Is your planter on bare ground or directly on a hard surface (eg concrete or a rocky patch)? What's the drainage like? For example - I made a 'tabletop' planter which has a slatted bottom. I lined it with overlapping plastic bags then put in a mix of composts - one of which is very rich. Despite being three feet off the ground, with seeping drainage, and being only 8" deep - the bottom layer of the mix is very 'cluggy'. Further - despite being very well-rotted compost, the growth from the first year was disappointing. Using the same mix for a second year, after weathering, the results have been much better. The leaves. I may have misread. I gained the impression that you had used them as a further 'water-holder' layer. Sometimes buried material can be a bit toxic while it rots. I'd use leaves on the top, as a protective mulch over a serving of, say, blood and bone (but I don't have critters, as such :-)) ) Not buried. (That's not a lot of depth for bigger bulbs to get their roots down. At least four inches above and below the actual bulb, if they have to dodge the frost.) The sand. Nononono. Grit, yes. Sand and compost is for serious water-lovers. Gunnera and pondside plants. 3-5mm sharp grit well stirred through. A good gritty mix encourages root development. If you have mountain streams in your area with shingle beaches - look at the root development of plants growing in that medium. The tops might be stunted but the roots spread far and wide as they forage. If your planter has settled over winter - I'd add some genuine soil. Dirt out the garden. Not subsoil clay. Reasonable topsoil, if you have it. In an outdoor planter of the size you have the soil seems to add 'sturdiness' to the mix and the plants. One bucket of dirt, one of compost, half of grit. Later on, I'd add the ancient cowpats and good garden compost to suit the taste of whatever I was planting. And add an organic mulch if water-loss, or wind is an issue in the garden, once the soil has warmed up and growth is well under way. For now - I'd rescue the perennials and pot them up fairly tightly until they've developed a vigorous root system again. A gritty mix will help for most of them, so long as you water with care. You didn't list what you were growing. For a mix as juicy as you've offered, I'd be growing things such as polyanthus, or Dahlias, maybe Hostas and Dicentra. For something like tuberous Begonia - I'd wait for the second year. If you bought pot-grown perennials and they were slightly root-bound - remember to open the base of the rootball a little so they can start spreading. If they were slips and bare-rooted - don't expect wonders this year. Some can take up to two years to settle in and then shock you by becoming garden thugs :-(. Meantime, you could sneak in a few coloured lettuces and use the benefits tastily! Or try some bedding Impatiens and Lobelia while the soil ingredients settle down.

I'd plant them sometime in the next six months. People have kept them in car trunks for a year and still had some rhizomes survive. Bearded iris rhizomes are not quite like any other plant in what they like and what they dislike. If you try to treat them like a normal perennial, you will probably kill them with kindness. They are adapted to a summer dry climate. That is when they are dormant, and when they want very little water. That is going to be one of the worst problems you will have with growing them - keeping them dry enough during the summer.

Pomegranate?! *green ears perk up* oh wait, supposed to be a green-thumb, right? I'm working on that next! *thumbs up* You can grow Pomegranate trees in Memphis?? Does it actually produce edible fruits?? =0 Hi, I'm the newest 'newbie' here but definitely shooting for attending this event. I'm busy studying up on perfect soil mixtures as I'm going to try my hand at container gardening this year (a first for me) - trying to make sure I get it right and don't fry or drown my garden! I will have a few things to contribute to your plant-swap and definitely don't mind helping out with the church grounds donation / cleanup. Thank you so much for organizing this, I hope to learn a lot from native Memphians and veteran gardeners! -jules

Since I didn't have a hibiscus in a pot, I thought I'd use another plant to illustrate the effects of consciously pinching a plant in order to change its growth habit from long/lanky to tight/full/compact. The reaction in plants is the same from plant to plant, so it hardly matters what plant one uses for the illustration - whatever's handy works just fine. Another 'pinched plant': Al