.. and probably injury from the 2 late heavy frosts.. and 3 hail storms this summer ... all these things add up to .. one bad summer.. and early leaf lose ... which might mean nothing more than .. 'one bad summer' .... DO NOT USE ANY CHEMICALS UNTIL YOU HAVE DONE THE FOLLOWING: properly ID the plants ... properly ID a real problem... and properly ID a known cure for the problem ... if you have any 'good' nursery around... a quick call or trip might help .. take a leaf or two ... and ask about other people in your area ... it might be very common ... especially in a bad summer ... a local garden club .. is a great way to meet local friends.. trade and share plants... and learn about what is going on in your area.. i highly recommend such to any newbie .... as noted.. a picture would be worth 1000 words ... ken