ATS Gardeners: Your Personal Favorite Trees, Shrubs & Houseplants???

Trees: Pindo Palm, Windmill Palm, Variegated Leyland Cypress, Arizona Cypress, Gingko, Junipers, Banyan/Ficus,

Shrubs: Sabal, Needle Palm, Euonymous (sucks though its so aphid prone), Aucuba Japonica,

Houseplants/Tropical: hibiscus, kentia & bamboo palms, monstera, rhapis, Spider, dracaena, aeae banana

Other: Phyllostachys & sub/tropical bamboos, euphyllia, dendrobiums

I cant tell you what I grow in my closet as its against T&C but I will say its my favourite.

I also grow, apples, pears, cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, pumkins, lettuce, runner beans, strawberrys. If you cant consume it I dont see the point in growing it. Thats just my own opinion.

I'm not seriously educated in gardening or farming, but it doesn't stop me from doing my best with it. My personal favorites are the two fig trees we planted years ago. I get two crops each year from them. We eat some fresh, but then we cook the rest of them down with sugar and cinnamon. The cooked figs can then be used inside of tarts made from flour and fried. My mother used to make these all the time, so we've continued that after she passed away.

I had tons of stuff growing in my apartment until I went on vacation during a heat wave. Those little slow water feeders couldn't deal with the weather. Incidentally, what are the best plants for cleaning the air in a dwelling?

Originally posted by michaelmcclen
I cant tell you what I grow in my closet as its against T&C but I will say its my favourite.

I also grow, apples, pears, cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, pumkins, lettuce, runner beans, strawberrys. If you cant consume it I dont see the point in growing it. Thats just my own opinion.

I do agree.

Favorite trees: My centuries old monster big White Oaks trees (Quercus lobata), Liquidambar for killer fall colors.

Favorite shrubs: Daphne odora-intoxicating fragrance in February, Native mock-orange (Philadelphus lewisii)-heavenly jasmine-like summer fragrance, native Mock Orange , Caesalpinia gilliesii Caesalpinia gilliesii stinky plant, but the huge yellow flowers with oversized red anthers are a knockout and drought resistant.

Favorite perennials (I know wasn't in the question) All Dianthus, especially Fire-Witch, any and all cacti & succulents.

Favorite houseplants: all my Phalaeonopsis orchids, bonsai ficus trees, mini sinningias.

My account does not allow me to upload any images any longer and no mods have helped...but if you'll view these pix you will understand my passion for plants:

My Front Yard

Front yard from the other end

My Perennial beds

reply to post by visualmiscreant


Figs have been a Mediterranean staple for millennia, and I'm glad you like them. While I can't stand the taste of figs < shudder> I do love the smooth-barked fig trees, very picturesque leaves, very hardy and they make great tree forts. I had a huge Adriatic white fig in my back yard when I was young. It was a kick to watch the birds, bees and wasps get drunk on the fermenting fruit late in summer. Sorry to say the only thing I ever did with the figs was, as kids, throw them at each other. We called them 'mother-bombs' and we had some great, sticky, gooey wars.

To show how tough and resilient they are, I had a small fig tree in my back yard when I moved in. It got lopped off and an above ground fish pond was put over it. It took perhaps three or four years but that fig finally peeked out from beside the pond. Impressed by its tenacity I dug it up and replanted it in a spot where it can fill in and grow out by the rest of the fruit trees.

Favorite shrubs would be azaleas and forsythia. I love that they bloom in the spring, especially after a cold winter. I like evergreen trees, pines, cedars. A little color during the winter months. Oh and palm trees, though I'm too far north to grow them. Houseplants, I just don't really do, but I do have a Mother-In-Law Tongue that is about 10 years old. I started it when it was about 5 inches tall, and now it's probably close to 4 feet. To me, It kind of has that vintage 1950's/60's look. It's in the kitchen by my old chrome legged table set

spider plants cuz I can't kill them.

And I will never try to plant broccoli again.