you don't know severe winter in zone 7 GA .... in the last two weeks up here in MI ... its been single digits with wind chills from -5 to -25 below ... now that is severe ... lol i was out yesterday and i saw no damage on any of the 50 or so GG's i have ... which leads me to believe that the severity of winter is not your problem ... soooo .. what to do ... i suggest nothing until they start to grow this spring ...GG's go through some color change.. and without pix its hard to tell if that is the issue or whether you have other problems .... so lets just be patient for a bit ... but lets be realistic... when you buy one or two plants.. you can take care of them.. and baby them... and get them going.. but when you are working on a scale of 26 plants .. in all reality you shouldn't expect a 100% success rate ... you may lose one or two ... and don't worry about that.. you can replace them .. but these are pretty aggressive plants.. and even if you have some die back .. they will rebound strongly once they get going .... this year.. you are responsible for all water.. they should be watered PROPERLY .... which means a good soaking.. and then let them dry out before watering again ... this involves your finger in the soil ... there is no way for me to tell you more than that ... in my pure sand.. i might water every other week or so ... once per week in the hottest part of summer ... you should also insure that all grass and weeds are removed in a 2 foot circle to reduce competition ... and a good layer of mulch should be put around each ... if watering is problematic... a little moat around each before you put down the mulch will allow you to put a few gallons of water there which will then soak in over time .... now.. if you have that famous GA clay .. i just don't know what that will do to my recommendations.. and hopefully someone with clay experience will correct me if any of the above needs adjusting .... often .. with potted stock ... you should see how the hired help whips these things around... grabbing the top of the tree and just whipping the pots around.. being evergreen .. the damage isn't seen for a year or two ... i wouldn't be surprised if someone grabbed yours and threw it to the next guy who them put it on a pallet.. etc.. you get the picture.. a little brown is not really a big deal in the 50 year life span of your babes.. so try to relax about it .. if it were all 26 plants.. then i would suspect you messed up somehow.. but if its one or two.. or a few plants ... blame some one else.. lol ... let us know what happens in April or may ... just take the hand pruners and snip out the brown once you are sure it will not green back up ... and the plants will be fine.. good luck ken

There are certainly Thuja occidentalis cultivars with dark green foliage, 'Nigra' for instance. If anything, that's what these look like to me, what with the multiple competing leaders, darker green coloration, and not very tree-like growth habit. Any T. plicata's I've ever seen, other than dwarf cultivars, had strongly tiered branch arrangement. Absolutely do not appear to be GGs. +oM

what bboy means.. is that GG is a hybrid between Thuja standishii x Thuja plicata 'Green Giant' .. and not simply a Thuja ... regardless.. it is dead.. you wont know why until you dig it up .. if not shipping.. handling or watering.. there is even a chance that the balling itself.. chopped off too many roots... please review the planting instructions at the link.. and if you replace it.. SKIP ALL AMENDMENTS.. and plant high in clay ... and do it in the right season.. june is getting late in many 0parts of the country.. to do it best .... since GG can grow 2 to 3 feet per year.. even in cold zones.. i dont really understand why you bought it so big ... a smaller plant is easier to get home.. easier to plant.. and easier to get re-established ... and... you can buy a potted one.. and not worry about all the roots being chopped off ... also skip the snake oil quick start .. unless you have some left ... its of no harm.. its just not worth the money .... and i have no clue what a deep root waterer is ... but INSURE that the root mass never dries.. nor gets too wet.. you check with your finger.. or a small trowel ... had you done that this time.. you would have know if it was too wet or too dry ... something bothers me about your plant.. i am not sure it is a GG ... it looks too pendulous .... but the pics are too small for me to see well ... maybe joy will tell us ... hit the warranty .. take the money.. and buy a smaller plant.. i would bet a buck.. a 3 footer... will outgrow the other in 5 years .... good luck ken Here is a link that might be useful: link

I have zero tolerance for burlapping plants to get them through winter. In my world, that's a plant not worth bothering with. What I'm saying is, these will green up just fine-don't worry about that. Coffee grounds are a fine addition to compost heaps and the like. A few sprinkled around plants which ultimately will become large beings is insignificant in any direction. Someone was probably relating the false narrative that GG's being conifers require acidic soils. That's not true of genus Thuja, which is what these plants are a part of, nor will a few coffee grounds sprinkled about have any meaningful impact on soil pH....even if that did matter, which it doesn't in this case.