Gold Cone Juniper September 2019 Check-in - Signs Of Stress

At the beginning of the season this year, I planted three small Gold Cone Juniper shrubs.  And they took off with the wet Spring and put on a great show.  After reading all about these particular juniper shrubs, I decided to 'wire them up' to ensure that they don't suffer from splaying based on snow fall in the Winter.  By June, I had wired them up and they looked great. 

Then, we hit the hot part of Summer with July and August.  And the shrubs are showing signs of stress.  I'm posting this photo in the [garden diary] here on the blog to show the emerging brown spots on some of the shrub.  It is on the 'backside' mostly, so I'm wondering if it is both water/drought-related, but perhaps also sun-related?  The backside gets less sun than the front.  I also wonder if the 'wiring up' caused some of the stress?   

I've done this dance before in the Fall - are the trees/shrubs that are showing signs of stress going to make it through the Winter?  Some do, some...umm...don't.  I just found the receipt for these:  Bought 3 @ $21.88 each from Menards on 4/6/2018.  Will want to keep an eye on these for early signs in April of 2020.