The flower is probally dying, which is natural. Gerberas like bright even direct sun and consistently moist soil. Do be warned they are not long term houseplants and eventually go through a long and painful decline...

(I'm the original poster) When I made the mounds for my lavender I used 1/3 sand, 1/3 purchased top soil, and the other 1/3 is comprised of turkey grit, a handful or two of compost and one handful of bonemeal. The mounds look pretty lean and well drained so I'm hoping for the best. I have gone to all this trouble to build the mounds and buy 20 lavender plants so I just want to be sure I water the new plants correctly. I could probably water between the rows eventually but I can't do that now because, of course, these are tiny new plants and their root systems are shallow and the plants are perched up on top of the mounds. So that kind of watering probably wouldn't work right now. So should I just water gently around the base of the plants (not the base of the mounds) for right now? As far as the mulch, mowing around the mounds won't work so I want to use some kind of mulch to keep the weeds down between the rows. The mounds are on a slope that gets some water runoff during rains. So I think if I used landscape fabric and covered it with mulch, it would have to be a mulch that wouldn't get washed right off the fabric. Plus lindac says that landscape fabric might not be the best solution since it can get clogged and then hold water. I wonder if layers of wet newspaper would work and, if so, what is something inexpensive that I could put over the newspapers so the area will still look nice? Also, I heard that I should use white gravel to mulch the actual mounds themselves so light will be reflected up into the plant but I think my mounds may be a little too steep and pointed for gravel to stay put. I need to figure that out too.

I use 1/2 inch re-bar/re-rod cut to 6+ foot lengths. They are easy to put in and get out and will last many years. Available in 20 foot lengths at most building supply stores. I install my re-rods a couple days after planting and tie plant with nylon strips. After installing 6 re-rods two feet apart, I use a 14 foot re-rod about two feet off the ground connecting all re-rods and add another 14 footer about 5 feet off ground. I connect re-rods with wire designed for that purpose available at Home Depot. When plants are about four feet tall, I tie plastic coated clothes line wire to first rebar and weave the wire between all six rebars; pulling all plants into the middle. This clothes line is easy to work with, re-usable and available at Walmart. I like the green color. John

Indoors, in that corner, in a presumably temp-controlled home (meaning you don't live in over 90* indoor temps) and in the original Lowes' soil it came in....I'd be surprised if you could water once a month. Mine are indoors in a not too bright room in basically pebbles and rocks without any soil and I water mine about once every two weeks. If you keep it in that pot with that soil, feel the soil at the bottom of the pot through the drainage hole and when THAT is dry--water. You should read the link Al attached above. If you only have one plant, it may not be feasible for you to make your own mix, but if you grasp the concept of what he is talking about, it's simple to find small amounts as replacements to recreate something similar, and even in the worst case, it would be better than the soil it's in. If so, then that Sans may very well be with you for the next 20 years. Whatever you do, I would not keep it in that soil. It's very rare that a big box store has something in even half decent soil. i love Lati's idea of taking the label back to the store and demanding a replacement! LOL I have no idea why you kept the label, haha, but since you have it, you could kick and scream. Can you record it while you do it, though? It would totally make my day. ;-)