Help!

[MCCummings2]

Long story short (and hello everyone!) I bought several trees that according to literature, the local landscape (people in my neighborhood) and Lowe's - would grow on my land - with the exception of one that I knew I would have to "baby" a bit. and some lovely crape myrtles and perennial shrubs. The crape myrtles are great, and all but one of the shrubs are awesome (one just died real quick - no reason) Anyway, here's the list:
a red maple, two Bradford Pears, a white flowering cherry, a peach, one bloodgood japanese maple (the baby), and a purple leaf plum.

Being Texas and having gumbo (clay mix) soil, I was nice when I planted the trees. Big holes and I put in some potting soil (no fertilizer, etc) with the clay to give the roots a start. Everything was going great. It rained a lot through April, but it tends to dry quick too. Now, its much dryer and I water the plants and trees when it doesn't rain - since they have only been in the ground a month now. The maple and the pears - going strong, the peach, still green on all stems, but not budding leaves yet? The japanese, some of the leaves dried out about a week ago when it stopped raining nearly every day, but not all and it seems to be ok. this is the one I water a little more often since the ground dries and drains much better in that part of the yard and it seems ok.
At the same time the jap maple started to dry last week, so did the plum and the cherry. However, they are both in areas that tend to hold a little more water in the ground. The plum lost all leaves in like 2 days (the wind here definitely helped on that!) and the cherry went brown but the leaves are all still on it.

HELP!! I need advice.
1. what's up with the peach. Its definitely NOT dead. Should I just be patient?
2. the cherry & plum. the ground is very moist. why now that it is NOT raining constantly do they suddenly freak? Should I try to soak them that much again like when it rained all the time? I am afraid of root rot - but their tags both said they needed more water than the other trees I bought so I put them in areas that would stay moister...

[bullthistle]

Too much water can drown plants. You probably should have used cow manure but that's done now. Depending on when plants are dug determines when they leaf out. I dug a crapemyrtle late and it budded late, so scratch the bark with your thumb to see if the cambium is still green. If brown DOA. In the wind you should try to water the leaves at night because the leaves are transpiring too much which is why they shrivel since it is not a lack of water. Plants are like humans, too much of something and they rebel and not enough the same thing. Just be patient but don't water too much.

[MCCummings2]

I waited until late sunset today to water. I don't get home until 7pm anyway.

I checked with my Dad (who helped me plant) who assured me that only the Japanese maple hole got what little potting soil I had left - so I totally threw you all with that one. Sorry. native clay-dirt only around the roots!

and all the root balls (?) are above ground like they should be. After 7 years on the property, I finally see earthworms when I dig! But I also see grubs (from Japanese beetles??) which I never did before. So I have my list for tomorrow's shopping expedition to find this SuperThrive and some of that bacterium or whatever that kills the grubs and some of those micro-fungi or whatever for the roots. Thank goodness I wrote it all down.

You guys are great.