Basic, you may be right about being far enough north. Down here in the southeast we are having a drought so I have learned to water my evergreens before they need it and have avoided the browning. Last year,06, when my trees started to brown I learned from that experience. I also believe that the evergreens I bought where grown in my region so they have a better chance. Just guessing. I love your very blue junipers and may plant one myself . Linda

or it may have been a frost or freeze .... in my zone 5... ann arbor area ... we got hit hard this spring... the problem with frost/freeze ... is that you dont see the damage from it .. until the heat of summer sets in ... its part of the fact that they are evergreen ... i swear they could be dead for months, if not years ... but being 'evergreen' ... dont show the death until... winter dries them out.. or heat dries out the green .. regardless ... i am NOT suggestign yours are dead.. it can be bug or disease ... or just ma natures cruel sense of humor ... trim them off ... do some superficial inspection toward bboys suggestion ... and move on ... i will probably happen repeatedly over the years ... so if it really bugs you .. you should probably be rid of them .... ken

So ssmdgardener, about this little area of yours...what would you say the drainage is like now? Is it still a bit sunk, is it level, or is it now higher than the surrounding areas? If it's higher, my advice would be to go ahead and plant the blue arrows in the clay. Three trees in some kind of triangle seems about right. Another clay-friendly option would be a narrow columnar yew such as taxus x media 'beanpole'. If it is flat, with decent drainage, then I would suggest creating a mound or raised bed of better-draining soil on top rather than mixing it in with the clay. I think this strategy has more merit than amending because it emulates nature, where in most areas you will see a layer of organically rich, loose soil on top and the soil gets more compacted the deeper you dig. If you do this, I think you can pick from a wide range of conifer species, and the blue arrows should work fine also. If it is still somewhat sunken and mucky, I think you should not plant conifers there unless you can bring the level of clay soil even higher. I have had good luck so far with Fine Line Buckthorn(rhamnus frangula 'Ron Williams') in a mucky spot in my own yard. This is a plant that looks a lot like a conifer during the growing season, and while it won't give you winter color, it does have a nice sculptural look in winter, as you can see in this photo:

no fert.. no amendments... and no alleged root stimulator ... they need to nearly dry between waterings ... ergo drainage is an issue .. regardless ...INTERIOR BROWNING IS NORMAL .... it is highly accelerated by transplant... and the attendant shock ... ignore such .... its all about the growth tips .. and as long as those are strong and growing.. your juniper will survive ... i had about 4 of them.. short lived.. subject to winter burn and that tip disease .... i got about 10 years out of them.. before i got sick of them ... the root of my problems was a neighbor who had a fence line of older plants.. that much to late.. i realized had the disease.. so it wasnt worth trying to save mine.. besides the fact.. they were early to the collection and i placed them so wrong.. lol ... too close to the house ... so down they came ... a picture should be worth 1000 more words of speculation.. but usually .. interior browning is not that much of a problem.. short of your need to FIX a problem.. that you cant.. and you try to kill it with too much love ... relax.. its a juniper... basically hard to kill outright ... insure PROPER water.. MULCH PROPERLY .... and you should be all set ... in m y z5 .. proper planting time would have been between ground thaw and 4/15 .... give or take a couple weeks ... you were a bit late in june.. and the impact was increasing stress levels .... the next proper planting time in z5 is 2 weeks either side of 10/1 ... so start thinking now.. about what projects you might want to take on .... and how to secure the stock around that time of year ... good luck ken