Landscaping and illness blow-by-blow

Oy.

Still sick. This has been a doozy of an illness. First, last Thursday I all-but collapsed in a Catholic church in a far-flung bedroom community of our state capital. I lay in their infirmary for a couple of hours, letting someone else deliver the presentation I'd so carefully spent days preparing in Spanish. Then the aforementioned fever, coughing, sniffly, sneezy, body aches, etc. set in over the weekend.

On Monday I went in to work because I had some stuff to do that I could *not* put off. Then I went home after lunch. Tuesday I stayed home rather than drive to a meeting two hours away. This meeting was mandatory if I wanted to be able to apply for a big grant. Nobody else in my organization could go with such short notice. The funders allowed for no flexibility at all. No grant, I guess.

Wednesday I worked, since the fever was gone, though I had no voice. There were another couple things I couldn't cancel. I worked some Thursday, too, because we had a big (BIG) fundraiser I was obligated to attend--this despite the clogged ear which I suspect has blossomed into an ear-infection. Friday I recuperated some, and borrowed an LCD projector from a colleague at another organization. Yesterday I volunteered at the farm tour for a few hours, but I'm making no attempt today to go visit any other farms I could go see with my free entry pass. Sad. I am wearing the t-shirt, though. Such nice organic cotton.

Instead of going to farms, I'm working again today. From home, but still. It's not too bad. I'm just practicing hooking my computer up to and using an LCD projector. I've had to mooch a cable converter (thank god for neighborhood listservs and a tight community). The one I got wasn't the correct one, but I have a lead on another. Once I have the projector figured out, I also have to go pick up some gift cards and finish up a project. Concurrently I'm catching up on housework. The dishes and laundry sure piled up quickly.

I have a big project I've had to put off because of this illness. See, I'm kind of sick of my front yard being so boring and grassy. I want flowers, dangnabbit! I happened along a big ole' pile of shredded hardwood for free, which is sitting on my front lawn.

See?

Actually, it's not quite like this anymore. I've laid down cardboard on much of the front left (from your point of view--out of visibility of the picture for the most part), and heaped the mulch over the cardboard. There's a strip along the sidewalk, and the azaleas and camellia have been weeded and covered with mulch as well. I expanded the mulching in front of the porch quite a bit, making a sort of arc. This will brew over the winter, and then come spring, the grass will all be dead and ready for perennial planting.

Now I have to figure out a plan to keep the newly-landscaped area full of blooms throughout all seasons.

This is confounding me slightly. Here are some of the possibilities:

Spring:
Bulbs?

Summer:
Creeping thyme carpet
Daisies, black-eyed susans, echinacea

Fall:
Mums
Asters

Winter
Um...?

All year:
Rosemary
Sage (?)

Any suggestions?