Oh my gosh that is very very sad. Thank you for answering though. I haven't been watering since the first few weeks after planting due to all our heavy rains, save a rare time here or there if we had several days of heat without rain. Which really hasn't happened much at all. So I guess maybe I couldn't have done much differently really?

Is it too late to do anything else? Maybe dig it up and keep it in a pot for a while, out of the ground?

I'm very sad.

Nicole

is there rock there.. just to bake it in the sun???

i would wait until sept to decide what to do ...

nuts might be right ... but i am not sure i buy it ... i dont hink it looks that bad ...

ken

You're going to need to wait until spring of next year to see if there are viable buds. You could check now with a very sharp knife or scissors by cutting open a bud at the tip of a branch. If it's green inside the bud and (not hollow) that's good news. There's no other way of knowing.

What damage you have is certainly from excess moisture in your soil.

Dax

Wettest June ever in Baltimore + Newly Planted Dwarf Conifer = Death

It would be different in a place like Alaska or even Highlands Co. NC, where soil temps are lower.

I moved the rock farther away a little Ken. Never even thought that could be a problem-- thanks for the heads up.

Thanks David and Dax-- sure enough it's hollow and brown inside... : (

All at the same time in spring, I also bought Pinus parviflora 'Goldilocks' and 'Adcock's Dwarf', and a dwarf globe blue spruce... and all 3 of them appear to be fine so I am wondering-- what would be the *main* reasoning for this one's demise?

Could the rock Ken has mentioned have jacked it up that badly?? Or perhaps it's bc the Tiny Kurls gets a smidge less sun (sun hits it about an hour or 2 after the others but all get full afternoon sun)? OR could it be the the Tiny Kurls just likes it drier than the others or is generally more finicky?

Just want to narrow it down if I can, so I'm less apt to make same mistakes in the future... I'm just starting out with these little conifers and this is really a bummer.

Nicole

I lost two trees to excess moisture in the last week, also. All it's done is rain here; same as where you and David are.

A larch:

A Rhus chinensis 'September Beauty':

Pinus strobus does not like continuous moist conditions. You just move on, Nicole.

Dax

Thanks Dax, and I'm sorry for your losses too. I had to google what the September Beauty was and boy is that gorgeous. I guess I'd better just get used to the fact that it is nature after all, and I may lose a thing or two along the way. Def helps to know it happened to you too, ha! Obviously I don't want any of us to lose anything but I've actually learned a lot and been inspired by many of your posts and answers to things, so if you've lost something too then maybe I can let go of this garden shame!! No room for it over here really and I'm grateful for the realization/reminder.

Love, excitement, wonder, pride, joy, quiet reflection... These are welcome here. No shame!

I'll have an opportunity to try again in the fall when I place another order from Western Evergreen... I have a little credit there from leftover shipping costs and well, I'm sure I'll need to get a FEW things to make it worth putting Jason to the trouble of packing it up, right? ; )

Dax...was that a grafted Larix?

I'd guess all PNW wholesalers graft Larix on something totally inappropriate for non-maritime, non-cool summer climates.

FWIW my 2 remaining L. kaempferis had looked like the wet spell was going to kill them, but I'm not so sure now. There were some drooping leaves, but now there are new shoots of growth on one. Quite of a few of mine did die in past wet summers (and all of my Dunkeld larches) Maybe with the 2 remaining ones, their root survival genes are just strong enough to pull through events like the last 2 months. But that species isn't what PNW nurseries usually graft on, right?

As I posted previously, the only Japanese larches to survive at some midwestern arboretum whose database I searched were ones grown directly from Japanese seed...lending credence to my theory that most US/European source stocks are genetically weak with regard to climate tolerance.

I think kaempferi is the norm from the west coast. What I planted was a seedling from an understock purchase. After it set cones though, Resin..... thought it to be a hybrid of kaempferi and possibly gmelinii. That lone survivor was about the 7th larix I attempted. Others were grafted. And they always kicked the bucket during summer. So, I'll try again. I've always wanted to plant a L.mastersiana so I may have to order some seed. I don't believe though that mastersiana will be much different from kaempferi regarding heat-hardiness.

Nicole, that's right, plants die and I never blame myself ;-) never!

Dax

" I don't believe though that mastersiana will be much different from kaempferi regarding heat-hardiness."

nope, my L. mastersiana (knock on wood) has been much better than the many L. kaempferis I tried...and hasn't flinched at all in the recent record rains.

Again though, the real difference could be that I tried a L. mastersiana actually collected in China, and 10+ L. kaempferi that came from seed grown from plants in the PNW that had been grown from plants grown in California that had been grown from plants in England: in other words, highly inbred!