Linda. Something is going on with these plants. I looked overs the photos to see if something stood out that could be the cause.

The Astilbe, from the photo, I didn’t see any indication of disease on the plant From the photos And it doesn’t look like anything has be eating the leaves or stems. It’s hard to tell but looks like the ground around the astilbe is dry. Astilbes like moist, well drained soil. Lack of water would cause the browning and leaf cure seen in the photo.

The Juniper’s browning could also be caused by lack of water. Junipers are petty drought resistant but if they are in a location that's continuously dry they will begin to decline.  A fungal disease could also cause the browning, but no signs of a disease could be seem in the photo. A common pest of junipers that causes browning is the bagworm. But again I didn’t see any of them in the photo or webbing for other types of worms.

Another possibility is herbicide spray or drift. If a herbicide is sprayed or drifts (wind blown herbicide) onto a plant the results can be die back (browning) and or leaf curl. Do you know if any of these plant have been exposed to herbicides?

Since there is no sign of a disease or pest on the plants I think that the problems for the Astilbe and Juniper are cultural or environmental. What can you do for these plant now? Cut out the dead or dying parts of the plant. If the plant is mostly dead or dying you could consider replacing it. Once the pruning or replacement is done, make sure they are greeting adequate water and you can give a a little fertilizer to help them recover/grow. But stop fertilizing when summer ends. I am including factsheets with cultural practices for Astilbe and Juniper. Use these practices & recommendations and see if the plants begin to improve. If the plants don’t improve or continue to decline you can take a sample of the plant to your county’s Ohio State University Extension Office and they can do a in-depth assessment there.

Thank you for your question.

Astilbe

Junipers