Then I put down some black mulch to make the pathway stand out

Good idea about the path Flcrazy, your gonna need it once these Babies grow..

I was listening to a gardening show on radio on Saturday and the presenter made comment about coloured mulches... she mentioned particularly the red (supposed to be redwood) and the black as being coloured with dyes of questionable safety... maybe your plants didn't like the mulch! lol.?

I'm afraid, most all of my extra income is saved back for my plant addiction, so when it comes to mulch, I buy the cheap stuff. Even that is expensive when it's the colored mulch. There is dye in all the colors we buy here, red included. I've dyed my hands more than one color before I remembered to wear gloves when spreading it out...lol. This is just a terrible spot to grow anything, it doesn't get any sun on it until late in the afternoon, then it's blazing hot. Shade plants can't survive here, and alot of sun plants can't either. I'm running out of plants to try...lol