If At First You Don't Succeed...

Try, try again.  This is the mantra I must adopt when it comes to my gardening attempts.  I'm not discouraged yet.  I figured I planted too late in the season last year anyway so I shouldn't be too upset that I killed most everything.  The hardest loss for me was my 3 Japanese boxwoods I bought to fill in the empty bed near my front door.  One reason being that the bed looked silly empty and the other being that I spent $100 on those fairly mature bushes only to watch them wither in the Texas heat.

This go round I opted for the $12 less mature bushes for a total expense of $36.  They are much smaller but as long as they don't die, they should fill out over the next year or so. 

Luckily my dead bushes pulled right up, leaving the beautiful planting-ready holes that my dad dug last summer.

RIP pricey boxwoods

I really think these little guys have a chance!  They've got a few months before the bad heat arrives so hopefully they will settle in before then.  While I was at it, I planted a Nandina in the far corner of my front long bed.  It was empty so I figured this would be a good choice to fill in the area and add a little color.

Excuse all the ugly dirt but I'm avoiding mulching until this leaf problem ceases.  I'm also still debating on mulch color.  The yard had brown mulch when I bought it, but I've always been kinda partial to red mulch.  Decisions, decisions...