You need to water regularly it until it gets established in the ground. Chances are it was moist from the nursery as most usually drown everything. Unless you are sure they will bloom at the same exact time and length it won't be wasted space. Hummers buzz around to various plants so its good to have a variety.

You can underplant the Cantua with lower growing things, a couple of Abutilon Victor Reiter or a couple of Cuphea micropetala to the back, perhaps with a couple of Salvia chiapensis to the front should fill a bed that size nicely. About the mesh in your soil, it it isn't at least 18 to 24 inches below the top, you should probably remove it. It was probably installed to keep out gophers. As to improving the soil, you'll get best results if you regularly top dress the bare soil with compost.

The Cantua buxifolia is more of an upright grower, they
can easily get 8 feet tall. In my experience, only the yellow
flowered form is a shy/slow bloomer, but it may just
require more fertilizer.

Thanks for your responses. Looks like I'll have to take the mesh out (groan).

I think I'll keep the waverly in the backyard afterall, I should balance out my penchant for brilliant colors with some understated stuff I think. I'm planning to create a little salvia area with different salvias.

Just be aware that Waverly can easily get 5 feet across by tall, so give it room.

The Buxifolia is a strong grower and it looks like the three gallon pots from the nursery are pretty much full of roots. I would set the pot in a tub of water for about an hour to let it thoroughly soak up the water. Then it should be OK for several days until you get it planted. Here we are just a little too cold in the winter, which frosts it back and limits the bloom, which is on last years wood. Al

I'm in SoCal, and the hummingbirds like salvia Waverly just fine. I have it between some buddleia and s. chiapensis. I appreciate Waverly's height which offers the hummingbirds protection from the neighborhood felines that hang out in my canine-free gardens/yard.

A second to the advice to simply top dress the soil with compost, and keep it that way by adding more periodically. You get excellent soil over time, moisture retention, and weed prevention, all for a very modest amount of effort.