From those photos, they look like they're growing in different environments and amounts of sunlight. Have you been giving the 2nd plant enough water (in full sun)? Is your soil fertile? It looks to me like the 2nd plant needs more water and some fertilizer.

lawn shows signs of nearing drought ... which means the plant is not far behind ...

i also wonder why its planted in the lawn ... and whats the deal with the mulch.. which isnt quite around the plant...

probably needs water ...

perfect example of 2 micro climates a few feet apart ...

ken

And it appears one is in a small raised bed with amended soil and the other was just placed in the ground with no amended soil.

Thank you everyone. yes they have been getting enough water in fact i almost think too much (New England has had a particularly wet June into Juky). i amended the soil around the plant with a mixture of compost, manure and peatmoss: i increased tbe area where i amended the soil. i also added a teeny bit of epsom salt because it appears there is a magnesium deficiency. i also put mulch around the plant. As i mentioned I’m a newbie at this. is there a way of knowing if its dead?

It’s definitely not dead — it has green leaves (vs no leaves, or crispy brown dead leaves).

It might very well be a nutrient deficiency — when did you give it the epsom salts?

eta: did you amend the soil the same way for the other plant?

One probably has better soil where the roots can expand faster and which is more porous retaining water better and allowing more air in.

Putting a layer of mulch over the soil may help prevent it from drying out. Repeated cycles of water and then drying out as the ground bakes in the hot sun can make the soil very hard. Read about how earthworms modify the soil making in fertile for plants to grow. It has nothing to do with nutrients that are found in fertilizer.

This may sound unbelievable to you but many times small plants grow better with less sun than more. Too much sun creates water stress on the plants. (That means moisture is leaving the leaves faster than the roots can supply more of it)

Did you ever figure out what was the issue with the one that wouldnt grow? im having the same issue set both ip identically on each side of my porch and alot of new dirt and peat moss and well just alot of good stuff. the left is growing like crazy doing incredible and the second look exactly the same way as it did when i planted it plenty of early morning water and plenty of nutrients