Perinnials/Bulbs:

rain lillies
day lillies
amaryliss
crinums
balloon flower
brugs (angel's trumpet)

Annuals:
impatiens
begonias
zinnias
shock wave petunias
bachelor buttons

Sam

Texas native wildflowers.They are a bit too aggressive for some but I like them. Different flowers take the lead for the seasons. For the last 2 yrs it was Indian blanket. There was a lot of red and yellow. This year it's been Evening primrose and drummond's phylox so I've had a predominatly pink garden. It also attracts so many birds,butterflies and bees. The insects also change with the flowers.PJ

Glad to have roses--antique and David Austin. Also white mist shrub which attracts butterflies. I love my crossvine, the black and blue salvia, Chihuahuan love grass, and indestructable deer muhly. Also adore Mexican buckeye tree, and Golden Ball Lead tree, and we are very fond of our retama. Almost any herb, but especially flat leaf Italian parsley, winter savory, thyme and the whole family of basils. And the list goes on . . . .

Love my Eve's Necklace, Gingko, mountain laurels, american beautyberry, coralberries, pearl bush, silverado sages -

My current favorite is the COOL artichoke plant growing along the front walkway, and a very spiny barrel cactus that grows in the same bed as the artichoke against a big brick wall (side of our garage). It's gotten so tall, it looks like the silhouette of spiny people lol. Oh I'm also in love with my kidneywood - it smells so good.

Leatherleaf mahonias - not that their form looks all that great, and they're exotic - the background planting in my shadey woodland area. But the early yellow flowers stand out, and now have the blue plump fruits that the mockers and robins lust after. I love to watch them sit on the fence, look around to see if any other birds are watching, and then dive and grab as many of the berries as they can cram in at one time. Fun to watch.

I like my bulbs - galanthus, crocus, grape hyacinth, freesia, glads, daffodils. It's fun to see them poking up all on their own! I also adore purple oxalis, it's so well behaved and pleasing in shape and color. Balloon flower amuses the heck out of me, and my loropetalum ALWAYS looks good! And of course alyssum and lantana are so long-blooming and fragrant. I used to be annoyed with my salvia when it got so huge, but now it's in a better spot it's great! I just needed a twenty foot by eight foot bed; no problem, right???

Other favorites are artemesia, clematis (cute little vine!), columbine and AMERICAN wisteria.

This year I'm trying out crinums, carolina jessamine, hosta, roses, larkspur, bat-faced cuphea, amaranthus and bridal wreath spirea. Here's hoping some of those turn out to be new favorites!

Texas sage, ginger, day lilies, salvia, verbena, banana trees, hydrangeas, hibiscus, lantana and so many more. I always enjoy petunias and torenia each spring.

Turks cap, Oakleaf hydrangea, creeping phlox, star jasmine, blue shade ruella, Powis Castle artemesia, and iris.

I love my coral honeysuckle vine. Also, my indian blanket and moonbeam coreopsis. Oh, and also, my grouping of mealy blue sage. I guess I could go on and on but I'll stop!

Alpinia ginger and Costus Barbatus ginger. Small antique fairy roses, night blooming Jasmine,cotton I am growing as perrinial. Annuals: TOMATOES!!!!!!!!

Here is a link that might be useful: my backyard

My peonies !
Finally they bloom sucessfully !
Olga,

Where did you find cotton seeds? Those are pretty plants, and I'd love to grow some myself.

gosh there is so much I love...my grandma's hydrangea, heirloom seedum, butterfly bushes, daylilies, bald cypress tree, tangerine bulbine, coral honeysuckle for the hummingbirds...

Everything !! Even the ones that are invasive have their place in the beauty of it all, just makes me work harder finding the excess a home. It all has beauty, I just need to be more selective in what I plant and WHERE !!

'Fire Dragon' shantung maples for sure. I never get tired of looking at it. Knockout roses are great. So easy to grow. Abelias are great. Butterflies are always all over them. There's grass like st augustine so we don't have to deal with bermuda grass! They all grow right into limestone rubbles without any problems!

Just planted turk's cap (6 of them) but so far, nothing... I'm getting impatient...

I like this thread much better than the one naming plants we don't like :)

There are so many to love and these are the one's I can't live without.

Knockout roses
Roses
Daylilies
Crinums
Daffodils
Amarillas
Clematis
Paper Whites
Stock
Ice plant - the wide leaf type- great ground cover or in baskets
Candy lily - leaves are like irises -, small flowers but very full, on long stems
Salvias - lot's of them, mostly like the greggi's
Hosta's - I just love the foilage on these, but if you put them in the ground you must amend the soil. Going in pots is very easy.
Rudbeckia
Artemesia
Texas Gold Columbine
Wood fern
Larkspur
Elephant Ears
Taro
Coreopsis
Sedum's
Canna's
American Berry beauty Tree

All of these plants make me look like such a good gardener :)

These guys make Texas gardening fun for me.

Crinium
Brugs
Canana
Banana
Elephant ear....

Happy I planted...ferns similar to "Kimberly Queen"...invasive, but pretty and covering a large naked spot that is inhospitable to a lot else. Polka dot plant (hypoestes)...is perennial for me and reseeds. Pineapple salvia...purchased at the end of the summer for more than half off....survived the winter and is blooming it's heart out even though it's got a pest problem. Sweet potato vine...I know for some it is a nuisance, but I like it anyway. Purple hyacinth bean vine....easy to grow and quite the show besides. Looks good on a hurricane fence.

Jury is still out on the crossvine...right now it's looking a little pathetic. I have ajuga newly planted in another naked hard to grow in space and so far they are three times larger than they were when I planted them a month ago.

I don't have any of these now, but I've planted before or am searching for them--caladium, daylily, and coleus.

Cupheas-there are 4 or 5 kinds in the front yard and they are all covered with bees, lots and lots and lots of bees, all sizes & colors.

Brugmansia-just cause they are sooo awesome and smell great at night when I'm wandering around.

Duchesse De Brabant-old rose-this blooms almost year around, grows in shade and is rated the best rose for our area-mom didn't want it then when she saw mine I had to find her one!

All the vines I've planted over the years, people stop to ask me what kind of tree that is with the purple flowers-it's the pecan with a huge passiflora climbing it.

Everything in the front-my yard is at least 15 degrees cooler in summer than my neighbors, I get tons of compliments, have met most of the people that live in my 'hood as they all talk to me about the plants, there are butterflies, hummingbirds, wasps, bees and migratory birds all the time.

Tally HO!

Barb -> Psh! That's because you ARE a great gardener!

I just love hostas because they grow well in shade. I also have most of mine in containers.
I also love:
Turks's cap red, white and pink
Leatherleaf Mahonia
Clematis-finally got some to grow and bloom!!
Cross Vine
Hydrangea- oakleaf is the best so far
Elephant Ears
Crepe Myrtle
Knockout roses
Farfugium-the leaves got smaller, but it made it through a summer and even bloomed in the fall
Banana shrub-still waiting for those blooms
Phlox-have a new Fannick that I have high hopes for
Fallopia-love the look but some information says it is invasive
Caladium
Holly Ferns
Impatiens
Begonias
Purple Heart
Daylillies
Iris
Purslane for hot sun
Lamb's Ear-got a free one that is about to overtake the rose next to it.
Lirope-the first plant I could get to grow in my shade garden.

My #1 favorite would be my passion flower. My ex-DIL gave it to me and it has grown like crazy. Also, datura, brugs, hostas, blue daze, plumbago, hydrangeas, impatiens, salvia, begonias, airplane plants, gee, everything!!

I have to add Turk's Cap, Oakleaf Hydrangia, Chinese Fringe Flower bushes, Japanese fern and palms.

butterfly weed, la biche, abraham darby and sdlm roses,
agapanthas, every salvia except ugliosa (sp?)bulbine,
rosemary, rue and parsley

The very first flowering plant I put in my backyard -- native Lantana. That plant set the stage for my obsession with converting a good chunk of my backyard from lawn into flowerbeds. I guess the other one (I'd better only pick one or I'll ramble on forever) is Texas Primrose (Calylophus). I expected it to have pretty yellow flowers, but just didn't realize what a gorgeous little clump it would grow into. It's like having a piece of sunshine in the flowerbed.

Carla in Rowlett

Tall garden phlox, if I had to choose only one, phlox would have to be it. They're pretty and they smell really good. And if I could choose more than one, everything everyone else has named above would suit me just fine. Cheryl

Anthony Waterer Spirea. Hands Down. don't get me wrong, I love my double delight coneflower, and my crossvine, and Russian sage, and Kaliedoscope Abelia, and am a daylily addict - but I planted the spirea in the front beds along the sidewalk to the porch the first year - and still get that grin on my face and sigh when the blooms explode at end of April. I added the Goldmound spirea in the backyard last year, and it is now also a serious contender for drop dead gorgeous.
Next year, Belinda's Dream will be the backdrop for the spirea (planted between the Anthony Waterer, and the porch with the 12 foot archway entrance), so it can only get better....

terry in Dallas

Here's my top 10 ... because they get better each year and are what I consider "investment" quality plants:

Japanese Maple
Yaupon Holly
Nellie R. Stevens Holly
Duchesse de Brabant (antique / old garden rose)
Reine des Violettes (antique / old garden rose)
Peony
Siloam Double Classic daylily
Mini Pearl daylily
Hosta ('Patriot' & 'Francie')
Bur Oak tree

Randy

Terry, do you know where I can but a 'Anthony Waterer' and a 'Limemound' spirea in the Dallas area?

Randy

Vines:
Morning Glory( from Kathy), Hyancinth Bean vine, Cuban Pea vine, dragon crossvine, bleeding heart vine, chalic vine, clematis vines,gloriosa lily( Kathy saw it yesterday), red passionflora, and pink honeysuckle vine.
Tropicals:
Double pink Brugmanisas, Ichoroma( just love these), double/triple datura, exotic elephant ears, bottle brush trees, and sweet memories duranta, large flowered hibiscus, gingers, and cestrums. I also love the blue potato vine, devils tears, gerber dasies, and of course my dayliles. Barbra,

Having lived in a number of states "over the years," my favorites have really been trees. I agree with Lou_midlothian_tx...I'm enjoying my 'Fire Dragon' Shantung maple even though it's only in it's second year.

Other favorite trees in other states have been 'Forest Pansy' redbuds and any purple-leafed ornamental cherry or plum.

Also elsewhere, I was blown away with Alpine currant (MT) and its good looks and versatility. In MD, I especially liked my 'Annabelle' hydrangea.

In Texas, I like salvia greggii...I think it's 'Pink Preference' that is a hot pink or magenta color and blooms its head off spring through fall. Lantana, of course. I like the greener version of Santolina too and laceleaf verbena.

It's still early, but I've been impressed with my compact Andorra juniper (going into its second summer) and so-far-so-good for this spring's plantings of a compact (4-5') butterfly bush 'Adonis Blue', and 'Dynamite' crape myrtle.