nice little brick oven they are planted in ...

is that a lawn irrigation thingee on the right??? .. probably not a plant that likes having its needles wetted every night ... though i might be wrong on that ...

interior browning is normal ... as the plant grows outward and shades the interior ...

please peruse the first link .. these are obviously planted in the wrong spot ... with that massive potential ....

imo.. root rot.. if that is what it is.. is not reversible ... in the alternative.. it usually isnt worth 50 bucks trying to cure a 20 dollar plant ...

frankly ... i would at least move them.. if you have a better place for them ...

but on the other hand.. they might irritate the beegeebees out of me ... and i would be rid of them ... why bother replanting elsewhere ...

review the second link.. perhaps they could have been planted better ...

ken

https://www.google.com/search?q=Italian+Cypress&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjE-a7BzuXSAhWB6oMKHR-JADYQ_AUICCgB&biw=890&bih=743

=== planting

https://sites.google.com/site/tnarboretum/Home/planting-a-tree-or-shrub

Tops going brown in sections like that is thought to be typical of winter injury to conifers. With root rot I would expect to more often see essentially the entire top discolor all at once. But as you are apparently aware these are planted too deep and should be lifted anyway. At this time you can look at the root balls and see if there is any dankness and decay. Or dustiness - plants installed with intact field or potting soil balls can lose moisture to differently textured, surrounding natural soils for some time after planting. Post planting watering may need to be quite diligent in order to correct for this, until there has been enough rooting into existing soil to compensate.

Also if these are not a small-growing cultivar, and you are planning to plant replacements one of them would have been quite adequate to fill the entire space shown. And then some. Unless dwarfed by local conditions. In which case you would still want to plant only one so you had room to get between it and the house.

"nice little brick oven they are planted in ..."

Lol. This would be a perfect spot to zone-push plants (such as gardenias)

To add to what Embothrium said, it could also be drought and/or fertilizer burn. How well have you kept them watered? Did you fertilize them at all? Also, this would have been a perfect spot for a dwarf japanese maple or weeping redbud.

Japanese Maple cultivars often need some shade during hot conditions, with many of them not being as tough as typical green seedlings of the same species.

Thanks for all the responses! I obviously planted these in the wrong spot. I'll be removing them from my "brick oven." That spot gets about 5-6 hours of Texas sun, and starts to shade around 12:30. I also water once a week with my sprinkler system. Any thoughts on what should be planted there? I'd like it to be something that also gets to be about 10 feet in height to fill the space underneath the windows.

If you were aiming for only 10 ft. then the Cypress wouldn't have worked out anyway. 10 ft. is shrub height, the most efficient approach might be to go look at shrubs in nearby nurseries, see if anything appeals.

Also before spending any money and time on replacements you should look at the roots of the existing planting and the soil around it when you dig it out, see if you can figure out why it went brown. Maybe you have to water more often, for instance. This seems pretty likely for a hot site in a hot climate.

Gardenia jasminoides or camellia japonica. Are you in zone 7 or 8?

I wanted something 10 feet or taller. I'm in zone 8. I do have some boxwood shrubs that are doing well in front of the house. However, you can see by the growth of the boxwood shrubs that the right side of the house is better for growth than the left.

If it were mine I would put fig there. It is a plus that you don't have any windows to worry about, seems like a nice spot for fig plus you get delicious fruit as a plus.

I would plant a crepe myrtle 'acoma' there and plant nandina 'firepower' instead of boxwood. Maybe fit some golden mop cypress under the CM. May be more than what you're willing to do, but I think it would look wonderful. Also, is that your house? It's huge Lol.

I'd hire you in a heartbeat to be my garden consultant, Embothrium! Your knowledge on gardening is something I can't put a price on. Do you take PayPal? Lol

Logan, yes this is my house! I'm beyond blessed to live in such a house. My dad and I were the builders of my house. With that being said, we neglected the landscaping of it. Most of it was due to our ignorance on the topic, and now I'm trying to do enough research to fix it.

First things first, I will be fixing the width of the foundation bed. Currently the edge of it is straight across, and doesn't have a nice shape to it. Once I do that, then I'll have an idea on how much room I'll have to work with, so I can map out an idea of what I want.

Thanks!

maybe I'm silly but I'd put Fig Ivy on that brick wall to tamp down the heat and either a crepe myrtle or mesquite in that square bed. maybe some xerescape cactus or ocotillos. Just to keep everything relatively low maintenance.

Be careful with fig ivy on the house. Termites love to hide behind that plant and you would never see them. they can make it to the eaves where the wood ia, by behind that fig ivy.