At last count, I have @ 15 flowering containers and baskets in the backyard and @ 9 in-ground plants and bushes. The front yard has six flowering containers. I started gardening last spring, nursed a handful through the brutal AZ summer, and went bannanas doubling the number of flowering containers in the fall.
In green thumb terms, I am still a beginner, but I have to tell you: flowering plants and bushes are an amazing entertainment value. Never did I think I would get such satisfaction out of nursing, pruning, and just plain old looking at stuff.
The backyard food chain now contains plants crawly insects, flying insects, lizards, and birds all of whom provide sustenance for one another in nature's onging drama.
Like Gulliver, I sit and watch the Lilliputian theatre. Two birds sit on the back fence and gauge my intent. Satisfield I am no threat for the moment, they take wing and swoop onto the Lantana bush now rich in flower and berries. With a few quick jumps bird number one finds some internal bough; I can see are branches bobbing and leaves shaking. Bird number two, beaten to the best munching spot, takes flight, looks my way, and calls at me as it lites on the back fence. With another squawk, bird number two heads for places unknown.
Summer is coming. The backyard is solid southern exposure, which means that all the containers and plants will get five months of blistering high desert sunlight. I have laid in bushes and flowering plants that are drought-tolerant. They stand proud and produce wonderful, beautiful flowers despite the harsh conditions. Some these desert blooming beauties are no bigger than a fingertip, yet they're perfectly formed and breathtaking in color.
I don't have any favorites, not yet anyway. I am still in the joyous discovery stage in which any action that I take which is reciprocated by a plant is a revelation, a celebration, and another point toward my planetary partner merit badge.
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