Beginner Gardening: Chocolate Chip Ajuga Bugleweed dying! Please help, 1 by bgaviator2

bgaviator2 wrote:
I purchased a bunch of small Ajuga Chocolate Chip from the nursery, and I've had a lot of it die/dying on me. It's on a sloped, east-facing hill, so it does get quite a bit of sunlight. It has been very dry here in Ohio lately, but I have been giving it good water at night when the sun is setting. Some of the plants have had all the leaves shrivel, turn brown, and just completely die off. I went up to one of the plants and felt the brown leaves and they were just so dry and crumbled in my hands. What is going on? I went back to the nursery where I bought them and spoke to the manager, and she feels that they just aren't getting enough water. She asked me how I water them and I said just with a shower head attachment with the hose. I stand there for a good few minutes watering from above, and I've also been trying to more slow water at the root level by taking Styrofoam cups with a small pinhole poked in it. I fill it with water and set it next to the base of the plant so it can get a more slow, deep watering. She recommended I get a sprinker and let it run for 20 minutes. I really don't feel that I'm under-watering the plants. Could the dry, shrivling leaves be caused by potential over-watering??
Thanks for your help!