OK - a high probability that your plant is suffering from either a high level of salts in the soil, over-watering, or both. I see you have a scheff, too. Both of these plants would benefit significantly from a fast-draining, well-aerated soil. Hopefully, you read the link I provided a little upthread. I'm going to provide another link that Will help you better understand the function of soil and how soil choice can impact your growing experience. Here is what I would do, step by step, to rejuvenate the plant. I won't go into a lot of detail because much of this is covered in the first thread about Ficus in containers that I linked to upthread, but if you have questions, just ask. I'm going to make some assumptions based on my experience and the odds, one being the plant needs repotting. 1) Flush the soil thoroughly and repeatedly to rid the soil of accumulating salts. When it stops draining, depot the plant and set it on newspapers to dry down (several hours to overnight) 2) Saw the bottom 1/3 of the roots off; then use a utility knife to cut deep vertical slits in the root mass at 3-4" intervals. Tease a little of the soil away from the perimeter of the remaining root mass, then return the plant to the same pot after adding some soil to the bottom, then fill in around the sides. Use a soil similar to what you have but add lots of perlite in the soil in the bottom 3-4". This will reduce the amt of water held in the PWT zone, which will be very helpful. 3) Move the plant outdoors into open shade and eventually into dappled sunlight or early/late sun if possible. Be careful to do this gradually - a sunburn will probably kill the plant. 4) The first time the plant needs watering after flushing the soil, fertilize with a soluble fertilizer with a 3:1:2 NKP RATIO. 'Ratio' is different and much more important than NPK %s. I prefer Foliage-Pro 9-3-6, but any of the 24-8-16 all-purpose fertilizers are ok, as is MG's 12-4-8 liquid in the yellow jug. 5) Let your tree grow wild (unpruned) until this time next year. At that time, your tree will have recovered to the point you should be ready to do a full repot and change to a high quality soil. I think these steps are about as gentle as you can be and still be proactive in turning your tree around. There IS one other thing that will work even better if it works for you. That is, remove the tree from it's pot and put it in a 5 gallon bucket or nursery can with large (1") drain holes through which the roots can run into native soil. All you need to do then is keep it watered and fertilized. This will REALLY get your tree recharged. Al

The area will probably be about 20-24 feet long and it would get quite a bit of sun. I am thinking 2 smaller trees or 1 small tree and 1 large shrub. The rest of the bed would be some smaller shrubs and perennials. We do have deer that pass through the yard frequently although they don't seem to linger and I think more of our plants have been damaged by rabbits. Species I am looking at are Ironwood, lilac trees (either Japanes or pekenisis), Seven Son Flower or other large tree like shrub. The Ironwood and some of the lilac trees are available either way. Seven Son and larger shrubs would be multi-trunk. I've seen some grafted on a single trunk but I didn't care for that look - at least at the stage they are at when I've seen them. Thanks.

Difference between a shrub and a tree - a tree is generally defined as having a single (and usually straight) trunk from gound level, a shrub having several trunks. But it is very much an artificial distinction, in reality it is shades of grey, and many species can be either shrubs or trees depending on the individual and its growing situation. It is easy enough to prune a Cotoneaster salicifolius to grow as a single-stemmed tree (I've seen it done), though it is more typically (as yours) multi-stemmed. Resin

I have to order my trees today, and now I really don't know what to do about this area. Out of all the suggestions, I would probably go with a viburnum as an alternative, but I'm waiting for someone to chime in say it's ok to put an american hornbeam in this spot. Let me describe the spot a little better, just in case I left anything out. It's about an 8' x 8' area. Those rocks in the pics were just a pile I created while digging the patio. They're all gone now. My LArch chose this tree because it's light and airy and to break up the long patio. Was going to plant marginal wood ferns around the base. He said to let it arch out and prune lower branches as it grew. I'm just hesitant to discount his advice because I did a lot of research before choosing someone to advise me on this project. He's been in the business of natural landscaping 30+ yrs, has many publications, tons of speaking engagements, and came highly recommended from the folks who did my audubon at home audit. That said, I've gotten tons of good advice from folks on this forum, which makes this decision so difficult!