Hello cargobean, Looks like you have gotten a lot of responses. It must be that this is a topic that struck a chord for many people. Probably because we have all lost plants at one time or another. I have lost a lot of plants for one reason or another over the years. Just two years ago I lost the new Echinacea Harvest Moon, which I can't attribute it to any reason in my garden, but have heard too many reports about problems with the new echinaceas to blame it on anything else. Sounds like you have already arrived at some conclusions about what you want to do next. Already planning a compost bin, already trying to choose no fuss plants....going to try the evergreen boughs. I hope you will forgive me if I embroider the edges of what has already been said, if not for your sake, for the sake of others looking for similar information. On the subject of fertilizer... I use fertilizer in my containers only. I try to improve my soil instead. I was fortunate to learn gardening from someone who had already had enough experience and knowledge about growing plants that he had already worked out for himself to grow organically and to 'feed the soil' not the plants. I seem to remember his family had already been doing that before him too. He also had a masters in Physics. He had a great garden, so I just followed his lead. Since then everything I have read, or experienced has only validated that. The subject of Soil/Compost is not the most exciting topic and I have a tendency to gravitate to the Perennial and Shrub forums etc., but I do spend time over on the Soil forum too. A lot of very knowledgeable people over there at times. Like you, I also take the approach of using plants that can fend for themselves for the most part. It depends on how much I like a plant, how much trouble I will go to for it. For instance, I love delphiniums and they are not usually considered the easiest, 'fend for themselves' plant. You have to stake them for starters, which I try to limit. But if I can get them to grow well, everyone here really enjoys them, so that is the one plant I have chosen to make an exception to my usual approach. :-) I haven't fertilized those either though and they performed well last year. Keeping my fingers crossed for this year. I just wanted to say again, if it hasn't been clear from all the responses. Over the years, I have heard more reports of gaura not surviving the winter than it making it. I have the impression that it is notorious for not coming back in my neck of the woods. The Northeast is well known for having a clay soil on the acidic side for the most part. I did a google search of just your Petite Pink Gaura, as you asked if it could be mislabeled. Most references give it a zone 5 hardiness, but I did find two references that refer to it as a zone 6 hardy perennial. One of them being White Flower Farm. So, it would seem that not everyone is in agreement that it is zone 6. Here are the links... http://www.gardencrossings.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/plants.plantDetail/plant_id/1110/index.htm http://www.whiteflowerfarm.com/29475-product.html Since the last time I posted, I was looking for some information on a variety of Shasta that I have and I did run across an article reporting that they too do not like the moisture over the winter. Where I have mine planted, is a mounded bed that slopes slightly, so the drainage may be ok there for them. You asked how you tell if something has made it. I have never put much store on scraping the stems to see if they are green. I only depend on new growth. I wait it out to see if there is new growth. How long do I wait? Well, that really depends. Lots of times it won't bother me to wait until mid to late June. If it is in a prominent place and I am afraid I am not going to get something else in that position to bloom in time to enjoy it, I might not wait that long and replace it. Of course, if the plant is really important to you, that changes things. You could always dig it out and pot it up and watch it longer if there is some doubt about whether it might come back and then plant the open space in the bed without waiting. Plants have surprised me so many times, after I was sure that they were dead, that I really like to give them a chance if I really like them and don't want to replace them. You mention that you want to fix what you might be doing wrong. Really it is not about doing what is wrong so much as that with gardening there seems to be always something more to learn...lol. I am still learning after 25 years of gardening. I discovered winter sowing on the Winter Sowing forum on GW just three years ago, after someone on another forum highly recommended it to me. Wow, that was an exciting learning experience! I had so much fun and I just wished I had known about it sooner. If you have a lot of reliable plants like those you listed but still find you want to try new plants every year, winter sowing is the way to go. It is not only fun, it is really easy, very inexpensive and you end up with a ton of plants every year. Best way to try new things without it costing you a bundle. PLus a lot of annuals can be done this way and save you even more money. I found that when I did this, it really doesn't bother me to lose something as much because I have so much and I can replace things so easily. I am not able to do as much as I like, but if you don't have any obstacles in the way of spending the time/energy doing it, then you would probably get even more out of it than I have. Hope you are enjoying this beautiful spring weather and that some of your plants surprise you with some new growth. :-) pm2

Lily-of-the-valley is of the knock-your-socks-off family, provided you plant in a controlled area so you won't be overrun with it. A few LOTV stems in a bouquet with Lilac will help satisfy your urges towards beauty and scent. I also suggest freesia for a bulb, and agree with more lilies. Is there such a thing as too many lilies? I think not. Sweet alyssum is great for an annual along walkways or bed borders, or even in pots at the base of larger specimens. And you can just till them under next season. Not sure how long your growing season is but I have to suggest one of my favorites, a plumeria tree. You could grow it in a large pot with wheels as I do here, if you have room in your garage or basement to overwinter it. I'd be happy to ship you a cutting of a pretty pink cultivar which I don't know the proper name of, but which knocks my socks off annually from May till October in Zone 10/13. If you're interested, let me know! I'm including a link with some plumeria basics for you which I found helpful. I hope some of these suggestions fire your imagination. Your garden already sounds like an enchanting perfume oasis but like the composer of an unfinished symphony, you can always stuff in a few more notes to round out the whole work! Here is a link that might be useful: The Plumeria Place

I think you have to ask yourself some basic questions before you begin your potager. Principally, what is the primary goal of your potager? Food? Flowers? Herbs? Your lay-outs will completely depend on your answers. I have seven large perennial borders in my yard, and they are a great joy to me (and lots of work:). On the other hand, I really mainly want food from my potager, though I want beauty too. I am looking for the main part of the beauty from the overall structure of my potager: layout, bed design, hardscape like bench and arbor, arch, sculpture, etc. The smaller beds help me control the impulse to plant enough food for the entire city, and either work myself to death or let it all go to weeds. My 8x3.5 foot beds are perfect. I keep fresh food coming to my table virtually all 12 months a year, but I am not expending vast amounts of time and effort (compared to a traditional row garden). I plant vegetable crops throughout the season. For instance, I planted a bed of tomatoes in April, in May, and again, in June. Ditto for cowpeas and cucumbers/squash. This is for the purpose of having a continuous supply of fresh food throughout the summer. I will continue planting summer crops this way until August, when I will start planting fall/winter crops. Because of the constant turnover, flowers are not very practical, unfortunately, and perennials would be a disaster. I did plant annuals in my tomato beds this year since those plants will stand well into fall. But in the other beds, no flowers. Perennials typically only look their very best after two to four years in one place (depending on the variety). Digging them and moving them every time you plant a food crop will never allow them to fulfill their true potential. Definitely, exclusively perennial borders around your potager would be a great compromise. I just don't have the room. You should check out the perennials forum. There are lots of great, knowledgeable people over there who can recommend plants that do well in your area. Here is a link that might be useful: Pictures of my perennial gardens

I have a decent sized area full of echinaceas and I've had a few plants over the years have Asters yellows. Most likely from me bringing in another echincea with it. so I've been fine with just pulling the infected plant out. My father built and tended a large public garden area for 15 years and had large patches of susceptible plants. There were some infected rudbeckia that he "enjoyed the look of" and refused to remove. With that said, it doesn't seem to spread incredibly fast by any means. Mite infected plants are being sold just as much as AY plants, so you have to be careful with them too. Besides just removing the infected cones during the season, I've been seemingly successful by just clear cutting my echinacea bed to the ground earlier in the fall when the plants are looking ratty but haven't been knocked back from frosts. I then just remove all the plant debris. The mite infected cones have been reducing year by year.