Okay, here is the scoop! This used to be a single family house, long since broken into apartments. The neighbor has been here 40+ years. He told me the older lady who owned this house when they first bought theirs once had wonderful gardens. I have uncovered, thru much digging, remnants of long buried rock gardens, and various other clues to the original landscaping, including buried concrete that held posts for trellises and fences, etc.. This area was a spring bulb area that was once designated by a ring of rocks. Many are missing, though some are buried sort of deep, which I can feel when I sink a long screwdriver into the ground to try and pry them up. There seem to be a few nice stones quite buried, as well as maybe a couple small "levels" built around the edge. Last year I began to think about bringing it back a little. This spring, I put up the white fence so that the lawn guy would not run right over it, and would keep out so I could weed out the crabgrass runners and pinellia that had taken over. View from driveway: Buried stones: This edge looks like it had pockets between levels of stones: Unfortunately, this whole circle is not only missing one whole side of stones, but the whole thing was basically taken over by weeds, crabgrass and various other stuff that for who knows how many years was mowed over. Rocks, spring flowers, weeds, etc, all smooshed back in the ground to turn back into "yard". Some years we hardly got to see any of the flowers, as they would be mowed down as quick as they came up, depending on when the guy showed up for the first time to do his mowing. Opposite side of circle, into the yard, with the pink outline showing where the missing stones begin: The missing stones were probably thrown aside to the edges of the property so that that inner section could be more easily run over by the lawnmowers over time. Where the stones are the highest towards the front of the circle is where I began to stack a few I found in the yard, as well as where I pried them a bit up from being flush with the yard so I could slowly get a better look at what was going on. I have quite a few garden projects going, so this has basically been my "pass by project". When I pass by with a trowel in my hand, I pry up a rock a bit, and maybe pull some more weeds! :) The picture with the outlines show the general area of known bulbs. The small red circle has some snowdrops and scillia (which in all these years I never saw bloom till this year because they did not get mowed down prior to flowering!). The pink ring shows the approx. area of naturalized Anconite bulbs. The blue ring and beyond, though more sparse past the blue into the yard is the area of crocus. It is possible the garden included down the driveway as the drawn rings suggest, though I am inclined to think they have migrated and were once basically within the ring of rocks. I would like to make the rock ring more pronounced and obvious so it will not get mowed over (without the terrible wire fence!). I do not mind at all the flowers that spring up in the yard. I do agree that these look wonderful when they spring from the grass! But, I would like an area where I am sure they won't be mowed down before we can even enjoy them! :) So, I would like to plant even more spring bulbs in the rock ring, without disturbing the existing bulbs too much. To do this I am trying to identify and learn more about the Anconite, which I am the most unfamilliar with. What I have been noticing as I have been weeding this area and carefully digging out pinellia bulbs, is that the Anconite bulbs seem to be sitting right on the surface in many places. They almost look like tiny potatoes, for lack of any other way to describe them. Might these be them? You can see here some of the Bluebells that are exposed now that the weeds are gone. I assume they were always this way and just went unnoticed as this area never got any attention at all. These by the tree are half exposed, the ones on the surface I tossed there to remember to bury. obviously, the ones by the tree are pretty well uncovered. I am concerned that by not having so much weed cover this season, maybe I am hurting the anconite. Or, perhaps I can pry up the rocks so that the edge is re-defined and will no longer be mowed over, fill in with oh, maybe 1 inch or so of garden soil in some spots, maybe a bit more in others depending on what I find when I dig the rocks up, and the Anconite will not mind being deeper, and under a light covering of mulch. If the bulbs in the pictures are what I think they are, I imagine actually burying them at least an inch can't hurt. If some are deeper than that and not on the surface like these, perhaps they will still come up, even if I do put down a little more garden soil? I bought a small number of new galanthus and scillia, as well as some other bulbs I would like to put in. I definitely love the way the Anconite and crocus come up thru the grass, though I do want to recreate a bit of a more formal area within the stones. That way, if a bit more formal and not filled with crabgrass, it wont't get mowed down and other things can grow there, too. I am curious if these little "potatoes" are indeed the Anconite bulbs, and any insight into how raising the level of the soil here may affect the bulbs already there. Any and all ideas welcome! oh, bear in mind this is being done on the really, really cheap, so serious renovations may not be possible! And yes, it is not my dream yard, it is a rental and what I have to work with!! :)

Here in PA we have lots of deer problems. Your plants will survive one year of damage. But if attacked a second year while heavily stressed you will loose some. Depending upon the deer pressure in your area, you response will vary. Where deer are just casual visitors, usually a number of deer repellents will work. They only work for a while, so it is best to rotate them. Some repellents used are: eggs, human hair, soap, feathermeal, bloodmeal, creosote, mothballs, tankage and commercial chemical repellents. The greatest amount of protection for home gardens with repellents is obtained by using several different repellents and rotating their use. Repellents should be applied before damage is likely to occur and before deer become accustomed to feeding on the plants. It may be too late to use repellants in your case. Rhododendrons with a heavy indumentum (fuzz on the underside of the leaves) are not popular with deer and are usually not bothered. Some of the cultivars known as "Yaks" have this indumentum. Among the most popular plants are 'Mist Maiden' and 'Ken Janek.' There have been many sprays to deter deer and they all worked for a while, usually until the deer became hungry. They all were temporary and had to be reapplied after every rain, or every couple weeks when it didn't rain. A Swedish product has the promise of deterring deer for up to 6 months. Tests have shown that it causes about a 95% reduction in deer damage. The product is Plantskydd Deer Repellent. Deer Netting: To prevent winter deer damage you need to take prompt action in the fall and subsequent falls to insure it doesn't happen again. I use a product found in hardware stores called deer netting. It is similar to bird netting but heavier and courser. I wrap groups of plants together and wrap isolated plants individually. I fasten it on with tie wraps or twine and just cut the tie wraps or twine off in the spring. The important thing is to take deer netting off in the spring before the rhododendrons and azaleas sprout and grow through it. If the foliage does grow through the netting, the netting is hard to remove without damaging the plants. The course deer netting is good in that it doesn't get covered with snow unless it is a very wet snow. Otherwise the snow just goes through it. Deer Fencing: A heavier product is deer fencing. I have a couple beds of azaleas that were decimated during the summer before I used deer fencing. It is typically 7' to 8' tall and can be wire mesh or a heavy plastic mesh. I purchased the heavy plastic mesh deer fencing with easy to install steel posts from: http://www.deerxlandscape.com/cgi-bin/webc.cgi/Fencing.html When using deer netting in an area that is heavily traveled by deer, place something visible like plastic grocery bags on the netting so the deer can see it and avoid it. Soon they will change their travel path and it won't be a problem. However, if a new fence or deer netting is place across their natural path, they will do almost anything to get through. Persist until you get them to change their travel path. One interesting side effect is that squirrels don't see deer netting too well and bounce off it like a trampoline. They soon learn to watch out for it.

Looks like it died of thirst. I water mine fully and routinely in a rocky mix with very low water retention. They are grown under lights. In summer they just shrink and swell with watering, in fall they flower, and over the winter and spring they grow.

Even here in the U.K. this shrub is recommended for a shady position so they definitely don't want too much sun. Regarding the planting I think you have rather gone overboard. This plant is a tough unfussy creature which will grow in pretty much any soil. They are used in places like supermarket car parks and school grounds. It copes with dry soil and urban pollution. It would be best just being plonked straight into the ground without all the potions.