Agonis flexuosa 'after dark' dropping bottom leaves!

I just planted an Agonis flexuosa 'After Dark' this past December. It got a little drought stressed and crowded by some neighboring plants and has dropped a bunch of its leaves toward the bottom. Is this from drying out to much or was the shade of the neighboring plants the problem. It adds so much to this flower bed and I'd really like to try to improve its looks a little. Im afraid I'm not giving it what it needs. Are these trees sensitive to anything in particular or did it just suffer from the same sudden heat and drying out that the rest of the garden did. It's such a slow grower. I'm super disappointed. It's growing on the west facing wall of my house with very rich soil and is now getting regular water as I've finally got my irrigations installed. Too bad it wasn't in during the freak 102 degree day. I'm wondering what kind of soil this little tree wants. My soil is amended with rice hulls and composted chicken manure. Is this too nitrogen rich for this plant? Any help would be appreciated. My cammelia sassanquas are doing beautifully next to it. Hmmm maybe it's too shady. Ack, there are so many possibilities! The tag did say it could tolerate some shade and this spot is definitely half day sun/half day shade. thx

It could have been the sudden heat--I have a number of plants that all of a sudden started to look a bit stressed after that hot spell (here it was 110 though). It's been so cool here all summer, so I think going from mostly days in the 70's and low 80's to all of a sudden it's over 100 for a couple days was really stressful. I don't know if this is true or not, but I feel that if your temperatures gradually warm up like they would in a normal year before you get any really hot weather that the plant is more acclimated to warmer conditions--if it's used to 90's then a spike to 102 isn't as bad. I know I have things looking stressed from that heat wave that normally get through summers just fine.

I have to say that I'm not super impressed with 'After Dark' either, although in my case I chalk it up to my winters being a little borderline for it. I have one that's in a pot that's managed to stay alive but a number of branches have died off over the last couple winters and it hasn't put out any new growth so it looks awful. I really ought to dump it, but I love the color of the leaves! I had another one that I planted in the garden in the fall the year before last and lost it over the winter. I always try things 3 times before I give up on them, so I may try it one more time if I can find a small cheap one.

You might give the UCSC arboretum a call--I bet they probably know what growing conditions these like and could help you out. Your climate should be good for them. Don't be too disappointed in the slow growth though--trees usually take a couple years to take off. I would never expect a tree to do much the first year after I planted it (unless it's one of the super fast growing weedy types of trees). They focus on getting their roots going first, and then they'll put out top growth.

Thanks Ecrane. good idea about the arboretum. I feel a little better about the situation. It was a housewarming gift and a central piece in the front yard so Im a little disturbed that I didn't take proper care. Thanks for your response.