Abellia bush help please

I purchased and planted 3 abellia bushes over a year ago. Two are doing okay, but the third is not much of a bush at all. It's very thin and can only be said "it is alive".
This is pictures of the poor Abellia

This is pictures of the other two Abellias that are doing okay. They were all 3 gallon plants.

Try gently tugging at it to see if it has rooted in at all. I suspect that it hasn't. You might need dig it out, get some roots loose from a (perhaps?) rootbound rootball, and replant it. These things are ridiculously tough once established.

Scott

Thank you I'll check the roots.

I think Scott's probably right about it not having rooted well, that's the most likely case. This is something that can happen especially in clay soil if you plant something and amend the soil in the planting hole, then the roots want to stay there rather than going out into the soil. The other possibility I can think of (since this has happened to me with other plants) is if you have gophers or some other underground root-chewer it could be that some of the roots have been munched and the plant is alive but not thriving. If all the roots haven't been chewed off, I've had success with pruning things back until the top growth is proportional to what the gopher left of the rootball, and things have sometimes come back for me (assuming the gopher moved on to juicier roots and didn't keep going after the same plant!)

I just went out and dug up the abellia. The roots seemed to be a little attached to the immediately surrounding soil, but it seemed to be dry in comparison to some of our ground. (Seeing that we had a 'mini monsoon' last week and LOTS of other things are still damp.) A few limb of the bush had died (I'm guessing from drought). Also the soil was not as deep as I thought it was (there is clay below it) so I added in some partially composted matter and lots of leaves and dug the hole larger and deeper to work in the additives. I hope I will see a difference in the near future.

Any ideas how long it may take to see a difference?

I need to raise the planting heighth of the 2 bushes by the waterfall. When can they be raised? Any special information I should know about digging them up and raising the heighths?

Are you going to create a raised bed? If you are, I would do it now. As stated earlier, these things are really tough. I grow them because they are easily propagated, and I am trying to fill a five acre piece of Alabama woodlands with trees and tough shrubs. I would wait until they bloom and then cut the woody stems back (I propagate them by cutting them in pieces and placing them in a tree and shrub medium). By cutting them back you get a more bushy plant in the future. On the small one - does it get the same amount of sunlight that the other two receive? I've found that they tend to be a bit more spindly when they are in the shade. They love leaf mold, all around them. The woody stems I was referring to are the three long, woody stems on the one plant. In the future, the plant will have many of those stems. Cut the stems back when the plant is small, after flowering, and you will have beautiful plants down the road. That's my experience. Wish you well.
Ray

Yes, I need to create a raised berm around the waterfall area. They are still alive, but have lost most of their leaves.
It is 29 degrees today. I'm guessing that it will be better to wait until it is a more 'normal' temperature cold day to do this.

The small one (by itself) is on the east side of the house and gets no afternoon sun at all. I'm hoping that as the weather gets warmer and we have more sunlight it will do better since I added in some compost and leaves when I dug it up and replanted it in the same location.

I sure hope all three do better come summer. I love the pink color and blooms.

Thanks for your information.

None of us know the knowledge or interest level of other posters, so please don't be offended by what I offer. As you may know, birds (hummers), bees and butterflies just love abelia. Although you will see it described as evergreen, my experience here in central Alabama is that it does drop leaves in the winter. I also like the glossy leafed abelia. It has a much deeper color. OK, I won't bother you again. I do like this tough plant for southern gardeners (as Felder Rushing describes it).

Oh no! You're not bothering me. I like gathering information and so far you're the only one that has offered any on this thread.
I thought the one's I have are glossy leafed and gets deep color. Are there others?

Sorry, I've obviously misinterpreted your pics - yes, there are varieties that do not have the deep, dark green sheen. Locally, the plants that you have are marketed as "glossy leaf Abelia", the other commonly marketed variety is simply described as "Abelia grandiflora". They are the same plant - just different varieties.