We will find out that it was one of the toughest winter for a long time for tender plants,
especially for the first winter and zone 4 rating cultivars.
Not sure if this was grafted to a hardier cultivar,...as I was reading, some sell them grafted.
Sun scalding is especially bad for the first couple of winters,.. what I have done with my Spruce and
Pine in the fall, sprayed with a latex water mix for reflection of sun ray, this seemed to help them when small.
You can also cover them with burlap or block the sunlight from the south with some means of temporary fencing.
Lets hope they will make it, perhaps they do if you had a good snow cover.
Konrad

I'm afraid you may have gone past the limits of hope with this one. Even here in USDA zone 4 Minnesota, 95% die.

sigh.
I better start looking for that warranty...

I was desperate for a couple of pines and fell in love with these so brought home two. One died the first year, so I reluctantly replaced it with something else (not a pine). The 2nd one, in a lot more protected spot, is barely hanging on and will probably be taken out this year. I am so disappointed, especially as I rigorously quizzed the salesperson about them, never having seen them in Alberta before. Think I'll stick to a Scots pine.
Kate

Oh come now, you have LOTS of options besides scots:
Natively there are lodgepole and jack. If scots pine
goes for soccer, then lodgepole goes out for basketball.
Jack is the wild one -- can look like a giant bonsai.

We can also grow ponderosa, whitebark (very hard to find)
and limber pine natively.

Other possibilities: Bosnian Pine, Swiss Stone Pine, Eastern white pine (marginal) Red pine (similar to scots,
but doesn't go as yellow in winter)

Contact me by private message for specifics

This is my second attempt on my Vanderwolf pines the first attempt my trees were not too large maybe 4 ft tall and they did fine for the first couple months and then turned completely brown and dry and we pulled them out. This year we bought much larger ones and planted them in different areas than last time. They were doing very well and are now starting to rapidly turn brown. I have pest control spray the yard because I thought that may help keep bugs away, we also have many small birds and it looks as if they are eating the buds off. I'm not sure if that would kill the tree or if it would be an insect. Any recommendations?

Please, don't guess with spray's, most likely you experienced in both cases a transplant shock.
If anything,...put them in smaller, a larger tree will have a harder time to adapt.

Ok thanks, if they are in transplant shock and I think they are any recommendations for saving them? I checked the soil and it is moist so I am going to try cutting back on the watering a bit. But I want to keep the soil moist right?