Aggie, the journey can indeed be frustrating and paved with failures. but each failure is a learning experience. What people with experience can do is help you identify the lesson, and maybe also help you to differentiate the possible from the impossible, but don't let anyone rob you of the journey or of giving it a try. At the risk of repeating myself, you are asking a lot of yourself to get both your foundation planting and your flower gardening out of one spot. If colour and seasonal variation are really important things for you, I really would suggest you consider adding a bed somewhere to give yourself more opportunity in better growing conditions - and that is tough to do nicely if you don't make a new bed out of the same stone. But maybe you can do that. The other thing that is a bit uphill for you is that you can only get so much uniqueness when your plantings are in the same PLACE as everyone else's. I suspect in your old neighbourhood, there was variety in WHERE in the yard people put their plants, as well as variety in what plants they had. If I drive through the neighbourhood, everyone's plants are probably at the foundation, and if only the details vary, the overall impression is still very similar. So your bed at the foundation is working against your desire to do something original on two counts. But it can be done... if you haven't already asked in the conifers forum, ask there for some suggestions for specialty conifers that would do well in these conditions. You do need evergreen plants - the bones, so to speak - and they can be broadleaf or needled evergreens. If you want a lot of variety in your flowering plants, you might enjoy having repeats of some interesting evergreens... I keep thinking of Chamaecyparis 'Wissel's Saguaro' but that might just be because I like it a lot. No idea if it works in your conditions. Even boxwoods would look good as consistent, repeated forms to offset the variety. If, on the other hand, you want consistency in the flowers (all purple petunias or peach roses), then go for variety in the conifers. Who knows, you might develop a talent for topiary :-) Some of my favourite yards are amazing topiary confections. I don't have the patience or the discipline for it though. Then you can do amazing things with quite ordinary plants. Pruning makes all the difference between green blobs and interesting shapes. Broadleaf evergreens will also offer some options for you; try asking for advice at a couple of nurseries - not big box stores. I don't know if the Ilex family would work or not, but if so, Ilex 'Mariesii' is a lovely plant - varies in form, can have some fun with it. Whitecap is right that people like me from outside your area may not be much use for specific plant recommendations, but we can help with form, and process. I've linked below to a site that explains the principles of landscape design in a way that I like. It doesn't all translate to the design of a single bed, but you can maybe play with some of the ideas. Karin L Here is a link that might be useful: Principles of landscape design

Good morning! I attached a picture of one of the shrubs, I don't know if it'll help or not, but it will show the bottom, where on one side, it bloomed. I fertilized twice, once at the time of planting, and then once a couple weeks later like the directions said, and that was it. I used Miracle-Gro Liquid Quick Start. I am so glad that if the flower buds are damaged that at least the leaf buds will be okay. These are Lynwood Gold Forsythias. I am dying to cut a small piece off to see if it will bloom, but if it's already under stress, I don't want to push it over the edge. P.S Please excuse all the rocks, the rocks outside the fence were for vole protection (which was useless for our Burning Bushes) and the rocks around the shrub were for mulch. We're going to be clearing out all the rocks and putting in cedar mulch, once we get a day warmer than 50 degrees on the weekend..

My experience is that landscape cloth and and garden stone mulch are about as unhealthy as the choices can get. If you have blazing sun, the white stone intensifies the heat by reflecting it back up. Moisture and air circulation are retarded. Eventually, the stones get dirty and weeds establish themselves with their tiny feeder roots totally enmeshed within the cloth. Then you spend days to remove the cloth and stones.

You planted it *outside* 6 weeks before last frost? As seeds or plants? Either way, in my opinion, leads to sloooow growth. Many 'spring plants' do much better in the fall (in my zone). Take a look at days to maturity from seed and work backwards from your average first frost date. Also, with a new bed, particularly one made from Mel's mix that has no nutrient value whatsoever beside the compost will take a good year of supporting plant life before it becomes fertile enough to get good, rapid growth of spinach or lettuce without some supplemental fertilization. Fish emulsion would be a terrific fertilizer for a new SqFt bed. It isn't that compost isn't great, but my experience particularly with store bought compost is that it is like cheap whisky compared to a fine, aged liquor. It can become garden gold, but initially I think it is just quick composted, bagged up and left to sit outside in full, hot sun on pallets until someone buys it. Give it a few months after supporting plant life and give the biology of the new bed some time and things will only improve. I suggest putting in a fall crop and supplement every couple weeks or so with some diluted fish emulsion and I bet those beds grow you some really tasty spinach and lettuce.