Sorry to hear about your BER problem. That's alot of rot on one tomato. I have a bunch of tomato plants this year and they all have set fruit. I do have one plant that is getting BER. As soon as I notice it, I get rid of the tomato.......don't want to waste any plant energy on bad tomatoes. As soon as I see a little spot of BER I yank it. So far on my one bad plant, every tomato has had a BER problem. Funny, I can't figure out why, and I haven't had a BER problem in the past. I added 'a little' lime and some gypsum to the soil, and I'm not going to water it until it really needs it, and let's see what happens. I do have one plant in a two 5 gal bucket SWC, and that plant is doing really well. It's really big, with dark green super leaves, and has a few tomatoes on it. The reservoir probably holds about a gallon, and it needs filling every couple of days due to the plants size, and all the hot dry weather we have been having lately.

Seems like with the strong angular elements of your home, you'd want to add some "bones" as gardengal suggests, meaning trees and shrubs that compliment and balance the geometric elements of your home. For example, I'd want to plant something tall and evergreen in that front planter, something to decorate that large expanse of brick wall next to the front door. I'd also plant some kind of shrub or small tree next to the driveway, to cover the view of the drainpipe and also soften the view down the driveway. I'd pick something that blooms or smells pretty, so I could enjoy it as I drove in and out, but that's just my taste. But those suggestions aren't really what you asked about are they! But I think that might help you with your being stuck mentally on this. You need to think "outside the bed." You don't have to stick with a certain bed size or shape just because it was there when you bought the house. Try stepping back and considering the whole vista of your front yard. I also find it very helpful to use MS Paint to draw in colors and shapes over a picture of my house. That helps me get a general idea of what will work and won't work, color and shape wise. I can then use my knowledge of plants to come up with ones that will fit the bill. Here's something I did, and it is NOT what I plan on doing with my yard and I suck at art, design and using the Paint program. I'm including it just to show it as an example of the kind of thing you can do without any talent whatsoever, just go give you an idea of the effect of colors and shapes of plants, paths and other landscape elements . . . how they will interact with the hard elements of your home and yard. BTW, this picture helped me make up my mind about what I DID NOT want to do, lol! If using the computer give you fits, you can do the same thing by printing out the photo of your home and using a pencil or colored markers.

Well, there is still a chance that they may survive but we will not know. They are definitely suffering from transplant shock and a little from the high temperatures (35) in Australia this time of the year. High temps will cause the leaves to limp as in your last picture although lack of water will do the same. The main cause of the problem here is that part of the root system was cut during a hot part of the year and what is left of the root system may not be able to support the growth above ground. I would plant the hydrangeas where you were planning to put them. A location with well draining soil & morning sun (or dappled sun) will be fine. Then mulch them with 7.5 to 10cm of any kind of acidic mulch. You need to keep the soil moist as much as possible without making the soil wet or dry. With plants that are this stressed, I would do that manually instead of watering every "x" number of days.... Insert a finger into the soil to a depth of 10cm and only water if the soil feels dry or almost dry. Write down in a calendar when do you water them. After 2 weeks of doing this, observe on the calendar how often you water and set the sprinkler to water 3.75 liters on that same frequency. Wait one week. Then look at the plants again. See if any of them have improved. If one of them has not, prune off maybe about 1/3 of the stems on plants that look bad, like the one on the top photo. I think the plant on the last two photos may not need to be pruned and could recover with enough moisture. Do not apply any fertilizer or coffee grounds this year. Just keep them on water or some liquid seaweed.

^color at bottom looks sickly... ^dark spot on top, green color doesn't look so great ^big cactus #2 - roots look ok? Just covered in dirt... But is the bottom part rotted..? Right now, they are all just sitting drying out in a shady place... Didn't repot.