We'll need closer pics of the dying leaves. Privet is susceptible to anthracnose. What is your soil type? How much do you water? LA foothills is pretty broad. Which ones?

Privet would not be my first choice for a hedge in the hills but then I also just don't like privet.

StanofH I thought that more water could be it. I have tried with no significant improvement. I'm adding more time to the sprinkler... They are all planted at high areas and the dirt/rocks are raised around to help hold the water.

Nil13 I lived in Mt. Washington (side facing HP) for 12 years and loved gardening. 5 years ago I moved to La Crescenta and now have a brown thumb. I miss the wonderful dirt in your/my old hood. Now I have heat, crazy winds and rocky soil. What hedge plant would you suggest? I thought this was going to be fast and easy to grow. So wrong :/

I think too dry. They still look pretty darn good. What you might try is a thick mulch under them- that will fight the hot dry winds from sucking all the surface water away.

Lots of wood chips, a bale of hay...something to make a nice THICK mulch. I bet you would see a fast positive response.

I agree with mulch the heck out of them. But I'm wondering what the root systems look like. Have you dug up any of the dead ones to take a look at the roots? That veinal yellowing reminds me of a girdling problem. You might want to check for girdling roots. Container grown plants can often suffer from that. Where did you get the plants from?

If the plan was for a formal clipped hedge, I'd probably use Acacia longifolia instead. I think a more naturalistic hedge with Grevillea, Banksia, and Melaleuca would be more interesting though.

I'm on the west side of Mt. Wash. overlooking Cypress Park. Heat, crazy wind, and thin Rocky soil sounds just like my back yard.

We've been in a drought for five years, so that probably was part of it.

Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia) and Lemonade Berry (Rhus integrifolia) make a nice informal hedge, and are native to SoCal. They are not particularly fast growing, but with patience could work.

My oldie is in bloom right now. Japanese Privet is a fine shrub. Its the courser one L. sinense,that birds drop all over and those are true invasive weed tree's eventually.

Privet can grow in hot and dry places. I live inland and rarely water mine. I only have one which is a topiary. I would never use it as a hedge plant as there are many plants I like better. It was 99 today, summer came in May.

Hi all! Thank you for the advice... I've mulched away and have been using the hose to water. The options are great they are helpful. My wallet is still hopeful that these will work out. If this does not work, i will switch them out in the fall (?). It is already so hot... I know the IE has us beat.

StanofH I have hedge envy :)

One more question... most of these are newly planted. How much should I water them until they get established? Also, how often?

The light green veins could be an indication of a nutrient deficiency. The lighter green veins could be a sulfur deficiency, but I'm not an expert on that, so I'd want someone else to chime in with their opinion/experience.

Sulfur deficiency does not present as veinal yellowing.

Sometimes plants show that nutritional problem because the roots aren't happy- in this case,a thick mulch might also solve that. No more..wet and then very dry cycle. The surface roots can do their thing.