some of my favorite plants:

So this is definitely one of my favorites!
It is one of our two gardenia trees. This is by far
my most favorite smelling flower. Maybe that
makes me weird. They have been here about 2-3
months, and they have done great! I am still getting buds
on them and they continue to flower in this summer heat.
They get full shade and once a month, I water them by mixing
1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar to 1 gallon of water.
I haven't done this since I added the hearts and flowers
to the pot, so I am hoping they can take the
vinegar treatment as well.


Parry's Penstemon: During the winter to late Spring
these will get pink trumpet-like flowers up the spikes.
(Which the hummingbirds are attracted to...yeah!)
We planted these behind the new wall in the front. My
nursery guy is trying to convince me that I can water
these until established and then just quit watering them
all together. They are native here in Arizona. That just
doesn't sound possible because they are so pretty...my
pictures do none of these justice! These are about a month
and a half old...maybe 2 months.

This is a CHOCOLATE MINT herb...can you
say "mmm"? Every time it gets wet (hello, it's
by a fountain...) it smells delicious! My salesman
at our favorite nursery (Elgin-props!) had this
idea to tuck a couple of these through the back
to get the sent and fill in the dirt area. These aren't
even a week old. Admittedly, I didn't get these
from our nursery though...these are from Lowe's.

These are hearts and flowers. They are succulents,
so I am trying to learn more on how to nurture these.
Believe it or not, I think I need to not water much...
that seems to be the theme here is quit watering so
much...I am drowning my plants.

I have these in the front and back where I get shade
in the later hours (hotter hours) of the day. They are
just beautiful. I think they just look happy. I have
put these in the pots that house our gardenia trees.
My hopes is that they will droop over the pots and add
to the lush green feeling in there.