Many thanks for the responses. DH took some branches to the nursery yesterday and they advised him to cut them (there are two) to about 8" and sold him some fungicide. I guess we'll keep an eye on them and if they don't improve, maybe try cutting them all the way back like you did ego45. Since these were only planted a month ago, they may not like such a severe cut. (That's just a guess; I'm a novice) flora_uk, I didn't know they grew like raspberries, so that's a help. I planted raspberries last year so I'll be learning how to prune those. :) The black stuff is compost DH added as a mulch when they started to go downhill. Naturally, we picked these shrubs for their trouble free reputation. Ha, ha. I'm learning nothing is so simple in the gardening world.

If they still have some leaves the basement would be best by the window, if it's dormant with no leaves the garage might be fine but it still might be good for them to have some light which is natural for them, and I've read it's for regulating dormancy along with temperature. Make sure you don't let the soil dry out, keep it moist. Most plants and trees require a certain number of hours of "chilling" during the winter to be able to break dormancy and live, and that's why it's bad to keep a tree warm in the winter which usually kills it if it's not tropical plant etc. To sum it up: For fast root growth temperatures near 70F are best but a tree going dormant this time of the year needs temperatures near 40F to 50F (even colder in the middle of winter) but this slows root growth. And when a tree is outside in freezing temperatures it needs its roots in the ground for protection. So temperatures around 50F to 60F should allow some root growth with out messing too much or none at all with it's dormancy requirements as long as you don't keep it inside over a week or maybe two.

Just had a funeral for a bed of Bar Harbor junipers that have succumbed to phomopsis twig blight. Reasonably sure of the diagnosis. Just about to replant with new junipers (Blue Pacific) and need to know if the bed should be treated with fungicide before planting. Any wisdom on this out there?

Hi, I just bought a couple of these plants and they also have the dark blotches on the older leaves. I don't think it is anything to worry about since the younger leaves look just fine. I have had somthing similar on my lamium and goutweed. Both were severely stressed early in the season because of our drought. I cut them back to the ground and they are both regrowing beautifully. However, I would not recommend cutting back the kerria since it blooms on old wood. My guess is that the spots on the kerrias are related to some sort of stress.