Good morning! I threw on my robe and Crocs this morning and dug it out (I thought) carefully. I took the whole thing including the surrounding soil and put it in a garbage bag and shoveled out a few leaves and flower petals in the area just to be safe. I was knotting the bag and it got me! You all were NOT kidding- I only barely got stung and it's a lingering stinging like a hornet. I'm sorry this is a repeat post, Granite. I wouldn't have known what to search for to even find the other thread but I am SO glad I posted. It sounds like you saved me and my small kids a TON of grief! The only thing I can figure is that it must have hitched a ride in the soil of my basil plant or strawberry plant I got from Lowe's. Thank you all so much for your help!

The one on the left is A stapleia, probably gigantea. Its difficult to ID without a flower, but my asclepiad expert sister said most likely a gigantea. The one on the right is haworthia. Probably some hybrid of coarctata.

Cori Ann, my dogs are not really well trained, just creatures of habit! (kinda like me) The have little paths worn down, so I just plant around them. lol Vap, you are so right...sometimes ya just gotta bite the bullet and go for it! You have to enjoy life's little pleasures. I was outside all weekend. It hit the 90s, but we had a nice cool breeze.

Re the star jasmine: too much sun maybe? I'm in the Pac NW but summers, even here, with relentless sun, are not kind to star jasmines. There is a lot more humidity on the east coast in the south, and things do well there because they generally have plenty of rain and humidity in summer. Jasmines also like shelter. Windy situations are not the happiest for them. You did well to mulch them. After this growing season they should be well established. One thing about the brown leaves: sometimes leaves do this on evergreen things just as the plant is making a branch there. Look for signs of new branches and more leaves - that is a natural occurance then, and nothing to worry about. how wide is your bed by your fence? you mentioned planting catmint (Nepeta). That plant sprawls when in bloom, and can get very wide - so be sure you don't buy the giant nepeta, which sprawls 4-5 feet. You do have to cut back nepeta when it's done flowering each time. What other flowers are you considering and what is your color range that you like? i think you mentioned white, blue, and purple. What other flowering perennials have you considered? you said you wanted low maintenance so ideally, that would be something you don't have to deadhead constantly. . There are some amazing salvias that would do well in your climate. Salvia patens has pure royal blue flowers; ' cambridge blue' is sky blue, rare colors in flowers - not sure what zones they need but worth checking out. Hummingbirds love salvias. Salvia guaranitica "black and blue" is stunning! Or you could plant asclepias and attract butterflies. i adore lantana, which here is an annual but in the Caribbean grew as a woody shrub and bloomed constantly - i guess they are considered invasive down south so it may not be the best choice for your area. Here's a nice article about salvias: https://gardenerspath.com/plants/flowers/how-grow-salvia/ As other have said, until things are established you will need to keep them watered. i used to live in the carribean - no water there - we used our dish water and bath water, bailing out the bathtub, to water our plants! nothing was wasted.