Trees, Shrubs and Conifers: Dying Skimmia - pls help, 0 by Peckhaus

Peckhaus wrote:
We have a 6-yr old skimmia on the shady, north side of our house in a protected area (We live in zone 7a not far from the ocean). Within 2-3 months this past summer, parts of the foiliage turned pale green, dried up, and died. We cut off those branches and I have attached a photo of the remainder of our bush.

We took a branch to our local garden center and they detected nothing wrong -- no bugs, no scale. They took a cross-section of the stalk and saw nothing unusual.

10 yrs ago we had another mature skimmia of the same variety on the same side of the house but in a different spot which also died in this manner. After the first signs of illness, we transplanted it to another shady spot on the property -- less protected -- but the plant died back slowly over the course of several years anyway.

We have never sprayed, wrapped in burlap, or done anything for these skimmias other than water by hand (we do not have an irrigation system). We may have fertilized, but we cannot remember. Adjacent bushes doing fine are: euonymus, leucothoe, and english laurel.

Could anyone help us with our skimmia dilemma? We are not sure what kind of care these bushes need and we have no idea what causes them to die back. We love them and would like to grow them successfully.

Thanks!