Because its right next to your front door, I'd either plant annuals for tons of summer color or dwarf evergreen shrubs for year-round interest.

be nice to know where you are ..

this is a prime example of a monoculture .. with one limited bloom cycle.. etc ...

in the meantime.. cut the daisys to about 4 inches.. and see what happens ... might surprise you ... but i suspect you will still hate them.. lol

ken

Are you saying the daisies got too much water and their roots rotted?

@ cecily I'd rather not have to deal with annuals in this location. I'd have to be very selective on what I plant because of my deer problem. Also, I'm not sure I'm sold on the dwarf evergreen shrubs mainly because I've got evergreens there already (boxwood and dwarf blue spruce).

@ken_adrian Sorry..forgot to mention I'm in Zone 6. Most of the daisy's did bloom this year but like I mentioned they were short lived and I don't like how they look now. Not my favorite perennial. Not sure why I let the landscaper convince me on this. Any suggestions on plants you may have would be appreciated.

@catkin Yes, we went through a very wet spell in late June/July and the daisy's did not do well. Most are now dead or dying. I suspect the landscaper just dug a hole in the clay and plopped the plants in. Not even thinking about how poor the water would drain. Any other suggestions would be appreciated. Like I mentioned I'm not a big fan of the daisy's.

Swamp Milkweed can tolerate wet roots, but also can take drought. Unfortunately, they are tall. What about a hardy geranium. They will grow into thick clumps, or even into a ground cover, and bloom all summer. Jacob's Ladder might be happy there, but blooms only briefly. Coleus are annuals in your area, but don't require the kind of care that flowers do, and they could provide season-long beauty. With coleus you could try a different combination every year.

There are many hardy geraniums, and deer like most of them. In addition, most are not going to spread into groundcovers. However, some will. Since your area is sunny, try G. 'Biokovo' or G. 'Karmina'. They will stay low, will bloom, will slowly cover the area, are non aggressive and easy to control and are highly deer resistant. And BTW, it looks as if the dwarf blue spruce is much too close to the building. (Dwarf doesn't mean that it won't grow).

I've been looking at the different Carex varieties and this one caught my eye. I've read differing information about it's requirements (soil, light, tolerances, etc.) so I'm very confused if this would even be an option. Just wondering what other's experiences may be and it it's not right for the location. I do like it's color, size and especially deer resistance. Thanks!

Carex "Banana Boat"

Any other suggestions would be appreciated. I'm just really disappointed in the landscaper and their "suggestions" for plants. I should have researched more but didn't..so I'm partly to blame. It's just that this is a very well known landscaping company in my area but I believe the quality of their work has gone down hill.

If that is the landscaper's handiwork then I'd say he specializes in the Levittown Look for housing additions that are all planted consistently the same including the mandatory tree in the front yard as a hard rule, no exceptions allowed.

Its your house, not his so don't feel stuck with it. Get online and start looking at all the hundreds of better choices out there and find what you like.

If your soil is unimproved clay, this fall would be an excellent time to work in some amendments and then do some fall planting, that will pay off in the long run. You could dig up the existing Shasta Daisy if you wanted and then replant them but I know you could do much better than this composition--ordinary and perfectly spaced out shasta daisy surrounded by boring mulch. One flush of bloom and then zippo for the rest of the year.

Carex likes consistently moist soil. The only place I can grow it well is where the air-conditioner drain keeps the (very good, well worked) soil damp, mine are bright yellowish-- Prairie Fire but I have other plants worked in for contrast and interest. I wouldn't try them in clay where its hot and will get dry. I have crap dirt elsewhere but thats what I want, its good for certain natives.

@texasranger2...thanks for the information. You are right...he just put in what he wanted to get rid of in the nursery. This "landscaping job" was done late last summer and he didn't take into consideration the deer, variety, etc. Yes...the soil is unimproved clay and it will need a lot of amendments. I spoke with the neighbor across the street (long time resident of this neighborhood) and he told me the developers took away all the good soil and just left the heavy clay. No wonder why it's hard to grow anything. Anyway, I don't think something taller would work there. I'll just have to spend the next few weeks researching options.

If you look to the far right he put in knockout roses...well the deer seem to really enjoy the new buds on those as well.

Developer usually scrape off the topsoil because it is not stable for concrete pads. I wish they would leave the soil in a pile for the home owner to play with or then push it over the rest of the land adding the house after the fact , but that is not in their play book. To much to think about.

scsig, You might check around your area to see what a load of topsoil would cost, its sold by the ton here. We brought in a very large load of river bottom topsoil and another of coarse sand, sand is cheaper than soil but delivery is another part of the cost. Its not all that expensive here and was well worth it in the long run. We built up some planting areas into nice softly sloping rounded mounds. It adds interest to an otherwise flat area and if you really want to add a feature, you could consider a few well placed large rocks maybe to plant around. It was cheaper to buy by the ton than it would have been to purchase bags at Home Depot. You need a wheel barrow, they will dump it in a pile. Its just like those piles you see of sand they bring in when new housing additions are going in. If you are into gardening you could widen the area while you are at it but some people just want a nice entrance deal.

After only a year, the evergreens are probably still moveable if you do it during cool weather.

I am having a similar problem with Shasta daisies. I have two rows of 6 plants each. The plants looked great for 3 weeks after planting. Then some but not all of the plants would start to turn yellow, then brown, then dead. And, yet some of these have very healthy neighbors. Two years now this has been going on. Thinking about replacing with Achilles.

If your site is too wet for shasta daisies, it's definitely too wet for achillea.