No, just the basic heavy bark-based type mix. No perlite, no styrofoam pellets. I ended up buying some more, and now have 7 of them potted up to larger sizes waiting out the summer heat and drought where I can take care of them daily. The greenhouse I used to work at once in a while used a cheaper mix with foam beads/pellets. It really annoyed me, because it washed up out of the mix with heavy irrigation far worse than perlite, since it holds NO water at all. To me, it was just cheap filler for the sake of creating volume and profit, kind of the way they "enhance" cheaper cuts of meat with brine solutions.

Cindy has some great ideas. I also like to start with bulbs. Some tulips can be planted so that you have some blooming early,mi and late spring. Maybe some of the repeat blooming fragrant iris. They bloom 2 or 3 times, spring, mid summer and fall. Not many nurseries carry them. I order mine on the net. I love the little dwarf iris...they bloom with the crocus and are adorable. There are also repeat blooming fragrant daylilies in all heights and colors. Again, these usually aren't found in most nurseries. I get mine on the net. The autumn sedum that Joe suggested is beautiful in the fall, and great sage green foliage in spring and summer. Sedum is so hardy...and I take clumps off mine and put it in spots that won't grow anything else! Peonies are a great idea. They need quite a bit os sun and tend to spread, but can be controlled. A couple roses would also be nice. What type of roses do you like? I wouldn't mess with a hybrid tea rose at this point...you will be busy with all the other new babies and the T's can be fussy at times. A nice, small David Austen old english rose bush would be nice. I love the new "Golden Zest"; yellow, old english. OMG it smells good! Also, a trellis with a climbing rose in a color that would compliment your house color. If you post on the "antique rose" or the "rose" forum you would get some great advice. I also have a fountain. I have perennial herbs around it. I keep them trimmed so they don't go to seed until late summer. I buy a couple products that keep the fountain free of algae and also soften the water. I have lost a pump due to mineral build up. Also, then the birdies can bathe and not be harmed. Maybe anchor the garden on one end with a small dwarf lilac bush? Keep in mind that nothing is permanent and plants grow differently in each garden. Plants can be moved. Keep us posted!

Hi Leggs, Welcome to RMG! Here are some pics that might help you more with the lavender. This is how I handle them since I prefer small, compact plants, but I've see where other people just let them grow into BIG "shrubs," the couple times I've heard of that it was more Midwest or east coast areas. These pics cover a whole year so you can see the evolution! The first one is May of '09, after they had been cut down sometime over winter and were starting to grow out again. The second one is July of '09 when they were blooming. These are all pretty small plants because they were all seedlings that came up naturally in the previous year or two. The third one is May of '10 when I was getting ready to cut them down from the previous summer. Usually I cut them down sometime in the fall or over the winter, but didn't get it done this time. The next one is May of '10, the same day, right after cutting everything down. When I'm cutting down small lavender plants I usually go thru and cut the large stems off individually, then I kind of give them a "haircut" over the top to even out the smaller stems. When I have bigger plants (which I do now), it would take a couple days each to cut them down that way, so I just take my good gardening scissors and cut the whole thing down pretty much even over the top, rounding the sides down a little bit, and since they "flop" around the edges a lot and I don't have that much room for them, I cut all the lower "flopping" stems off all the way to the base of the plant. And this is just a closeup of the ones in the corner on the left side of the sidewalk after they were cut down, the same day! And here are a couple pics of them in July of '13, just last summer. You can see that the original plants have gotten bigger, and more seedlings have come up around them. After a few (3-6) years the center will start to die out, as it has with Zach's, and sometimes you can get it to look halfway decent again by cutting it back several times as it starts to grow out each time to force new growth in the middle, but with as many as I have coming up I just "dispose of them" when they get old and woody and start to die out in spots. I cut/pulled several of the old ones in the 2013 pics out just a few weeks ago when I was cutting them down this year since I didn't get it done over winter again! I have LOTS of new seedlings coming along to replace them! None of the plants in any of those pictures were actually planted, they all came up as seedlings. As near as I can tell the original plant that had been put in by the previous owners was already dead when I moved in here, and I believe that plant was where the rock you can see between the existing plants in the second pic is. There was a slight depression there, and I'm pretty sure that's where the roots of the original plant had rotted! So you can see how easily it reseeds--IF you can get a first plant started successfully. Some people have trouble getting a plant to grow, and I suspect that's because they overwater. The seedlings you see in my pics are coming up thru the rock mulch, and under that there's (why do people use this stuff!) landscape fabric--and under THAT is some extremely heavy clay! They do get water at times when I'm watering the roses or hibiscus, but there are also a lot of times the very small seedlings get little or no water for weeks at a time. As near as I can tell, they absolutely thrive on neglect! If you want to try to start one I recommend putting it in around when your "last average frost date" is, so it has as long as possible to establish a good root system this summer. Then just let it be and wait for seedlings to start coming up after it's bloomed the first couple times! Once you get seedlings coming up naturally you should be set for life! (If you decide to try to start some from seed, I'd recommend winter sowing it this coming winter.) English Lavender, Lavandula angustifolia, is the only reliably hardy one, stay away from the French and Spanish lavender, and any other permutation! Regarding if you'd get enough to use, YES! I wouldn't cut anything off of the original plant for the first year for sure, and until you have several seedlings coming up, you'd always want to leave some of the flowers on to go to seed. But you can cut them down anytime, when they're "fresh," or after they dry, and the scent is SO strong you need to be careful to not use too much of it for whatever you want it for! I did discover (when I was making a "sachet" for a friend who loves it) one time that when you cut it fresh and dry the flowers, they do not retain their color. I was hoping they would! For your "survival of the fittest" question, with self seeding things I like I just let them come up wherever, and pull them out if they go somewhere I don't want them. I've never had this problem, but if something was coming up SO thick that none of the plants were doing well, I might pull some of them out to thin them a little bit. Don't think that would be a problem very often. A couple other perennials that will probably do well for you for what your describing (poor soil, LOTS of sun) are Hollyhocks, Alcea rosea - reseeds a lot! (have some pics of this one) Agastache, a/k/a hyssop, hummingbird mint, licorice mint, etc. Some of them reseed, but not "violently" in my experience. Russian sage, Perovskia - I don't think it reseeds! Helianthus maximilianii, perennial sunflower - spreads invasively, don't know if it reseeds! ALL of those are big plants, but they thrive in poor soil with little care. Any of the succulents should work for you. They won't reseed, but they spread, some faster than others. There are LOTS of different kinds! Delosperma Lavender Ice, 'Psfave', iceplant Delosperma basuticum 'White Nugget', iceplant - comes in yellow too, 'Gold Nugget' Sedum 'Angelina' - turns kind of pinky-orange in winter Sedum spurium 'Tricolor' - turns very pink over winter Sempervivum, hen & chicks - there are hundreds of varieties! I don't have them, but pussytoes, Antennaria, should do well for you, it's a low, groundcover kind of thing! Some of the "straight species" coneflowers would probably do well, like (both are CO natives): Echinacea angustifolia -- Western Coneflower Echinacea pallida -- Prairie Coneflower, Pale Purple Coneflower A few more Colorado Natives: Gaillardia aristata -- Native Blanket Flower Ratibida columnifera -- Prairie Coneflower, Mexican Hat Rudbeckia laciniata -- Lace-leaf Coneflower, Golden Glow Verbena bipinnatifida -- Dakota Verbena Zinnia grandiflora -- Prairie Zinnia And probably any of the straight species, native type Penstemons would work well too. If you have any questions I'll try to get back to answer them, but I'm really busy right now so can't promise that! Digit is up in your general neck of the woods and maybe he'll see this and have some suggestions. He hasn't been around for a few days, and I know he's REALLY busy with his kazillion flower and veggie seedlings at this time of year! When you have time go over to the Who's Here in 2014 thread and tell us a little more about yourself! Gotta go! Happy spring! Skybird

A friend just sent me this, it's not entirely related to gardening but sort of appropriate for this post. YOU KNOW YOU ARE IN SOUTH CAROLINA IN JULY WHEN. . . . > > The birds have to use potholders to pull worms out of > the ground. > The trees are whistling for the dogs. > The best parking place is determined by shade instead > of distance. > Hot water now comes out of both taps. > You can make sun tea instantly. > You learn that a seat belt buckle makes a pretty good > branding iron. > The temperature drops below 95 and you feel a little > chilly. > You discover that in July it only takes 2 fingers to > steer your car. > You discover that you can get sunburned through your > car window. > You actually burn your hand opening the car door. > You break into a sweat the instant you step outside at > 7:30 a.m. > Your biggest bicycle wreck fear is, "What if I get > knocked out and end up lying on the pavement and cook > to death?" > You realize that asphalt has a liquid state. > The potatoes cook underground, so all you have to do > is pull one out and add butter, salt and pepper. > Farmers are feeding their chickens crushed ice to keep > them from laying boiled eggs. > The cows are giving evaporated milk. > Ah, what a place to call home. God Bless Our State of > SOUTH CAROLINA!!