Hi all! Since buying a house about 6 months ago after living in
apartments for 10+ years, I've suddenly taken an interest in all
things green. I've planted some petunias of the Tidal Wave Cherry
kind beside the house and am having mixed results.

Probably within 2 days of first planting them, the flowers up and
died. Knowing next to nothing about how plants work, I considered
pulling the whole bit up but I'm glad I didn't. It turns out that the
leafy part was still alive, but the flowers had basically closed up
and shrivelled away as far as I can tell. About a week later, the
flowers were coming back and I thought great, maybe they'll start to
spread like I want 'em to. But no, about half a week later, those
flowers died, too.

This cycle has been repeating itself over and over since I first
planted the petunias about 2 months ago. What gives? Are they rain
sensitive? I've noticed the flowers tend to disappear after a rain.
Are they not getting enough sun? I planted them beside the house next
to the fence, they probably only see about 2-3 hours of sun per day at
most, the rest is shade. I don't think bugs are a culprit, there was
nothing growing in that plot of land for a good while before I put the
petunias and heather there. The soil is kind of 'clay-ish' but not
clay itself. I'm giving it some Miracle Gro plant food every 2 weeks,
one capful to the soil.

Or is this all normal and I'm not being patient enough?