Every late winter/early spring, the f. skimmia in one of my gardens has a good portion of the plant's leaves 'blanch' or 'bleach out' even though it is full of berries and the leaves are in fine condition.

Plant is in a sandy loam, part sun (it does get a couple of hours of direct 'early afternoon' sun), but the problem has always been this time of year and the blanching, otherwise the plant is performing fine. The 'bed' it sits in has empimedium, and plenty of rhody's (leps) along with mountain laurel with skimmia sited near a 60' oak (not more than 6' from the trunk).

Feed lightly with hollytone every other year along with 5-10-5.

Comments? Thoughts as to why?