Hi,

I'm in Massachusettes and planted a few spicebush (lindera benzoin)
early spring. They seemed to be doing fine for a while and showed new
growth both at the top and bottoms. For the past several months they
have been getting brown spots on the leaves, small spots that spread
on the leaf and this has spread to all three shrubs that I have
planted. They are also generally droopy looking. I did some online
research and the most I could come up with is that these plants
generally do not get serious diseases. It is cooler now and the
leaves are yellowing but the diseased leaves have been yellowing for
over a month now. I started picking off the effected leaves but if I
keep it up I will strip the plants. Two reasons that I planted this
variety is that they were native to the area (theoretically low
maintenance) and to attract butterflies and birds. Is there something
that I should be doing now? Maybe enlarge their original planting
hole? When planted they went into a hole twice the size of the
container. Fertilize? Will winter kill whatever this is?

Bill