bet you placed them relatively recently and they are leaching minerals in a concentrate that is toxic to your plants... first thing I'd do is remove ALL those stones... they look awful anyway.
I have never seen privet look so sick, it is pretty hard to kill. What has changed in the period the problem has happened? Was it especially wet (or dry)? Did you start (or stop) watering? Did you fertilise or alter the beds in any way? What is the white rock? Was something built, repaired, spilt or demolished nearby? Did you spray with anything?
Don't worry about the chippings. They won't do any damage. If the clematis isn't supposed to be an evergreen one (and it doesn't look like it) it is perfectly normal for it to look like that at the end of winter. But you should soon be seeing the buds break and new green growth appearing. Depending on what type of clematis it is, it might need to be pruned around now. If you still have the label on it that should tell you.
The privet looks bad.. But if there are new shoots appearing, it might recover - they are very tough plants. It is just possible that with all the rain we had last autumn the privet started to drown. If you are on clay soil, and when you planted the privet you "improved" things by putting it in decent soil/compost, you may have created a sump effect. Basically, clay is pretty impervious to water, and if you dig a hole in it, and it rains a lot, that hole will just fill with water and it won't drain away. The problem will occur even if you fill the hole with compost or sand - the water simply cannot get through the clay walls of the hole.
Whatever, you have nothing to lose by waiting and seeing if the plants grow back. If they are dead, then replace them, but bear in mind my comments about a sump. Privet will happily grow in clay soil, so just dig a hole, put the privet in, and put back the soil you dug out.
Not knowing where you are that doesn't tell me much.
Plants don't need much water while dormant in the winter and there is little evaporation, so the rain may have been plenty. Not knowing where you are, your climate or soil it hard to say. Dropping all the leaves can be caused by drowning. Dig down next to the roots, if the soil is dark and sticky and smells bad the roots may have rotted from excess water. If they are wet don't water any more until they are fairly dry and growth has started.
Are the stems still flexible? Wait until there are good signs of spring growth in your district, if nothing from your privet it's likely dead.
Probably not important unless it has something nasty spilled on it. Most rocks are inert, even those that are not (eg limestone) when in large chunks don't produce much change in soil and that is very slow as they are only slightly soluble.
I doubt it.
No. Wait until it shows signs of spring growth and then fertilise sparingly.
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