Hoping someone has it, I'd send you rooted plant-s. Bea

Lukas had both the dwarf and the regular varieties the last time I was there, and they were kind of mixed up together, so it was easy to get confused on which was which. I don't like the dwarf one nearly as much. Firebush (hamelia patens) does well when pruned severely from time to time. If yours looks ratty, you might try cutting it back and letting it put out new, unblemished growth and see how it does. They will get 10 to 12 feet tall when they are happy, but it isn't necessary for them to get that big. You can keep them at a size that works for you, and still get plenty of bloom. I'd say cut it back, since it looks bad anyway. Good luck! Marcia

"Another choice might be the native version: Euonymus atropurpureus." The Wahoo look absolutely amazing outside my office window right now. The common name is too good not to use. It's a large municipal planting of Wahoo, Maple Leaved Viburnum and Arrowwood. Incredible planting for fall color. They inexplicably hack everything back savagely midsummer every year. Whoever put them in obviously knew what they were doing but they must have moved on. I wonder how beautiful they might be if they got better treatment. Some individual photo's I scrounged on the web of the plants in question. Arrowwood Maple-Leaved Viburnum Eastern Wahoo

Cherryjet, welcome to the forum and congratulations on being a stay at home mom. Against my own better judgement I planted two gallon size Mexican honeysuckles yesterday. I say that because it's hard to successfully move things this time of year from the enclosed environment of their pot into the hot dry ground, in full sun no less, where the dry ground around the plant wicks the moisture away. However, the one I planted this spring looks so nice among several Henry Duelberg salvias that I wanted to continue the color scheme so I took a chance. It's a risk because planted in cooler weather the roots have a chance to spread widely and get settled in before hot weather when most growth stops. To help them along I laid the hose at their base after planting and let the water dribble to get the whole area well beyond the roots well wetted. Then I covered the area with a thick mulch of ground tree limbs which some tree trimmer left to keep the moisture from evaporating away too quickly. I'll be watching them and let more water drip on them if they show signs of wilting. The main task is to keep the roots cool and damp, but not so wet as to rot. Mex. firebush and Mex. honeysuckle are similar in that they are very drought and heat tolerant and how the established plant manages to stay looking fresh in this heat is beyond me. Their roots probably roam deep and wide. Another trick you can use to plant things now is to prop a box up on sticks to shade them during the heat of the day for two or three weeks. I'll do that if I see what I planted wilting. If your firebush looks like it's dying try cutting it back by about half and cover it with a propped up box to give light and air, but no sun. Not having so much top growth to support might give the roots a chance to recover. I never had much luck with lavender, but I know they like very well drained soil so the elevated position they have in the tires helps a lot, and as bjb said above the variety makes a lot of difference too. Planting anything out in this heat is not the greatest of ideas, but even the experienced gardeners among us keep trying anyway. So we'll wish each other lots of luck and if stuff doesn't make it we can plant again in the fall. One mistake all new gardeners make is not watering shrubs deeply enough. Once I alerted my next door neighbor that an established shrub was wilting and needed water. She ran over and watered the foliage and ground for a few seconds with the hose full blast. Most of the water ran off and I dug down a bit to show her and only the top inch of soil had gotten wet which did the roots no good. Keep us posted!