My favorites change. Right now I'm liking Persian Shield, Blood Leaf and other colored foliage plants.

A long-time favorite is Indian Hawthorne (raphiolepis) because it is so easy to care for and blooms beautifully. Beats Azaleas hands down!

crepe myrtles.

They are carefree here once established (after the first summer), there are many cultivars in many sizes/shapes/habits from trees to petite miniatures, so you can find a crepe to fit any space, the flowers come in colors from red to fuschia to watermelon to purple, lavender, & white.

& they bloom all summer when everything else has given up the ghost.

Sylvia, we have 5 crepe myrtles, and they have bloomed spectacularly this summer. The two white ones looked like giant pom poms! However, one purple tree is over a often-used walkway, and all the purple flowers get tracked into the house. But that only lasts a month.

They are nice trees. I understand they are subject to mildew, but we've not had a problem.

I have become a much lazier gardener, and with limited capabilities many of my favorite have to be reasonably less fussy with their care. Any plant I grow will need to be able to withstand and to endure the natural setting. I would not mind giving them a little extra water during the hottest part of the year for the purpose of maintaining their wonderful lush growth.

I am a lot of a variegation fanatic and would love to be able to collect or obtain one that would thrive in my climate zone.

A few all time favorites are ;- Portulacaria, Adenium, Fouquieria, Gardenia, Jasmine, Gerbera, Ficus, Rosemary, and Polyscias.

I think that nearly always my favorite plant is the one I'm enjoying at the moment . . . visually or gastronomically.

Those dark-red, velvety snapdragons I was just looking at are so pretty! They set off the other snap colors nicely. Just as the dark, dark purple Ripples enhance the other dahlia blooms in the bouquet I gathered yesterday.

These heirloom pole beans I'm having for lunch right now are wonderful - - so tired of those "pretty" modern snap beans. It is great to have a bean with some flavor.

I think I should go ahead and enjoy a Honey Girl Charentais melon for dessert. Don't you? Mmmmm!

Steve's digits

I actually have two, sedum and daylilies The folage comes up early and is pretty, the flowers are beautiful and they both can handle heat and drought and neglect.

socks, you can mix a little milk or a little epsom salts in water & spray it on crepe myrtles to kill off powdery mildew.

sylvia, Will the ebsom salts in water work on any plant? esp roses?
TIA
vickie

These days it's roses and japanese anemones.
Natalie

sorry, haven't been here in a while.

yes, epsom salts & milk solutions are old favorites for roses.

Dendrobium kingianum - 'cos it's the one orchid even I can't kill!!! (And I like it's little flowers.)

I am and will always be addicted to tall bearded irises. The scents, the colors, the form. To me, there are few things that compare. If i could have only one plant it would be an iris.

hostas and irises.they're so beautiful and easy.

BANANAS!!!! I love the beautiful big wide leaves, and how fast it puts out another huge leaf every WEEK!!!
I also love hostas. I have 13 varieties and they look like water in my garden on a hot day!
And huge sunflowers!!
That was more than one, and thats not all!!But right now,at this very time in my life,,,....Numero Uno is...........
BANANASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ohgirl

Depends where I am:

Alpine firs in NW Washington state. WOW

Crepe Myrtles!
Redwood trees with sorrel, moss and ferns in Santa Cruz. Semperviron Aptos. My favorite.

Here in SW Idaho.. Irises are incredible. Drop one on the ground and have a dozen perfect replicas next year.

A forest of Australian Tree ferns in Santa Cruz California

I cover large quary rocks with moss (moss and milk from a kitchen blender) Bluish silver rocks covered in moss for a Japanes garden background.

Japanese garden flaming Japanese maples... oooh. the rounded rock can represent the distant lands.. so long as the plants with tiny needles and leaves and branches are in the background and plants with large leaves and branches are in the foreground.

Alpine fir with lots of rocks is a huge favorite though.

I have a few favorites. I really like hydrangeas because they're so pretty in bloom, love the flower heads. I also love tulips, simple, yet make me smile. Peonies are so fragrant and love the flowers. Liatrus for their shape and color. Lilacs for their fragrance. Daisies of any kind. Actually, I haven't met too many plants I didn't like.

Peonies, above all, because they are just beautiful and smell wonderful. Then petunias and violets. My stepbrother who died in a trucking accident loved the blue petunias so I plant them every year in memory of him. Lastly, I just love the way the violets flower & flourish.

My favorites change from time to time, roses and lilies have long been high on my list, but lately am intrigued with Hollyhocks and Peruvian Lilies. The first flower I ever grew, when I was a little girl, was my very own daisy patch. It fascinated me to go through the whole process of planting and tending, even weeding. I love the look of the simple ones like Gerbers, but lately have developed an appreciation for the double heads on ruffly flowers, which I hated for a long time as too fru fru. Living in So Cal I can grow all year, and have changed favorites a lot. Mostly I love planting anything, watching it grow and develop.

Pawpaw trees are currently my favorite. They taste so heavenly. I also like my Cycas diannesis.

I love AVs. The colors are so varied, they are gentle plants but strong too. I never tire of watching for a new bud. I keep some under lights for awhile, then put in the office for awhile. The varieties just blow my mind, how do they do that?

i haven't met a plant i didn't like (well except some weeds). In the last 10 years I have met a few new ones that I totally love, # 1 among the new ones for N Mich is the HARDY Geranium. There are mat forming, prostrate and taller ones, but i think the matforming are absolutely wonderful, they weave in and out of plants and add such beauty in the leaves and flowers, they hold the soil against erosion and they are just beautiful all the time, i never have to shear them back here but some say to..we'll see.
I love just about everything else that will grow in my zone 4 garden (not quack grass thank you)..I'm one of those who really LOVE invasive plants that aren't really weeds..because i have such a large area that I like to fill in fast, such as above h geranium, lily of valley, aegopodium, mint, anything that will reseed itself..90 day growing season you take what you can get.

OOOH I love the Av's too. They propagate so easily and give me a lift everytime I walk by one with their happy little (sometimes big) flowers. I a meeting the rest of the gesneriad family and recently fell in love with african violets cousin 'streptocarpus'! Even easier to propagate and make very showy orchid like flowers! So outrageous and incredible!

I have 63 varieties of Hostas and 32 different Roses and hundreds of other Plants and Shrubs but, my favorite plant is Angelina Sedum, go figure. I love how easy care and clean it always looks. That bright yellow glow really catches your eye when your in my Garden. I have it planted in several beds but, really love it planted under my Rose de Rescht Rose. If I had to pick a second favorite it would be any Canna in my yard.

Nikko blue hydrangea- reminiscent of great grandma's garden as a kid. I always said I would grow that shrub. Unfortunately not happening in zone 5!

So I love my hostas :)

There are many plants I love and adore, but one of the favorites is lantanas. They grow and bloom madly, laughing at Oklahoma's heat waves all summer long without fail. Yellow, white, orange and all the bicolors. And, they come back each year, and often times, I will have many new babies from seeds.

My best ones is Angel trumpet in all diffrent colors and lilys and climing shell plant well relly all plants signed tropical breeze

my landlord is a landscape architect working in pasadena, california where roses are extremely popular. he plants many of the extra plants from jobs in my yard including many rose bushes. i love them and they smell amazing and he encourages me to cut them and bring them into the house. very pleasant.

i very much like hydrangea and peonies and i should probably plant some or ask him to plant some for my household. love the look of hydrangea and the smell of peonies. my mother had peonies in our yard when we were little and i would sit and smell them for hours.