Dwarf Albert Spruce - In Decline - Fall 2020

My mother always had a dwarf Alberta Spruce in our landscape.  Despite being a shade gardener, I have a memory of her having one of these shrubs/trees in the front yard when I was growing up.  I also remember that my Busia had a couple of these, too.

And, that's why I put one in a couple of years ago.  I planted this tree (is it really a tree??) back in late Spring 2018 and it seemed to do well right away.  It put on some new growth in year one and year two.  This year, it was humming along.  But, suddenly, it now looks like this below.  It is in decline: 

Back at the beginning of the month, I posted a photo and details of a trio of Twinkle Toes Lungwort that I planted at the base of the Dwarf Alberta Spruce.  In that post, I made mention of the stress this tree was under then.  In the photo above in this post, you can see both the Spruce, but you can also see all three of the Lungwort.

At this point, I'm not hopeful.  Needle loss in October isn't a good sign. I lost a Weeping Alaskan Cedar tree near this location a few years back.  That tree didn't have needle loss in the Fall, but rather, it budded out in the Spring and then died back.