does your city have any programs to help with exterior house/yard maintenance? some places do. they likely won't do regular work but for annual or semiannual large clean up projects it might help out a bit.
for young men doing yard work, cold drinks and a donut or breakfast burrito might soften them up to be more inclined to do what you want rather than hurrying to get the job done at whatever poor wage they are probably getting. or tips after the job. maybe you are already doing these things but if not I am just suggesting for people in general to always try to see the other side of what is going on.
it takes time to build relationships of all kinds. getting good laborers is one of them. expecting perfection is a plan for not getting it. to me the mistakes you are upset about are all pretty understandable and could be worked out with a little more patience and time (and supervision). if your flowers aren't in a delineated bed, create one, or even better hire the crew to do that too so they have "ownership" in the flowers too.
remember too, if it is a company and not a single guy doing the work that there is high turnover in that business and the actual laborers may not be the same people every week so may not get the instructions. or the owner may have 20 other customers wanting various details taken care of and may not remember. leave notes if you cant be there, with drawing/pictures if possible and especially if language might be a problem. but don't get too carried away if you are just paying for basics. guys getting paid by the hour don't have time to read novels when there is work to be done (thinking of my sister here, LOL - she who complains that nobody reads the 100s of notes she leaves everywhere).
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