I have bought bushes of the variety 'Endless Summer' for two separate years, and each summer, they 'ended'. I also took babies from a friend, and they too, eventally died, though not as quick as the potted nursery plants.

What should I do different next time? Do they need a new spot, altogether? I want to put them across my eastern facing front porch, which is in dappled shade.

I have no diggable soil of my own to speak of, so I built and amended mounds of trucked in dirt, about 18" high after settling, 2 feet wide and 4 feet long per bush. Looking at the withered remains, it appears they made very little, if any, new roots.

I planted new roses along that side last summer as well, and watered and fed them all the same. The roses survived, some magnificently.

I'm thinking I need to build real raised beds for them, so the water has a place to sit, in more soil, instead of run off. And maybe fence them from dog pressure! Are snowball bushes any easier to start?