I think that your soil may not be acidic enough. I can't grow Leucothoe, period, as my soil is slightly over 7 and it has died in more or less the way you describe every time I've tried it. And since pH is a logarithmic scale, you don't have to go very far above 7 to become much more alkaline. I think that Leucathoe wants soil pH of between 5-7.

first .. where are you .. z5 is about half the US .. and wildly divergent ...

how did you know.. that the branches that lost their leaves.. werent going to releaf ... perhaps you shouldnt have been cutting them off ...???

i would have thought.. a freshly planted plant ... [last fall] ... would take a few years to start having soil issues.. if ever ... in plant time.. its still dealing with the potting media it had in the pot ...

how about a pic ...

how did you plant it.. any circling roots ... and root surgery ...

what is your native soil ... does it drain ...

my best guess .. either poor stock to begin with [severely rootbound]... and/or.. improper water management ... which can be hard.. when ma nature dumps on you.. and you dont have good draining soil ...

see primer below.. maybe we can intuit the problem ...

BTW.. its stressed as heck.. not hungry.. no fert ... [did you throw any in the planting hole???]

ken

ps: comparing a perennial to a woody shrub ... may or may not address equivalencies ... who knows ... but every fact counts ... for sure ...

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

Ken this is an acid loving shrub. I really don't think anything other than soil amendments is going to help it. When a Leucothoe branch is dead, it's dead.

I agree with Sara. IME, this is an evergreen shrub that requires both acidic soils and even moisture. It cannot be allowed to dry out. Also only marginally hardy in zone 5 and not tolerant of winter winds.

Unfortunately, this may just not be an appropriate plant choice for the OP's situation.

Thanks everyone! Here are a couple of pictures in case it helps. I'm in southern Wisconsin so perhaps am too optimistic to get a fetterbush to grow here...

My soil is pretty sandy so it drains quickly - probably too quickly, but I've been regularly monitoring the moisture and water it when it gets at all low. What would you suggest for making the soil more acidic? Might be worth trying.

It was a bit rootbound when I put it in last fall, but I didn't do any root surgery of any sorts. Just tried to spread them out a little without breaking anything, put it in the ground and added mulch. I've never fertilized it.

I only break off branches if I'm sure they're dead. They break easily b/c they're brittle. If there's any bend in them, I leave them there. Should I remove partially brown leaves?

I think that makes sense. But if the OP doesn't have acidic soil, it's toast anyway.