It could be caused by any number of things. If you suspect the soil, have it tested by your extension office.

i am confused... waiting for pic ...

you say no petals ... if you mean no flowers... that could be transplant shock

if it means no leaves ... then who knows ...

in the mean time.. where are you ... and why do you think you need to constantly add soil???

dirt is what you have.. all over you.. after you move soil around... get a pic of what you added ... or try to explain what type of product you are talking about ..

ken

tenchains,

Call your local county extension office, ask them if you can send a sample and how much will it cost? Go outside and get a small container of that "dirt" you paid for.

Send it to the address that the extension office gave you, ask for one.

If you don't like the results, I have a feeling you won't, you can take the report to the place you ordered the "dirt" from, and demand your money back.

Also, let the county extension office know the place you purchased the dirt from, town and address. That is very important.

It could be that the soil you got was too acidic try a little agricultural lime around your plants

I was wondering the same thing. Many of us top dress with compost but why keep adding soil every year? Seems like unnecessary expense and work.

They are blooming (violet) where you see them but more than half lost their petals. We added the dirt as a ground cover to make it all look uniform. The flowers are in front of the stelladoras at the front of the bed. We have planted them there the past three seasons and never this problem. This year we added the dirt. I called the extension office and they said to test the dirt I have to send it to Indiana as we live in MI. Sorry it took so long to post PICS.

The little rhododendron also looks very unhappy. Possibly the soil is too alkaline for it.

Yeah it was unhappy before the new dirt. I think they have us clean fill dirt even though they said it was topsoil. I added topsoil yesterday and too out a lot of the fill dirt. The roots on all flowers without petals were very dry. It was like water wasn't getting through. Dug up, new topsoil then replanted. Hope that dirt does't mess up stelladoras or fountain grass

Adding "new" dirt to "old" dirt won't change anything about the tilth and fertility of the garden beds, it's still just so much clay, silt, sand. Adding more to the top is ruining the drainage each time it's done. What would help is compost, organic matter, added to the surface, periodically, regularly. Piling fall leaves onto beds is the easiest thing, but so much more can be done.

Try to build soil (vs. just dirt):
http://permaculturenews.org/2013/09/20/soil-not-dirt-dr-elaine-ingham-talks-soil-microbiology/