You might try Salvia Black & Blue.

Beautiful color, & the leaves remind me more of hibiscus than of other salvias.

Mine is gorgeous in semi-shade.

You have my sympathy. I have the same conditions in front of my porch. It faces north and stays mostly shady until the afternoon when it gets sun, with the west end getting more than the other end. I gave up on symmetry and just plant what does best. I have found the B&B salvia, as mentioned above, tolerates some shade, as does {{gwi:674069}}. Another one that may work for you is {{gwi:674071}}. It blooms in the shade for me and it has a wonderful vanilla fragrance. Snapdragons and lobelia do well in this bed, too.

As for your hydrangeas, they may be getting too much water or need some nutrients. Either can cause yellow leaves. I'd try an acidic fertilizer first and see what happens. Have you had a lot of rain? I have two new ES but have them in large pots. So far, so good but they are new to me. I am going to try some in that front bed, as well but first I am going to amend it with an acidic amendment.

Cottonseed meal is good for acid lovers, too. I feed it to my blueberries every year and they reward me with lots of fruit.

HTH!
Diana

I have the same problem. My house faces northeast. And I also have a dh who is former military and everything has to be symmetrical! :) I've started growing what does best and try to stick to a color scheme and keep shape and texture in mind so it all ties in. And in return he's trying to get used to a loosely designed garden.

As far as the yellow leaves and brown spots - that sounds like a deficiency of some kind. Have you tried Miracle Grow for acid-loving plants? In the summer I also dump my coffee grinds around my hydrangea.

Thanks for the plant suggestions! Part of the reason that I love cottage gardening is that it gives me room to leave things a little disorganized without looking sloppy! I love all the salvias, but the heliotrope is a new one for me. I plan to try it asap!

Also on the hydrangea, the flowers are more pinkish/purply than the healthy one, which has vibrant blue blooms. Would that be another symptom of nutrient deficiency?

If you are gardening on red clay, it will already be acidic. I do not recommend acidifying soil unless you know the soil PH balance already, be careful. You can't take stuff away once you've added it. If you have a county extension office, you can call them and take a sample of your leaves in. You can also buy a very low cost soil sample kit with instructions.

Here's a link below to Iron chlorosis. You will see very specific looking characteristics (the ribs remain green, the rest of the leaf yellows, sometimes blotches). Chelated Iron can do wonders if you've used up your iron source.

Here's another link: http://www.extension.umn.edu/yardandgarden/ygbriefs/h411ironchlorosis.html

Here is a link that might be useful: google of iron deficient leaves

Actually I think mine looks worse than those in the pictures. In addition to the yellowing, they have brown spots and look as if something has been munching. If you will check back tomorrow I am going to put a picture on here. Thanks!

Is this a fairly new house? It sounds as if there could be some debris left over from the construction buried under there, or some fill dirt used to backfill around the house might not be good soil.

I have hydranges in full sun, part sun, dappled shade, even full shade. All of them thrive. More sun will cause faster growth. You can prune the bigger ones (at the right time so you don't lose blooms) to match the smaller ones for symmetry.

The brown spots could be a fungus.

Nell

Here is a link that might be useful: Hydrangeas, hydrangeas

I like Veronica Speedwell as an alternative to salvia. I have both. Salvia blooms earlier and Veronica Speedwell (all kinds of varieties) blooms later. Both have tall flower spikes.

The variety of VP I have is called "Babydoll Pink" but there are tons of different purple varieties if that is what you are looking for.

As for Salvias I don't really care for 'May Night' because it's too dark. I'm growing 'East Freisland' because it's a bit lighter than MN and the foliage mixes really well with silver foliaged plants like Artemesia and Lamb's Ears.

Heather

Here is a picture of my poor hydrangea. I had already picked off the majority of the badly yellowed leaves, but you can still see the brown spots and the evidence of munching. Girlgroupgirl, I don't think it is the iron chlorosis becaue the entire leaves are turning yellow, even the veins. Also the house is not new foxesearth, but the soil in this particular bed was a bit sandy to begin with, but I amended with aged manure and have used miracle grow peat moss when planting here. About the Veronica Speedwell, Sandl, isn't that a biennial? I've never tried it before but it is beautiful!

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:674072}}

RoseyGrower, if you added peat moss you should be doing fine with acid. I do not use any chemical fertilizers, however, some of those can cause an overburden of minerals in the soil that does strange things to plants. When we moved in I had some problems with plants. I found out the last home owner used Miracle Grow on everything for 25 years - the soil had salts and other mineral build ups so we went completely organic. You may have some chlorois.
I would call the extension office and ask if chlorosis is a common ailment in your community. If so, a quick addition of chelated iron around the garden will take care of what ails you - and you won't have to worry about it on anything.

I don't think your plant looks that bad. Did your plant get frost burned after leafing out? We had that problem here. It has caused some damage to plants including blackened edges of leaves, blackened leaves and some distortion of foliage.

GGG

My new roses look exactly like Rosy Growers hydrangea. From what I've read, I think it is a magnesium deficiency causing my problems. I am going to put some epsom salts around (1T each). I do have very sandy soil and the water here is from a fresh water spring with is high in calcium (looking at my fixtures for that determination). Does any of this sound similar Rosy Grower? I amend with cow manure and rotted straw. I haven't added peat moss.

MeMo

Memo,
I wanted to let you know that I tried the Epsom salts in a small dosage, and also added a bit more peat around the base of my hydrangea. Within 3 days it was looking much greener and all around healthier! I was just wondering if I can use the epsom salt on all my perennials, evergreens, roses, etc. It really seemed to help! Also, I've heard that salt kills slugs, which are a problem with my hostas in the backyard. If I fertilize with the ES, will that be a 2-in-1 cure?