I had a juniper for close to thirty years that grew vigorously in one area and turned brown and died in another, completely unpredictably. I never pruned or trained in any way because I never knew if what I cut off would be the only living branch. It looked pretty nice, with live branches twisted around dead. I don't know the species, just a ground cover sold at the local nursery.
Then my neighbors turned off the water going into my timed watering system.