The color of SMA looks amazing in photos I’ve seen. Will be interesting to see if it ends up displaying more pink or more orange for me. That color, early blooming, and short height are a perfect fit for the spot I have for it. I've read that it can be slow to get established, though.
I put the alfalfa buried within the planting hole so hopefully that deters the pests. However, lots of mice and voles around here so hopefully it doesn’t attract them to dig tunnels around the roots. That would be bad.
The lawn fertilizer does seem to make sense for new plantings when you do want more foliage growth than flowers. Maybe using it the first year or two and then switch to a bloom boosting fertilizer would be a plan.
