I have become smitten with Thryallis, now known as Galphimia Glauca, a shrub that is said to bloom all summer long with yellow blossoms. I just put in 3 which are now in bloom. We'll see how it works.

I'm also looking into Physostegia (Obedient plant). It looks great at the nursery, but I'm concerned about invasiveness. Does anybody have experience with these plants?

The white is extremely invasive. I have the pink, and it has behaved well for a few seasons. It makes a nice cut flower for bouquets.
I've seen that name listed on several "I wish I had never planted it" lists...

What is the Galphimia? Can you post a pic?

This year, my "Gotta Have" will be Variegate Rosemary. However, it is difficult to come home from the garden
center [gone with hubby of course] without a few greenery items hitching a ride home with me. ;-]

Ankrara's Hobby Corner

I love your webpage, Ankrara.

Had to have an Endless Summer Hydrangea and planted my first palm....I had to have some Confederate Jasmine....as a former northerner, I didn't think honeysuckle wafting thru the breeze could be topped! Love sleepin with the windows open and getting a whiff. Love this climate!!!!!

Gardinlady
Just do an "image" search for Thryallis in Google. Tons of pics.

I have Thryallis and over here it blooms mid summer. But it may bloom eariler if I planted it in more sun (saw it planted in masse near Disney World/ Sea World and it was beautiful). It stayed evergreen/red in the winter which added to its value. I think it is also called Golden Showers. It also propogated very easily for me. I gotta have and got it...pink Blush Knockout rose. Got it through mail order and it had fragrant blooms. I was very impressed with the red Knockout and love pink, so....

I agree with gardninlady re "gas station plants" - I stopped planting pansies, begonias and impatiens long time ago and never planted Lantana since there are too many around here in my neighbor's yards.

For me the 'goota have' is an 'almost- black- so- dark- red' trailing Geranium. I saw those last year in Europe and I wanted them SO much! I found some two weeks ago, so I am happy now. Other 'gotta have's are Dowdeswell Delphiniums though it seems that I might not get them for spring only by fall. The real 'goota haves were the so called 'black' roses, I planted a whole new bed of the various darkest reds, combined with some pastels and interplanted with delphiniums. Also I tried to plant million bells (Calibrachoa) in every color, including a new (or at least, new for me) called 'chocolate'.

I am one of those who keep saying "wish I had never planted" Physostegia (Obedient plant). I found both white & pink invasive. Still fight to get rid of them showing up here and there.

I've fallen in love with lilies. I'm planning to plant lots more next year, including some for cutting. I really like the way lilies and roses look together in the garden. What an elegant companion plant for roses!

Last fall I became obsessed with sweet peas. They became one of my pet projects and I was thrilled when the first frilly blooms opened.

Concerning gas station plants, I make an exception for ornamental sweet potato. I like the way it weaves through a flowerbed and fills in around the other plants. Also, it is a low-maintenance ground cover that looks good all summer and fall. I buy a few plants to get it started, then root lots of cuttings from those plants all summer.

What I wish I'd never planted: hottunia and purple ruellia.

I totally agree with the lime green ipomoaea...that is the best accent/ ground cover!

I saw some spilling out of containers with hibiscus and verbena today at the pool. I had to use enormous self control to keep from 'pinching'. hehe!

The Austin rose Jude the Obscure and I have it! It is tiny but has already bloomed and the bloom was everything I hoped it would be- beautiful color, beautiful, form, beautiful fragrance, just beautiful.

I'm also really obsessed with gerber daisies and balloon flowers this year. Gerbers, once they settle in, are just such non-stop bloomers here and great in the vase too. But I'm picky about the color and the form so it has become a scavenger hunt for me as I pick through the common ones looking for the ones that really appeal to me. And balloon flowers were a surprise performer for me last year so this year I've ordered seeds and am going to try growing lots of different varieties next year.

Dixierose, I'm become a lily nut too. They are just so fine with roses! I've been stalking all the mark down shelves at the big boxes and buying the ones they have marked down. It is going to be lily heaven here next year!

I love sweet potato vine a lot! It is not a gas station plant -yet. Also planted a lot of Oriental/Asiatic lilies though I had quite a lot of them before but no Casa Blanca. Last year the white, tall Formosa lilies looked so great in the rose beds that I decided to plant more.

I second hottunia - we had to double dig the bed to get out (hopefully) every little roots piece after one year! terribly invasive plant,

Micimacko, you reckon Roundup will completely kill hottunia, roots and all?

I sprayed a patch of the stuff last week and the tops are dying down now. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Hi;- Thank You for your kind visit. ;-]

Thanks dixirose, we might ned it. Despite double digging and shifting the soil carefully we still had some hottunia showing up. I am afraid to use round-up though since the evil thing shows up among my rain lilies or miniroses that I do not want to kill.

Come to think of it, my "gotta have" plants this year were roses, among others the so called "black" (very dark red)red roses. And since I wanted to be careful that the reds do not clach, I had to order some whites, plae yellows and pale pinks to plant them between the reds.

I went crazy over roses this year.

Ah! I have angelonia coming out of the woodwork! Some popped up over the past two days with pink blossems and I started with purple! Love the stuff! I want LIly of the valley but wonder if it can take our 100% humidity and temps over 100 for weeks on end. I'd be satisfied with canterbury bells which I hear can take our heat better. I'm thinking about posting my first trade. I could trade Mexican heather, angelonia, or impatiens for some. Those are the only things I have so much of (oh, just remembered pelargonium stuff that gets pink flowers, have lots and lots of that)

Dixie Rose and Blooming Annie, Don't know if you mean lillies or day lillies. If it is day lillies there is a lovely woman on St. Margaret Street just north of the Citadel in Charleston who sells day lillies for $1 each. She is on the right, a block before you get to the river. It is a mansard type roof on the house. Front yard doesn't give a hint of the day lilly garden in back. Usually she has a tiny cardboard sign in front or if you see she or her husband out in the yard they will sell you some lovely d.l.

Oooooo, that is good to know. I too am adding both day lilies and regular lilies. The new hybrids called Orientpets (or something like that) are supposed to be quite hardy in the heat. Anything carefree is high on my list. A new double Mandevilla called 'Tango Twirl' has been a neighbor stopper for me. The blooms look like pink rosebuds.

hardy tropicals,gingers,stephanotis Jasmines, anything that has a pleasant fragrance

A sample of my ever expanding 'gotta have list': Bletilla and Calanthe terrestrial orchids (they're just too easy), pink/white striped crinum lillies, jack in the pulpit, hardy begonias, and perennial salvias.

Bob, I'm glad someone is having success with the Bletillas :-(

My current pash is roses, especially old roses, especially scented climbers, with scented creeping thymes underneath. I don't have any "gottas" but I have more "looking out fors" than I have yard.

I just found a Ban Xia (a Chinese jack-in-the-pulpit) to sit with my other jacks and trilliums - I'm very excited about semi-shade woodland plants, both local and exotic. My neighbours say the front looks "japanese" - which means, I think, lots of green, unusual leaves, and some rocks.

And dwarf marigolds caught me, this year. In a dark green pot that matches their leaves, they look almost soignée. I'm not hunting for more, but I'm really pleased with them.

For some reason I'm enamored with caladiums this year, and as always my guara.