They shouldn't look like that!! That is far more dead than alive.

FWIW, this shrub should be fully evergreen where it is hardy (zone 6) and at this time of year, still sporting its multicolored early season foliage.

I have no explanation as to why yours look so sad. This is a pretty trouble-free plant, adaptable to a range of soil conditions as long as it is well drained. And reasonably drought tolerant once established.

@a2zmom_Z6_NJ Oh my goodness! @gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9) is right I’m sure. I had this plant at my last home in a southern exposure & in front of windows so lots of reflected heat. I have them now - 1 has been in 10+ years & I just planted 2 more to make a bit of hedge. This is a hot west exposure. I don’t think those branches will put on new leaves so I’d pull them out. Be aware they might have prodigious roots. We dug one up thinking to move it but the roots were too many & too large. It had been in awhile. Here’s my old & new ones just put in March.

Here’s a close up of the oldest Goshinki. I removed the pygmy barberry to the right of it. Neighbor added to their driveway & so took out grass & plants where the silver car is. I wanted a bit more of a visual separation.

I'm in Z6. Does it need winter protection? I'll replant next year in the spring. Any special treatment? This area is part sun, it's a northern exposure.

do i recognize this name from the way back machine..

z6 is about half the US.. and rather divergent.... if you want info about winter.. how about you tell us where you are.. big city name...

imo.. real winter protection starts in ground freeze z5... nothing zone appropriate in z6 should need much of any protection ... except maybe from winter wind until fully established... and it appears gal has suggested this is fully zone appropriate...

ken

" and it appears gal has suggested this is fully zone appropriate... "

I'm not sure I would take it that far! Any shrub growing at the bottom range of its designated zones will be considered of borderline hardiness. And that's because the zones only reflect an average winter low, not at all a minimum winter low that could be substantially colder. With weather patterns fluctuating so radically in recent years due to climate change and posing sharp and often out of season cold snaps, extreme summer heat and uncommon drought periods, I would be very cautious about growing a BLE shrub rated only to your zone. Even in my very mild winter climate, borderline BLE's can get knocked back hard or even killed in a short but sharp Arctic blast.

I'm in NJ, morris county. We actually had a mild winter last year but right as it was warming up, we had a sudden freeze. Not sure it that could have caused the problem.

The other possibility is this wasn't actually planted by me. Two years ago, I hired a garden designer to clean out the bed of all all the weeds and do a planting. The bed is to the side of a mature Japanese red maple (we bought this house 24 years ago and the tree was already large) and this was planted 11 feet from the trunk. It's hard to tell it was planted correctly.