transplant shock from planting last fall .. plus of course.. pulling it out again to look at it ... is part of the equation ...

i dont know or do CA ... would you really get aggressive growth in your version of winter ... on a recent transplant???

but my biggest question is.. did it start growing roots into the native clay ... or was it very easy to just pull out because it did not ... if its was only growing in your highly amended soil .. then that might be an issue ... was the plant severely pot bound when purchased.. did you do anything about that???

often.. clay is very fertile ... and once the plant gets its roots into the clay;.. you dont have issues like this ... the problem with clay.. is the transplanting and getting them established ... a big part of which is properly watering

have you ever had the clay tested ?

ken

I’ve never had luck with them, have tried for years, conditions similar to yours (Texas). I learned my soil is too alkaline. They can survive in it, but prefer a more acidic soil. I don’t know if that’s your issue, but mine did lose their color and I actually had a couple of them slowly die. Looked similar to your pictures. I also suspect my clay soil wasn’t draining as well as they prefer.

The roots pulled out easily--they never grew into the soil, even though they were thick, pink, and healthy looking. I see no encircling of roots. I see no girdling. It was not pot bound, as I usually check carefully before planting. If anything the roots look like they were just dangling from the bottom when I pulled out the plant. Most fall planted shrubs grow roots during our mild winter for me.

In southern California, things start pushing new growth by end of February. Even my slowest plants to wake up have already been vigorously growing since end of March.

Jinx, what did you eventually plant in that spot? I don't mind replacing it, but I really wanted the 4ft purple foliage shrub in that spot. It would hide a lot of small utility lines coming into the house plus it would be right next to the thriving sunshine ligustrum.

So funny — I replaced mine with ‘Sunshine’ ligustrum (and ‘Twist of Lime’ abelia)! :)

These aren’t purple, but for something colorful and super hardy, something like ‘Kaleidoscope’ or ‘Confetti’ abelia?

If you can find it, Pittosporum tenuifolium 'County Park Dwarf' or 'Tom Thumb' are great evergreen, dark purple leaved, compact growing plants. After many years, my County Park Dwarf is about 3' x 3'.

New growth is a vivid chartreuse green - great in contrast with the older purple foliage - but darkens to the wine color rapidly. Inconspicuous flowers but a much more reliable plant in my garden than the loropetalum.