Failing to compromise on a shrub to place back of the front yard flower beds, I convinced the soon-to-be hubby that Hot Lips would survive the partial shade conditions. He relented and positioned them behind the 2 new Coreopsis (Sunrays?) plants we obtained last week. To fill in the rest of the holes, he planted the last of the Salvia farinacea Victoria Blues and 2 more of the Dahlberg daisies to flank the other end of the bed.
We also rented a tiller yesterday and dug along the neighbor wall to start planting the salvia row that I had originally planned out. Unfortunately I ran out of compost about halfway into the plantings and the pesky bugs were beginning to attack viciously (as time approached sundown). I hope to get the rest into the ground today, as long as I can obtain more soil amendment. By the way, those medium-sized tillers really aren’t all that great when your soil is mostly foundation clay.
Sad news is that the yarrows we have planted aren’t looking particularly bright and cheery. The extra watering they have been receiving has successfully sickened the rosemary plant we had flanked with them. The needles have begun browning at the ends, and I’m not sure if the rosemary is in any condition to survive. The Frostproof gardenia in front, while blooming wonderfully these past 2 weeks, has also begun to yellow (a sign of overwatering–which STBH finally admitted and confessed to). I’m speculating that acidity might also have something to do with it, so I’m suggesting removing the existing mulch and installing pine bark mulch.