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I planted a Golden Japanese Forest Grass this spring as part of a large renovation, the plan for which was drawn up by a professional landscaper. The bed is quite shady, and we are in zone 5b and have had a cool summer. We added a little peat moss and compost to the hole when we planted, and all of the other plants (including two feathering reed grasses) are doing fine. Any ideas?

Hi and welcome to the Forum! Please change your profile to reflect where you are. There are hardly any garden questions that can be discussed without regard to location/ climate/ weather. Are you in one of the places that has had tons of rain this summer?

Posting a couple pictures of it would help a lot too. In what way is it dying? Browning, wilting, spots, etc? When did it start? How fast has it been progressing?

We like to help, but the more information you can give us, the better help we can be.

erinleigh28 wrote:I planted a Golden Japanese Forest Grass this spring as part of a large renovation, the plan for which was drawn up by a professional landscaper. The bed is quite shady, and we are in zone 5b and have had a cool summer. We added a little peat moss and compost to the hole when we planted, and all of the other plants (including two feathering reed grasses) are doing fine. Any ideas?

From what I understand & have read about this plant, while a few sources say it does well in "shade", many more sources claim it does best in "partial shade", so perhaps your location is too shady? Also, apparently it enjoys soil that has been "well-amended" with organic matter. Maybe it needs more than just "a little peat moss and compost" in the planting hole.

There is the poor little guy. He's been planted for awhile (6 weeks?) . . . can I still add more compost and peat moss?

Peat moss is very moisture holding. You didn't say about the rain. If you, like me, have been having a rain, rain, rainy summer, and there is peat moss around the roots, it may well be rotting the roots. Unless you are dealing with drought, I would not add more peat moss. I would add something to improve drainage, like perlite, coarse sand, etc.

RainbowGardener - that will only work if a larger area around the plant is amended. Not just he planting hole area.

However, OP - I don't think your plant looks all that bad from your pic. Maybe give it a little more time & see what happens. If you notice in the next two weeks or so that it's definitely declining, than perhaps it would be best to move it to another location.