Finding my green thumb

You know what grows quickly and has crazy roots? Bamboo! Guess what's all over my backyard? (If you can't guess this you really aren't following my train of thought here). Yeah, so even though we cut the bamboo down - not all of it, but some of it, to make room for something else - I'm discovering that the root systems are vast and the bamboo itself grows horizontally underground. So I bought a hatchet. I think I never knew until today that I really wanted a hatchet.

So far in my little plot of dirt I have planted two what I believe are magnolia bushes, four purple plants, two large green plants with white flowers (for lack of a better description), four pink flowering plants, four small green plants, two bushes, six little plants, and a jasmine tree. And I have four flowers waiting to be planted.

And so far I've managed to kill four purple plants, two large green plants with white flowers, and two of my little plants seem precarious. Someone tell me this is normal? The problem is, the extent of my plant vocabulary in Chinese right now includes, "Does this plant like a lot of sunshine and heat?" (literally, "Is it afraid of sunshine?") and of course any self-respecting plant seller will say, "No, it likes sun!" because their goal is to take my money.

Thankfully, they haven't taken much of my money because plants are cheap. We'll see what continues to grow and what has just been brought here to die.