Case in point: I planted a lavender hedge this spring. All but two plants grew from little one-inch sprigs to bushy shrubs by midsummer. I dig up the two runts only to discover that, a mere half inch under each. was a large rock. They had no drainage. Too much water. I couldn't pry out that rock - I think it was the top of the mountain - so I moved the plants forward several inches - and they started to catch up with their brethren.
Actually, I attempted to grow lavender for years before I succeeded, but was planting it in a soil that was almost pure, unadulterated clay. The results were meager. But a plant I stuck in my raised bed garden grew and thrived. Right plant, right place - finally! Of course if I had no place to move it to, I would have had to improve the soil to suit the plant. Improving the soil can only help - as long as the plants in that bed want the kinds of improvements you're making.
Sometimes a plant will give you a clue about its light preferences that is hard to overlook. My husband planted Oriental lilies on the shadier side of the gazebo, then wondered why they were lying down, while the ones on the sunny side were standing erect. 'Just trying to get a little sun on their faces,' I explained. Plants may grow in the wrong light conditions, but they may lie down on the job.
It's harder to get clues about some soil preferences. My soil is, for the most part, quite acid, except for one area in front of an old stone foundation. There the soil is neutral to alkaline. Rhododendrons aren't happy there; they are happiest when I plant them in the area by my stand of pines, where the needles make the soil particularly acid. But my baby's breath, whose very name (gypsophilia) means 'lime lover' languishes everywhere but near that wall. It doesn't yellow, or give any sign other than refusing to grow beyond the size it was planted at, and an even more dire refusal to return the following year.
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