My perrenials, annuals, and edibles are all doing well, but the
expensive shrubs keep dying. What could be the problem?

Over the past 3 years I've planted a bunch of shubs and all just fail
to thrive. They sprout new growth on planting, then branches on the
bottowm slowly turn brown and die. The plants continue to put out
some new growth and last 1-2 years. Eventually the die-off overtakes
the new growth and they fade away. This is getting expensive!!

A Mountain Laurel in the front yard lasted about 2 years. An Azelea
planted there at the beginning of the summer is not looking good.

In the shady backyard, a drooping Leucothoe from last summer is slowly
fading away. One Japanese Andromeda from the spring is pretty much
gone and the other is looking brown on the bottom 1/2.

Any ideas what could be going wrong? The shrubs get planted with a
couple of shovels of compost. I'm watering enough to keep everything
else alive and they never look wilted. I used Miracle Grow once a
month or so over the summer. Could there be something in the soil?
Other plants seem to do fine in it. I've got 3 china boy/girls, a
couple of spirea, arbor vitae, annuals, perrenials, vegetables, and of
course nothing will kill the hosta.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Chris