where are you.. big city name...

they are shade plants.. yours appear to be in full sun ...

if so.. you are failing at keeping them properly watered... as shrubs.. then need deep watering thru the whole root mass... and then near drying.. this is usually not able to be done with lawn irrigation.. i note you must have such based on your green carpet...

if the white plastic wall is reflecting the sun and trapping heat.. then that is only making it worse...

how they were planted.. may also be causing some sort of watering issue... does your soil drain.. is it clay... did you amend the planting hole.. etc...

just as an aside.. the first two pix are straight down.. and are hard for peeps to use them for any purpose.. the rest of the pix are much better..

ken

" they are shade plants.. yours appear to be in full sun ..."

First, MANY rhododendrons can be grown in full sun and especially the small leaved lepidote forms like 'Purple Gem' are extremely sun tolerant. Too much sun did NOT cause this issue!!

Rhodies have a very shallow root system and dislike being planted deeply or even mulched very deeply. That can cause smothering or a lack of oxygen to the root system, which can eventually result in plant death.

Otherwise, they need a well drained but organically rich soil that can be kept evenly moist. Do not allow the soil to dry out. And a sufficiently acidic soil pH (below 6.0).

Without knowing your location or your planting conditions, it is difficult to speculate on any other issues that might have caused this decline.

 You need if  nothing else    put.  Those hostas   indirect sun    or put a   thin landscape  and  make a canopy with it  that might be better on the hostas    some do    well. In clay    but they   must  have a layer of mulch

 Landscape  fabric that is

Ibthink Hiward is some AI program!

So we are in New England. The winter was unusually warm with little snow then a night of like -10 in February followed by a really hot and dry May. This messed up a lot of perennials around here. Even established ones.

Recently it has been very hot, but alot of rain.

That garden was made with compost/loam mix covered with about 2" of natural hemlock bark mulch. There is a row purple gems and Autumn Bonfire Encore Azalea and some are in the sun, some are in the shade of a tree.

I guess its just odd that they are from 2021 and should be established and they suddenly take a turn. Emphasis on the sudden. One day they look good, the next not so much.

Here is "Plant 1" from above with different closeup shots

And "Plant 2" from above, the one doing worse. Looks almost dead now

For comparison, this is a healthy one right next to it. And this is what both of those looked like on July 20, then on July 21...... stuff goes south....

What can I look for or try? They did great in 2022, some even bloomed a 2nd time in the fall.

Thank you!

Oh and on the "green carpet," it sadly has some crab grass I would have cropped out of the pictures had I known folks would closely examine ha. I will have to tell the rabbits to do a better job eating it...

So I think the one that started off worse (Plant 2) is now dead. Maybe the buds are still ok? Whatever this is, is now starting on many others. First step is groups of older leaves turn red, then yellow and fall off. Similar to malting, but then the remaining leaves shrivel and it turns pale green/brown.

Whatever this is happens very quickly. Goes from green and healthy to this in less than 2 weeks time