2nd year Lemonwood

Pittosporum Tarata -- supposed to be a densely foliated evergreen.

Problem is, mine has dropped a lot of leaves. So right now it's not so densely foliated. Branch tips are mostly healthy still. Some, however, look pretty weird with their inner leaves missing. Photos don't show it.

It's a tough location. Soil is clay, and nearby young shrubs need water. Four feet away seems not far enough. So while last summer it thrived at roughly five gallons every two weeks, now it appears drowning without a drop spilled on it for over two months. It's probably getting weekly water from the shrubs, which isn't that much either. With hard-packed clay, underground moisture probably gets trapped in the softer soil.

At least, that's what I think -- that it's too wet and not getting enough nitrogen. I'm not sure though. The Tenuifolium showed similar symptoms but came back only AFTER I watered regularly!

For sake of this tree, I might have to parch the entire area. Maybe replace the shrubs with succulents. I don't know. At least, I'll have to be extremely careful about giving them just enough water. It's elusive though. The underground conditions are difficult to assess.

The lesson here is probably to make sure drainage is good for all future plants -- shrubs as well as trees -- or engineer for it, like laying down a drain pipe.