Provided your soil drains properly, lack of sufficient water and/or transplant shock is most likely the reason the plants are showing some distress Planting anything in the second half of August is just asking for difficulties.........

Thanks - so just bump up watering? We've been getting hard rains sporadically with an unreliable weather forecast, so I've found a consistent watering schedule difficult to estimate

"consistent watering schedule"

This may be part of the problem. There is no such thing as a 'consistent watering schedule' for anything planted in the ground, even very newly planted. You water when the plants need it or when the soil dries and the only way you can know this is by physically testing the soil moisture at rootball depth.

pull back the mulch .. AND FIND OUT ABOUT WATER AT ROOT DEPTH... why are you guessing..

take a hand trowel.. and dig a couple 3 to 6 inch holes.... AND FIND OUT ...

then water accordingly ...

where are you.. big city name.. if you did this a couple weeks ago in my MI .. when it was over 90 degrees.. they would be near dead by now.. plz review the primer below ... noting section one ...

if you perfect water.. for the next 2 years.. they should do just fine ...

they are conifer.. aka trees.. in tree time .... nothing happens all that fast.. except lack of water.. so its not a light issue.. nor a disease issue ...and we should presume you bought healthy bug free stock .. so all that is left is proper watering ... in your soil.. based on ambient weather ..

and if you happened to put landscape fabric under that mulch.. remove it immediately ... it interferes with proper watering.. and air movement ...

water when a plant needs it.. you have to learn how water is retained and drains from your soil ... random watering schedules.. suggested by others is not good enough. because only you can learn about it in your micro climate.. your yard.. with your soil.. and your weather ...

if you have bad non draining clay.. let us know ...

ken

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

oh.. and if that right one is crooked ... not a camera trick.. now is the time to slide a shovel into the edge of the hole dug ... and gently pry it straight up ... before it roots in ... and then stomp the rootball back tight ...

ken

Thanks Ken. I'm located near Atlanta.

I just check with a moisture meter and I don't think I've been watering enough. I've found the rootball is extremely dense and dries out much quicker than the surrounding soil even though I've focused on the rootball when watering.

However, to your other point, I do have poor clay soil which has me worried about drainage. When I originally planted, I mixed a heavy amount of soil conditioner to help with drainage which I see is not advisable based on the link you shared. Hopefully that isn't a critical issue.

The tree on the right is definitely crooked and I need to address it. Am I backfilling dirt on the side/direction it's leaning?

Appreciate your guidance.