She likes pretty things.: These are a few of my favorite things.

Elephant ears - As someone once said after I told him how much I love them, “They are basically weeds, so anyone can grow them.” Well, first of all, screw you, buddy. Secondly, no wonder I can grow some twice the size of my size 10 ½ feet. They love sun, but did well in an area of my house that gets shade until about 2PM, and then has full sun until sundown. I don’t recall ever really watering them after they came up. They came back three years in a row, and then I think my lawn guy was pulling them up or sprayed them with something because I saw them starting and then they were gone. He’s fired.

Sweet Potato Vine – Green is my favorite color. Lime green is even better. These won’t need extra water beyond any rain you get, except for maybe a few times a month when you think about it. If they start to look limp, or the leaves don’t look strong and spread out, they could probably stand a little extra. I like the lime green variety paired with the black variety, and especially the Purple Heart because of the contrast and the fact that both of them require little to no work to maintain.

Purple Heart – LOVE, love, love this plant. FULL SUN for the best color. Purple is probably my second favorite color, and that shade of purple is exactly what the healthiest one of these would look like. Water will help them grow fuller and faster, but not watering them won’t kill them. So, if you have lots of vacations planned, or don’t particularly feel like gardening a lot; these won’t be mad at ya. They continue to come back year after year without having to protect them or do anything special during the winter or any other time of the year. Perfect for people with busy schedules or without an automated sprinkler system.

PEPPERS – I just started trying to grow Habanero, Serrano, and Jalapeno. My Dad has had several vegetable gardens, and his Jalapenos are always by far and away hotter than any I have ever tasted from a grocery store. Apparently the amount of water a jalapeno receives determines how hot it will be. I believe this since his were usually grown in a garden that he only got to work on once or twice a month…in Texas. I’ve had mine in a full sun spot for about 2 weeks now, and they are looking healthy.

Habanero:

Serrano:

Jalapeno:

Watermelon - My brother-in-law spit some watermelon seeds out by our pool one day in two different spots, and not too long after that we had watermelon going crazy! They require very, very little water and are actually a pretty leaf and vine with small, yellow flowers that bloom before the melon will start to grow. I've heard that when you can knock on them and they sound hollow, they are ready to pick and eat. We ended up having so many that we were giving them away. FULL sun seems to work best. They will grow very large, so the images below are pretty indicative of what you can expect to see.

Pumpkin (Squash) - This was also an inadvertent one...One fall I sat a pumpkin out by the front door in the garden, and I left it there too long. The bottom rotted out before I could move it, and I believe it was that next Spring when a monstrous vine sprung out of the ground and nearly took over my entire front yard. I didn't pay any attention to it until I knew what it was and noticed the tiny, tightly wound, lime green, curly Qs that appeared underneath it. I have pictures of these that I'll post when I get the actual pictures of my garden up. I thought it was gorgeous out in our front yard, but a few people started to ask me when I was going to cut it back. Finally someone mentioned that it was probably killing the grass underneath it, and sure enough, it was. It produced one or two "squash", but they didn't really look like traditional pumpkins. It was a pale color if I remember correctly, and oddly shaped. It was a fun surprise though! And the leaves do get massive like the pictures below represent.

Red Banana Plant – Another favorite. Very easy to grow, and they respond really well to watering which I love. I like things that won’t completely die if I get a little busy and can’t baby them, but that will react quickly and brilliantly if I give them a little bit of attention. I’m selfish like that.

Croton – I’ve purchased the typical rainbow looking Crotons before, but in the past haven’t been able to keep them alive. I think I planted them outside though back when I first started gardening and thought that I could work hard enough to grow even indoor plants outdoors, so that would explain that little mishap. I just bought the yellow spotted variation with the thin leaves, and have put those with some other indoor plants for contrast; and they are doing well. That variation is great for combining with simple, solid colored plants to make a better arrangement.

P.S. I totally intend on putting the scientific names for all of these plants eventually, so for those of you who are cringing at some of the names I’m using, just sit tight.

Wisteria – After buying one out of a magazine (along with many, many other items that never produced at all) I really didn’t expect it to even work out. But it’s been almost 3 or 4 years since I planted a 6 inch stick or so with no leaves, and it’s doing really well. I also think these are pretty magical. When I saw how many were growing wild all over Longview, Texas last Spring, it only reinforced my affection for that precious small town. I just looked for images of these, and I'm pretty sure I won't be allowed to post every picture I love because they are all phenomenal. Love, love, love.

Rose Bushes – The people who owned our home before us were pretty avid gardeners. Their tastes weren’t exactly the same as mine but not too completely far off either. The house was entirely covered in ivy when we first saw it, and I still haven’t seen many in DFW quite like that. It was really a favorite feature of mine. But, after the initial inspection, several people told us that snakes and bugs use it to crawl up and into your house, and the vines often break windows when they get too big and aren’t watched carefully. Despite my love of all things pretty, that was enough for us to ask that it be taken down. Wait a minute, I’m talking about rose bushes here, right? Oh, yes. They had several rose bushes that they had planted that I kept. A red one, and a white one. I’ll have find out later exactly what kind, but they’ve been fun to take care of and watch bloom at different times throughout the year.

Cedar shrubs – I first noticed these in retail shopping areas which tipped me off that they didn’t need a lot of sun and are probably pretty easy to take care of as well. This turns out to be exactly the case. I planted 5 in one area of my front yard several years ago and 3 on the other side, and all but one of them are growing very well and smell exquisite. One started turning brown which is apparently some kind of plant disease, so it had to go.

Hostas – I may need a whole separate page for Hostas. I can’t seem to get a Hosta garden to take off, which makes me want them even more. I will come back to this topic. Attempting to grow these little bastards was probably my first real gardening experience. Excuse the language. I remember seeing an image of huge blue ones paired with all different variations in the most gorgeous garden you could imagine next to commentary about how easy they are to grow, and yet, I have barely been able to keep even the most basic ones alive. I also have little to no FULL SHADE in my yard, so my futile attempts are really just wishful thinking.

Sago palm - I really love the way these contribute to a garden. They're great for establishing focal points or creating contrast in an area as well, and they just grow so sturdy and rich. Excellent for large pots. I usually see them around pools, which looks great, but they can be very sharp and when I planted two near my pool I stabbed myself pretty good even with gloves on. The two that I did plant have since died because I wasn't aware that they needed to be covered or protected during a frost. I figured if the leaves had fallen off, the root would be OK in the ground, but this is apparently not the case. This winter (2012-2013) will probably be the first winter that I actually attempt to take precautions with my garden. Note the "probably". Even with this blog, I can't promise that a random Texas freeze in October won't catch me off guard and kill everything that I love...in my garden.

Hydrangeas -There were about 4 large hydrangea bushes growing around our house when we bought it. At that time, I don't remember ever seeing them grown in a gardens, and I thought they were much more rare than they actually are. I had our lawn guy, at the time, remove several shrubs and bushes from the gardens that I didn't care for, and somehow he thought I said, "Please remove and destroy all of my hydrangeas that are gorgeous and perfect because I'm a crazy person." He's fired too. I haven't attempted to grow my own again yet. I think the wound is still too fresh. But, this is one that I'll be planting soon. Someone told me that the color of the blooms are based on the acidity of the soil where they're located and that you can change the color of the blooms using coffee grounds. I used to dump our old coffee grounds on one of the shrubs, but we didn't have them long enough for me to note whether that did change the color of the blooms or not and how so. That will be an experiment for the new ones.

Really spectacular red, yellow, and green plant from the side of the house that I always forget what it’s called and can never find online when I try to describe it, but that I really need to note here so I can try to remember to find some more – FOUND IT! It is called Amaranthus! These are just stunning. I never see them anywhere, and after we bought our house (I’m assuming it was in the spring of our first full year there) they just sprang up and were growing like crazy along the side of the driveway. I immediately fell in love, and it took me forever to google them online to find what they were. I was able to find them easily this time typing “red yellow green tall plant” into Google images. AMARANTHUS! I won’t forget it now. Below is the image that popped up and exactly what they look like. That image saves as “Amaranthus-tricolor-splendens-Perfectaz” which pretty well sums up exactly how I feel about these. They did not require much care and grew very tall. Truly exquisite. After they died the first year or so and didn’t come back, I ordered seeds for them and attempted to replant, but they didn’t reappear. I’m not sure what I did wrong, but I will be trying these again literally as soon as possible now that I’ve identified them. UPDATE: Re-googling “amaranthus” brings up a completely different looking plant that is almost equally gorgeous, and I now recall THAT plant growing where I planted the seeds for this one to grow. What did grow in my second attempt is the second image below.

Monkey Grass/Liriope – My Dad planted a lot of these along the front sidewalk of the home I grew up in. They sprouted little purple flowers in the middle that I remember. I attempted to do the same around our house, and they haven't taken off quite like the ones he planted. I think mine are either getting too much or too little sun. Most likely too much because we had much more shade in the house that I grew up in, and my current home has little to none. NOTE: Constant reminder of why it will be a while before I can grow a gorgeous Hosta garden every time I hear the word "shade"!

Lamb's Ear -

Trumpet Vine -

Orchids -

Zinnias -

Trees
(I will eventually put trees onto a separate tab also since I hope to one day live in a actual forest, or tree house, I love them that much; but there are several that I like enough to talk about here now under my Favorite Things tab. And not really on the whole living in a tree thing, remember, I’m not even the outdoorsy type. Pssh.)

Magnolia – How can you not love this tree? I have been too impatient to start one at my house now since they grow extremely slow. I don’t plan to live in this house too much longer, and if I planted a gorgeous one I truly love them enough that it would be really hard for me to leave. I know. I’m a weird, weird person. Blooming magnolias are enough to make me fall in love with anything and everything around me at that very moment. It was pretty difficult not to use one of the images below for my original background to this blog, and it is highly likely it will be changing to one of them very soon. You're welcome.

Redbud – A gorgeous Redbud in the right location early on a cool morning in early spring can literally lift my entire spirit. They remind me of taking my son to his first days of pre-school early in the mornings when there was still dew on the ground. I still don’t have one in my yard, but after starting this blog that will be my next undertaking. I should have a field of them by now.

Weeping Willow – Need. Need. Need one day. Will be planting at my next house or hoping to magically find the perfect home with an old one growing behind it.

Dogwood – I’m not sure of any words that could truly do justice for a tree that can make a real life landscape look like a scene out of a movie based on the board game Candy Land. Majestic? Fantastic? If you’ve ever seen pink and white ones combined in one location all in bloom together, you know what I’m talking about.

Pecan- I'll have to dive into my love affair with Pecan trees at a later time. We had probably 15-20 in my yard growing up, and I have some awesome memories about them.

I’m sure there are many, many more trees to be added here soon…

Succulents