You can get the following cheaper locally, so why mailorder at all? Baptisia australis - definitely worth growing, but requires patience. Twilite Prairie Blues is much faster growing, but darker flowered. Brunnera Jack Frost is in my opinion better than looking glass. I also highly recommend Emerald Mist. Calamintha nepeta Montrose White is on the top of my list for long season color in a compact plant and is highly underused. Euphorbia polychroma is a much stronger grower than First Blush (a side note- First Blush was selected in Germantown, WI) First Blush needs well drained soil to thrive, straight polychroma is more forgiving. Interesting that Bluestone lists polychroma and epithymoides seperately, they're synonymous. Liatris Kobold. Do try to find 'Kobold Original' as it will be dwarf clonal material, not a tall seed grown strain like regular 'Kobold'. Penstemon Dark Towers is (believe it or not) stronger growing than Husker's Red and has much better dark color to the foliage and seed heads. Like Husker's Red, no problem with clay soil. Scabiosa Butterfly Blue has rarely overwintered for me. Alpine plant that blooms its head off. Needs great drainage. Ultraviolet and Vivid Violet have overwintered more reliably, but steel need excellent drainage. Sedum Purple Emperor is one of the better purple-foliaged sedums available. Chocolate Drop is even better for habit and color. Sub. varieties locally available to consider: Agastache Heatwave or Pule Pygmy- A. rupestris 30" tall hardy in well drained soils. Solid performer with orangey-coral flowers. Anemone Alice or Price Henry- Pamina or September Charm are both nice pinks. Almost All fall-blooming Anemone are colony formers and need some management to stay in bounds. Boltonia Pink- Jim Crockett is a nice dwarf lavender Boltonia. Campanula Portenschlagiana- C. posharskyana Blue Waterfall is well behaved groundcover campanula. My fav. campanula next to C. summertime blues. Coreopsis Sweet Dreams- all coreopsis need great drainage to get through our winters. Sweet Dreams has been difficult here and quite a bit leggy. I think the only one on your list I would truly skip. Dianthu Raspberry Surprise or First Love- all Dianthus do fairly well here as long as they aren't too wet in winter and early spring. Firewitch is similar to First love. Geranium Karmina- Nice variety will do well. Dwarf Monarda Pink Supreme - Had this once, seemed nice enough. Very similar to Grand Marshall which has been a solid performer with virtually no mildew. Skip the new pink Grand Mum. Worst mildew in my monardas this year. Worse even than M. fistulosa. Nepta Snowflake- somewhat weaker growing than other nepetas, but when sited well that isn't a negative in my opinion. Personally I would just plant another Calaminta nepeta montrose white. The Plant Geek www.confessionsofaplantgeek.blogspot.com

It might be helpful to take pics before excavating.

what you have is sand mat. Read about it here. http://extension.arizona.edu/sites/extension.arizona.edu/files/pubs/az1572.pdf I see that you are disappointed in your perfect grass no longer being perfect but the reality is that weed seeds blown over by the wind or bird droppings, what was already living in your soil, etc. are going to make your perfect lawn IMPERFECT in a very short period. make sure that the chemicals you purchased at HD treat sand mat aka spurge and follow instructions to the letter. too much or too little will not be effective and can kill your grass if misused. You are never going to have perfect lawn unless you work at it daily or hire somebody WHO KNOWS WHAT THEY'RE DOING. Most experienced gardeners learn to leave with imperfect lawns and do a little bit of proactive treatment (pre-emergent) along with freq. mowing, and spot treatments. Don't know where you live but you can visit your county extension website and you will have lots of data on fighting the fight without giving up 100% of your leisure time. Good luck

Black Medic, a member of the clover (legume) family that grows best in compacted soils with low levels of organic matter. Short term controls are spraying with plant poisons while long term control is achieved by correcting the soil conditions that it likes to grow in. Start with a soil test for soil pH and major nutrient levels and then dig in with these simple soil tests to see what else needs be done. 1) Soil test for organic material. From that soil sample put enough of the rest to make a 4 inch level in a clear 1 quart jar, with a tight fitting lid. Fill that jar with water and replace the lid, tightly. Shake the jar vigorously and then let it stand for 24 hours. Your soil will settle out according to soil particle size and weight. For example, a good loam will have about 1-3/4 inch (about 45%) of sand on the bottom. about 1 inch (about 25%) of silt next, about 1 inch (25%) of clay above that, and about 1/4 inch (about 5%) of organic matter on the top. 2) Drainage. Dig a hole 1 foot square and 1 foot deep and fill that with water. After that water drains away refill the hole with more water and time how long it takes that to drain away. Anything less than 2 hours and your soil drains’ too quickly and needs more organic matter to slow that drainage down. Anything over 6 hours and the soil drains too slowly and needs lots of organic matter to speed it up. 3) Tilth. Take a handful of your slightly damp soil and squeeze it tightly. When the pressure is released the soil should hold together in that clump, but when poked with a finger that clump should fall apart. 4) Smell. What does your soil smell like? A pleasant, rich earthy odor? Putrid, offensive, repugnant odor? The more organic matter in your soil the more active the soil bacteria will be and the nicer your soil will smell, to a point. Too much organic matter can be bad as well. 5) Life. How many earthworms per shovel full were there? 5 or more indicates a pretty healthy soil. Fewer than 5, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, indicates a soil that is not healthy.