We have had a hot, dry couple of months in middle TN. I have been trying to water regularly, but my forsythia, which I planted this spring, is looking pretty bad. It sits on the southeast corner of my house and gets full sun until early evening.

I noticed what looked like a couple of dead branches about three weeks ago - brown, wilted, dry, drooping leaves. Thinking that perhaps the branches got nicked with the weedeater or something, I trimmed them away, and watered. Now more branches have brown leaves and the whole plant looks wilted, like it is dying. Forsythia are so hardy, I did not water it as faithfully as some of my more persnickety plants. I don't see insects or anything that looks like crown gall. Could it just be heat- and/or water-stressed and going dormant early, or are darker forces at work?

I have a couple of new butterfly bushes, and some transplanted crape myrtles that occasionally look wilted when they need watering, but they always perk right up after a deep soaking. The forsythia doesn't seem to be responding though. Any ideas?

Jill