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BTW, this doesn't look like the bottom of a swale or something. Just plant the Kalmias slightly elevated...2-3 inches. That will reduce the likelihood of drainage issues. I'm assuming you are in the SE or East BTW. If you're in eastern Washington, zn 7...ok, that's going to require different advice. My scale of BLE difficulty, it goes something like: Hollies - Camellias - azaleas - tough elepidote rhodies - Kalmias - tough lepidotes - fussier elepidote - fussier lepidotes. So Kalmias are only a little harder to grow than standard rhododendrons, but probably more sun tolerant than many of them provided they don't get dry. Yes if you were trying to grew Rhododendron keiskei in zn 7 clay, you would be in trouble. You should be ok with the Kalmias as long as you don't under or over water them. Final BTW - again, you can't add ANYTHING to a HOLE to fix drainage. Period. End of discussion. Just don't work that way. (hey, I just invented a country music song title!) The only thing you can do is set the plant higher, and not have put any junk in the hole that will cause it to sink in a couple years. Yes, if you want to buy several bags of perma-til, and rent a rototiller and till an entire 10'X20' area...which btw should be higher than adjacent areas when done - you can do that. But, again it really isn't necessary if you do the right thing from the get go. Or you can spread some gypsum or even calcinic lime if the soil is extremely, extreme acid over _an entire area _, and it can marginally help drainage and tilth over that entire area. When you try to fix drainage for a _hole_ you just turn that hole into a bath! This post was edited by davidrt28 on Sun, Aug 31, 14 at 14:40

Bob, Thanks for posting the second photo. I'd definitely say Poanes zabulon. I've included a link from Bugguide. There are quite a few pages of pictures. I looked for images that matched yours as nearly as possible. I found several for both photos. Sandy Here is a link that might be useful: Poanes zabulon dorsal view

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