Cynthia - I don't think its sun scald. the lower portion of the plant is heavily shaded, (which may be part of the problem...?), until around 1 pm. then it gets full sun for only about 2 hours. the top of the plant is in full sun for several hours in the afternoon and it looks great up there. and besides, we here in western washignton have just now started to see the sun! haha! I haven't fertilized it lately, we did however fertilize it back in feb just as buds began to appear, with a combo of chicken manure, cottonseed meal, blood meal, bone meal, alfalfa meal, and kelp meal.
Elaine - the fence is untreated raw cedar. we've been here 9 years and to my knowledge there is nothing in the soil in the way of any "treatment" that may have washed into the soil.
heres a better view of the overall plant:
