I have some favorites and no photos Escarpment Black Cherry, Poliomentha longifolia (mexican Oregano). All that are listed get no irrigation after establishment. Many seed them selves and heat and drought might make them take a break for a year, but all made it through the BIG DROUGHT. the datura did not make it but they are easy to regrow. My style of gardening is gardening in the wild mostly in an un-amended soil. It is Darwinian Gardening at it most extreme. I kill a lot of things. If they live, they are on my favorite list.

Yucca faxonianna

Agave ovatifolia (cold and wet tolerant agave)

Artemesia 'Valery finnis" and a dark green agave (cold hardy&wet hardy)

The annual Ipomopsis rubra AKA Standing Cypress

Double yellow Datura

Salvia regla , blooms spring and fall,... see the hummingbird. They love them.

Calylophus berlandierri with black eyes

Bamboo muhly, it will grow larger in better soil.

Spanish Lavender, penstemon, and desert mallow

Crossvine

Absolutely gorgeous! Looks like you have a big yard, and I love the wild look. Thanks for sharing!

Wild look is a matter of my innate laziness, the amount of land and unwillingness to kill off all the wild grasses in order to plant wild grasses. I always hated lawns and now that I am out in the boonies far far from any HOA, i need not establish one. It is mostly short grasses. Here are a few more that I like and are tough as nails.

Gutierrezia sarothrae AKA Snake broom weed . The blooms start out a smoke tight green bud and slowly open in a nice billowy textural way.The bees love it . they cover it with their hind legs weighed down in yellow pollen in September/october and then they cross the yard once the blooms are passed their prime and change out their yellow jodhpurs for ........

white ones. they love this one too. the butter flies are all over this one too. It rounds out the season from LATE october to the first hard freeze giving color when a lot of the garden has played itself out. It takes all sun to dappled shade. I see it growing in full shade but the form and blossoms are not as good. I cut this back to get its rounded form It was planted too close to a path.

Conoclinium havanense , (AKA Eupatoreum havanense, ageratum havanense) .

This is an odd Agave striata var falcata. I have seen hardiness ratings of Z 7 on it and I have seen ratings of 15F. This plant is seemingly NOT monocarpic. It pups on its meristem and sometimes it sends up four blossoms. It blooms every year now and never dies. It also has survived 10F in a freeze and 5" of rainfall in a 12 month period.

I love my hydrangeas. They are carefree if they are provided with acidic soil and plenty of water.

Vitex is a beautiful, tough small tree that catches the eyes of all passing by.

Ground orchids (Bletilla) make a great, slowly naturalizing bulb that require little care.

I love spanish lavendar. It only requires plenty of sun and excellent drainage.

These are two favorites of mine: tall red penta and rudbeckias. The penta has been root hardy for me and the rudbeckias are reliable self seeders.

These are just a few of my favorites....that list changes from year to year for me.

Molly

Loving the pictures on this cold, wintry day!

If "favorite" is measured only with time, toil, and treasure, sad to acknowledge our St Augustine turf must be mine. Obviously there are other factors at work.

However, in that line, the only tree we are non-Darwinian with is flowering dogwood (Cornus florida). We are west of the more acidic forest soils it prefers, so gets more supplemental water than any other tree on the lot.... and most of our coffee grounds. In return, it provides as (more?) reliable fall color as anything else in the area,

beautiful bracts in the spring,

and drupes for the birds.... which they eat too quickly for me to photo at maturity.

Here as an understory to oaks, it can remain a small (<10 ft) tree for many years. Our roughly 8ft example is close to a couple decades old.

I'm totally loving looking at all the photos above!

A recent thread that has a few more suggestions is here: 'Best All Around Plant' thread ...

This post and it's gorgeous photos needs to be brought back to the top so we can all dream of spring which is right around the corner ... :-)

You think? I seeing snow and ice tomorrow night after a high of 65-70. GOD, ya gotta love this Texas YOYO!!!! Normally it os tomato planting time.

DAYLILIES!!!

Don't have pictures, but the plants that have done well in this hellish drought are:

Turks Cap

Zexmenia

Portulaca

Mexican Wire Grass

Guara

Mexican Mint Marigold

Jerusalem Sage in particular

All other varieties of Sage

All varieties of Lantana

Two "do not water" trees:

Anacho Orchid

Arroyo Sweetwood (it's a largish bush now but will be "tree-ish" soon)