I always like the bad news first - the crepe myrtle is too close to the house and should be moved while it still can be. The boxwood will eventually outgrow it's little space, but that can take a hard pruning to keep it for a few years. The fallen leaves are okay. The silvery plants are Dusty Miller - and I think the snaps, plumbago, alyssum, and dianthus are fine. A nice change from the tortured into submission evergreens in some yards. Snaps will wilt when they need water; but they'll put out more bloom spikes if you pinch off the spent ones. Your conditions in zone 8 are much different than mine in zone 4 - we rarely get prolonged heat enough to bake a garden like you probably do in Houston. I wouldn't plant anything directly over the buried downspout extension - too easy to forget it's there and slice through it with a shovel or something. Some more snaps underneath the arrow, some more allysum on the up side of the dianthus and you're all set.

What do you do now? Have patients, tend to the weeds, and watch for pests. In my opinion, you probably want to water two or three times per week for the first week, then down to twice a week for the next week or two then, as mudflapper says, once a week should be just fine unless it gets hot. I would increase the frequency of the watering for these first few weeks only because your seedlings need to develop their roots for a bit. However, you should be checking on your soil moisture several inches down. If it still quite moist don't water! When you do water, make sure you are watering deeply (ensure that the water is soaking the soil down to six or eight inches), then trust that the roots will get there. Have patients! Trust the slow release of your fertilizer, but watch for anything strange with your plants, especially off colors. If you get anything that is off color, check back here. If you start to see pests, take a picture and check back here. If other strange things begin to pop up, check back here. Have patients! You will, most likely, start to see some positive changes in many of your seedlings in a few days and most of them within a week. You will see some really dramatic changes at about two to three weeks. Steve Oh, did I mention that you should be patient? It's difficult, but try.

That PLs are usually found in riparian settings (streamside or in boggy environments) where they naturally occur is absolutely no cause to believe they will do well in boggy soils. They adapt well to various types of water culture, and perform very well in fast-draining, well-aerated soils, but should be expected to perform poorly when asked to make the transition in soils from lengthy periods of significant saturation to times when the soil has dried down and become reasonably well-aerated and more hospitable to the plant. The reason, as has been pointed out, is the fact that the plant will grow roots structured to allow the plant to deal with one or the other set of conditions, but not both in a cycle that starts with a long period of saturation transitioning to the more appropriate moist (rather than wet or soggy) medium. How well a soil drains is determined almost exclusively by the size of the particles it is comprised of. While the arrangement you have with the pot sitting above the effluent in the collection saucer is commendable, it has no impact on how well the soil drains or its level of aeration. 1. How often should I water? Intervals will vary with season, light load, amount of air movement, ....... Unless you use a soil that allows watering on a schedule as opposed to on an 'as needed' basis, and yours doesn't, you should absolutely stick to watering only when the plant gets dry to the point it needs water. In fact, in spite of the stress it would create, it would actually be better if you waited for this plant to exhibit signs of the first stage of wilt before you water than to water before the plant need it. I'm not advocating using drought stress indicators to signal the plants need for water - just trying to establish a feel for the idea that a little under-watering is less limiting than over-watering. For this plant, marking your watering date on the calendar and OCCASIONALLY waiting for the first signs of wilt to establish appropriate intervals between waterings is a reasonable strategy. If you'd rather, buy a wooden birch dowel rod (1/4 or 5/16") from a hardware or big box store. Cut into appropriate length pieces for your plants, sharpen the ends with a pencil sharpener, and use the pieces stuck deep into the pot as 'tells' that will let you know the moisture conditions deep in the pot. If they come out wet or stained dark from wet soil, withhold water until they come out clean. MUCH better than "watering gauges/meters". 2. What else can I do for this plant? The answer to that could easily fill a book. You could try reading this (click on link). I read someplace that liquid fertilizer once a month is good too. Yay or nay on that? To be meaningful, any advice regarding frequency of fertilizer applications has to take into consideration your soil choice and watering habits. For example, if you water in small sips to avoid your MG soil remaining soggy too long, a one month interval at the regular rate is an automatic problem for more than one reason, and the type of fertilizer as well as its NPK %s both play a part in determining the criticality of the issue. If you're using a soil that allows you to water at will w/o the need to fear consequences centering on the fact the soil will be saturated for a length of time measured in weeks, you can actually fertilize at low doses every time you water, which is how I choose to fertilize all my plants during the winter. One type of soil (those that are very water-retentive, like yours) make it almost impossible to maintain control over effective nutritional supplementation; other types of soil that support little or no saturation make establishing and maintaining a sound supplementation program monkey easy. Al

Thanks everyone. Malcolm Manners: I just assumed it was Roundup, but I do NOT know this for certain. My son has seen them spraying all the edges of the park with something, but we do not know what kind of junk they use. They literally spray the stuff against that scalloped brick edge on the park side, about one foot from my roses. This morning ended with nothing but frustration and a laugh. (What else could I do?) It seems that I will have to address my concerns to the HOA itself, instead of the maintanance crew. I raced outside today when I heard the mower behind my backyard. ( The park is adjacent to 2 sides of my property, side and rear, in an L shape.) I approached the smiling man on the mower, and realized we were going to have a problem as soon as I asked him if he would mind me showing him something. Me no Spanish. He no English. With gestures, I was able to get him to come look at my roses, but that's about it. He did know a few English words, but I've got ZERO Spanish. He seemed to see and understand that my roses looked bad but my little game of "charades", including spraying actions from the park side, didn't get my point across. He did manage to say (in broken English), " No, YOU Rosas, No park Rosas." It was rather funny, and we both had a good-natured laugh about it. Nothing was really accomplished today. I already knew they were my roses and not part of the park. For some reason he skipped mowing the whole park entrance today, after our little "talk". I don't know if he thought that's what I wanted or maybe he didn't want to risk playing any more charades with me:) So that's as far as things have gone today. More upsetting is realizing that the 2 full-grown roses that died there last summer, were most likely spray victims as well. I was away for 7 weeks and left my sons in charge of watering. I returned to find 2 of my 4 full-grown roses in that same bed, totally dead. I mean totally. The boys said they watered, but I figured they missed those 2 bushes. I was not there to see them decline so I figured the heat and lack of water did it. Now I wonder if the park spraying did it, or at least contributed to their sudden demise. Thanks all, I will keep at it! Lisa