On this page, I'm going to share some of my favorite plants to grow in my garden. I've tried all of the ones I have listed here, such as lilies, Spring bulbs and annuals.
I've grown two different types of lilies, daylilies and calla lilies. I like lilies so much because they come back and multiply every year. After several years, they look just beautiful. They're also great for naturalizing a corner of your garden, although I grow them in planters.
I've had more success with the daylilies. They're a cheerful flower that's easy to grow. Each bloom only lasts one day, but the plant keeps making new blooms. As long as you pick off the old flowers each day after they die, you'll have colorful displays all season.
Calla lilies are one of my favorite flowers, but I never seem to have much success with them. The bulbs have to be dug up before the gruond freezes in colder climates. Even though I do this religiously, I've never been able to get one to bloom. Hopefully I'll have better luck with them this year. I planted four of them and so far, one is sprouting.
Some of the spring bulbs I've attempted to grow are tulips, daffodils and crocus.
I've had a lot of luck with tulips up until this year. When we lived in NY, I planted them the first fall after we moved in and in Spring, they came up and bloomed beautifully. Part of my gardening headaches come from the fact that since my husband is in the Army, we move every few years, so I never get to see my bulbs really flourish and multiply. I had the tulips in NY for two years and by the second Spring, they were really looking good! We moved to TX the third Spring and it about broke my heart when I called my old neighbor to let her know the move went OK and she told me how great my old garden looked. I planted some tulips here last fall. I thought I did a good deed because I bought bulbs at Walmart and some of the profits went to cancer research. I had even put back some other ones and bought the ones for a cause instead. They came up about a month ago, I'm not sure if it's something I did or if I should stop buying bulbs at Walmart, but they're weird. The flowers are right above the ground because the stems are only about half an inch long! I know I didn't plant them too deep either! I'm hoping they come up a bit taller next year.
I've only grown daffodils for three years as well. The ones I had in NY were just beautiful. In NY, they came up before the tulips did. Here in TX, the tulips are already flowering and the daffodils are only just starting to poke through the soil. In NY, I had conventional yellow daffodils. Last Fall I planted some that are supposed to be white with a pale pink trumpet. I can't wait to see what they look ilke when they flower. They're only about three or four inches tall right now, so I think I have a bit of a wait.
I only tried Crocus the second year we lived in NY. I loved them for the fact that they were blooming when they were still surrounded by snow. They came up and bloomed for me the morning of the day we moved out, so I didn't get to enjoy them very long. I didn't try them here in TX yet because I wasn't able to find any to plant last Fall. The ones I had in NY were just beautiful. They were compact and bright in varying colors of purple, white and shades in between. I would like to try them again some day, I had pretty good success with them.
I've tried many, many different kinds of annuals and biennials, so I've decided to only list some of my very favorites and the ones I had the best luck with. These include sweet peas, snap dragons and petunias.
Sweet Peas are probably my favorite annual. They can also be grown as perennials, but I prefer the annual variety. I think I like sweet peas so much because when I was a child living in PA, they used to grow wild in the field across from our house. Every Summer my Mother and I would pick enourmous bouquets of them to give to my Great Aunt who lived next door and my Grandmother, who lived less than half a mile away. I have fond memories of picking them in the warm sun while breathing in their wonderful aroma, then the joy on the faces of the people we gave them to. I tried growing them from seed for the first time this Spring. I got these seeds from Burpee. They're doing very well so far, already wrapping their hardy little tendrils around the chain link fence that I planted them by. I'm very much looking forward to the memories their scent is sure to bring back once they bloom.
Snap dragons are another flower that used to grow wild around our house when I was a child. I used to love squeezing the sides of the flowers to make them pop their little "mouths" open and closed. Right after I got married, I grew them in Alaska. I didn't start them from seed, but rather bought the plants at a nursery. They grew tall and looked wonderful. I think I grew them every year of the three that we lived there. I took pictures of my son his first Summer when he was about six or seven months old next to the snap dragons. He was sitting in front of them reaching over to touch one with a look of happy wonder on his face. Those pictures remain among my favorites of my son as a baby.
Another one of my favorite annuals is the good old petunia. I like them so much because my Grandmother always grew them and my Mom still does. They just remind me of home! My grandmother always used to order her seeds from Gurney's. I love all the colors they come in and how cheerful they look. They're also another flower that benefits from dead heading. As long as you remove the wilted blooms, the plants will continue to flower all Summer long. I haven't planted any since we lived in Alaska, but I plan on planting some next Summer if I don't get around to it this year.
