My BEST garden experience starts in November and goes through April :) EVERYTHING is wonderful! And I can spend the entire day in the garden!

Roses, Roses, and more Roses...It's the best choice I ever made for color all year long in Arizona.

Easy

cacti, cacti, and more cacti...it is the best choice that i have made for a plant with the least amount of care required and can survive our summers.

Having a pond and seeing all the wildlife that are attracted to it(not snakes however..I have to set limits). I saw blue and green dragon flies in spring and now I see brown and orange dragon flies. Hummers..butterflies...birds..rabbits behind the fence..fun to watch.

Zinnias and poppies from seed - both were quite care free, although I can't say they were without water needs. But beautiful and so easily sprouted. Not that our wet spring hurt at all....

How come there are only 5 messages here and a whole bunch more in the 'mistake' post? C,mon, people, share those success stories! I need some help....

Hmmmm! Can I pick more than one!! I say that belonging to GW and meeting/sharing with all of you!!!!!!!!!

Aw, Usha - that's so sweet. Yeah, we have a great group, don't we?

Okay, another great plant or two - Artemesia "Powis Castle" is a silvery, feathery, low mounding type foil that has taken the sun with very little water. It wilted on me only once this summer, on like the third 115 degree day. When brushed up against or crushed, it has a sweet almost citrusy smell. The silver color is great foil for just about any color flower; pink, coral, purple. Next I'm going to try it in a shadier area, around my all white garden. Here's a pic of it with Verbena in front of it.
Sorry the pic doesn't give a good idea of the form.

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Another great plant has been my Salvia blepharophylla, or Eyelash sage. I picked it up at the DBG sale, just 'cause. It has small (little fingernail size) bright red blooms that have been non-stop all summer long. It reminds me a lot of a red form of the "Black and Blue" sage (Salvia guarantica,) same dark calyx. The leaves are small, too, but shiny green. Here's a pic in front of the verbena:

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This is a great thread, Tommy - both of them are. I think the time of the year has a lot to do with the balance of responses on the "don't" list. We're probably looking at a whole lot more croaking than growing right now...

Wow, PC, those are beautiful! I wonder if the artemesia would do well where the bacopa croaked? I can see that the one green patch of bacopa left is mostly in shade; the rest is crispy crittered. I love the salvia, actually I like every variety I've tried, but the Black and Blue belongs in the 'mistake' category so far. It is putting on a couple of new leaves, though, so maybe not all is lost. Fingers crossed...

PC,
The pictures are gorgeous. Can this salvia handle our full full sun? Guarantica needs partial shade and so does S.Gregii.
I bought artemesia after your recommendation and will plant in the fall in the ground.

I have the Salvia and Artemesia (about a foot from each other) in a spot where they get full bore from about 8 am to about 4 pm. There is no reflected heat (no gravel, just other plants). They are getting water right now about every 7-10 days. The Salvia is also nice 'cause pieces root fairly easily in wet soil.

I wish you luck with the Artemisia, Usha. It really is pretty tough, so easy with the water and pour on the sun! Just wait until I show you the picture of its little sister, Limelight.....

tommy,

I haven't posted here because I am not a "traditional" gardener planting each season - I don't put in annuals 'cause the rabbits just eat them! So everything I have is pretty much permanent and my place is pretty full, so I don't do many new plantings either.

That said I guess I'd say one of four clevelandii sages that were put in this spring was the biggest success. It must be in the perfect place as it is thriving almost 3' tall and around. It is on the west end of the patio so it only gets afternoon sun and it gets runoff from hosing the patio as well as deep watering. No special soil, just native desert with 1/4" minus granite on top.

The other 3: one in a mop bucket planter - great idea: move it around so I can be sure to smell it a lot :) - well it's almost dead probably from too much water a time or two (bad placement and got roof runoff); one on the north side of the house is OK but just half the size of it's patio brother; one on the edge of the "real" desert portion of the yard is struggling probably because of more sun and less water (no runoff).

I wish everything grew as nicely as my patio winner :)

I know many people don't like them but I grew oleanders from seed. And mex. fan palm. I am just a baby gardener so I need easy successes. (I even killed zucchini!)

I have made so many mistakes, and have so many many questions that it's really nice to have an enty in this category. I have a tree that is going to eat the neighborhood! It is an Acacia Saligna - planted where the Salicina had it's demise. I made sure to water properly and apparently the roots have taken hold as it has held it's own in the latest winds. It is 2 years old, and I can't get it to stop growing! About 15 feet tall and wide (at least). I know that you are only supposed to prune 1/4 of the growth annually, but I have had to do that 4 times this summer. Are you are all thinking that I am probably watering too much? The truth is, it gets water only about every 3-4 weeks for 4 - 5 hours on the drip. It has shaded my porch from the afternoon sun, so now maybe I can plant something there and it won't get cooked.

Sorry T, this is O/T, but I wanted to answer gem's question.

Darn it, I always get the A. saligna and the A. salincinia confused. I know one of them suckers like crazy...

On the pruning... you're close! Actually, it's no more than 1/3 (or is it a quarter? now I'mconfused!) at one time, and that's mainly to make sure that the tree is not deprived of too much foiliage, which can kill it. Something that can make it look too full is trimming it at the ends of branches (sorry if you already know all of this) because the tree can send out multiple shoots where it has been trimmed. Always trim to the next larger branch above the one you're cutting.

In case you can use a visual, this link gives directions and pictures on how best to prune trees.

Here is a link that might be useful: AZ trees pruning guides

This is a small victory, but those pink polka-dot plants (sorry, don't know the botanical name) have really homely inflorescence, but self-sow like mad and came up in several of my potted plants, are drought-resistant, don't freeze with minimal protection, and are just plain pretty little random additions to my yard. Not to mention low maintenance. With absolutely no help from me they come up between bricks, in pots, just about anywhere and keep it up year after year.

Pagancat -The link for pruning was excellent! I appreciate all the info I can get. I actually had to prune major branches because I was afraid that it would be too heavy for the winds. Anything crossing, growing the wrong direction, or too close to another branch. It's really looking good now and holding up so maybe I did something right!

3 yr old grandaughter helping me in the garden. I pulled up a carrot and we shared it. I pulled a few tomatoes off the vine and we shared them. I pulled out a few weeds, and had to stop her from eating them.....LOL

LOL, pepe - that's what I call a *great* gardening experience! Nothing beats eating the veggies right off the plant.

My best gardening experience was seeing all of my "babies" survive since January when I went to Sierra Vista to help my daughter with her 2 babies. I have been there most of the time until now, and my yard looks good for all its neglect. Most of the plants are on a drip, but the ones that aren't just amaze me. My husband and neighbor threw some water on them once in a while and that's all they got. Yet they just keep growing and growing. Penstemons, bulbines, cactus, succulents, desert roses, angelita daisy, etc. I even had a verbena that I pulled out 2 years ago come back up this year, and its thriving. I figure if it wants to be there that bad, I will respect that wish. It does my heart good to see plants happy in my yard.

Great question (and answers). I'd say my best gardening surprise has been how well my achimenes plants have done outside. I've grown them for years as houseplants and decided to plant some outside in the partial shade of some desert trees. I thought for sure they would fry in the sun (they get a pretty brutal western exposure) and resent the heat, but they've proven very durable and have been providing nice, soft, purple and pink blooms all summer long. I'll definitely grow them in future summers. Here are two pics of my Experimental Basket (you must view on the website to see the pics):

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Keep the reports coming...great to learn what plants have done surprisingly well for us, surprise or not. :)

Take care,
Grant

I have overlooked mentioning this little plant, but it does amaze me. It's a dwarf snapdragon that I planted very early this year. And long after every other snapdragon melted in the heat, it is still alive - and blooming! (If I ever figure out how to size a picture that GW will accept, I'll post it.) I'm also a little surprised that my peppers are still producing, that I have 3 tomato plants that *might* produce again this fall and that my crinum bloomed again - the second time in 19 years!

My sage bush that suddenly turned purple overnight.
At last! I grew something that actually bloomed like it's supposed to do!! Thank goodness for plant guarantees