Daylilies obviously are my passion, but I do have other flowers.  This webpage is dedicated to them.

I generally grow Matrix Pansies during the winter, followed by Snapdragons, Bachelor Buttons, Lilliput Zinnias, Gerbera Daisies and Hibiscus.

Matrix Pansies - I generally plant pansies in a 4 ft by 12 ft bed facing south side of the house and a 7 ft by 7 ft bed on the north side.  The latter bed doesn't get full sun part of the winter.  In Houston, pansies are planted in early November and reach their peak in March.  By the end of April, it is time for summer flowers.

Snapdragons - Topper Hybrid Snapdragon seeds from Burpee were planted indoors under grow lights on 11-19-22.  I transplanted the seedlings into the back garden along the brick wall facing south on 02-20-23.  Peeks blooming season was mid-April to the end of May.  Would you believe 5 of the 80 seedlings actually survived the summer heat and have started to bloom again in March of 2024?  Normally, snapdragons start wilting when temperatures exceed 90 degrees.  Once a snapdragon starts to wilt, it is normally curtains for the plant.  Not so for the 5 survivors!

Bachelor Buttons - I replaced the Matrix Pansies with Bachelor Buttons in the front bed.  I've grown Bachelor Buttons for a number of years and the seeds from last year's flowers generally start sprouting in early March.  I also keep some of the last year's flowers which I can plant if needed.   I was too focused on daylilies in 2023 so there were only 3 Bachelor Button plants in the front bed.  But they were beautiful and bloomed practically all summer long. 

Lilliput Zinnias - I put zinnias in both the front and back flower beds.  This variety doesn't have large flowers, but they are prolific bloomers and seedlings from prior year flowers readily come up on their own.  I do cut some of the prior year flowers, break them up and plant them the next year if there aren't enough volunteers to fill the beds.  The seeds germinate easily.  If you clear out the prior year flowers and don't pick them up immediately, you will get seeds that sprout and start growing in your Saint Augustine grass!  They are that prolific of a germinator.  Needless to say, I haven't had to buy zinnias for a number of years now.

Gerbera Daisies - These daisies bloom best in March and April before the summer heat sets in then again in the fall when it cools off.  My wife loves the orange daisies with the yellow tips.  I also like the yellow and the pink daisies.  Of course, they are not the most prolific.  The red ones are.  May try constructing an overhead canopy on which I can lay 30% shade cloth during the summer to help the plants to bloom in the 95 degree plus Houston heat.

Hibiscus - 2023 was not a good year for our Hibiscus as they were attacked by Mealy Bugs which are almost impossible to eliminate.  So we lost the beautiful yellow Big Bang Hibiscus pictured on the front porch as well as the two large pots out front featuring 3 trade wind hibiscus plants (red Tortuga Wind, pink Caymon Wind & orange Mandarin Wind).  The plan is to replace the dead hibiscus plants in 2024.  We move the 3 hibiscus plants from the back yard facing north to the front porch facing south during the winter to protect them from frosts & light freezes.  We bring 3 plants in smaller pots inside during hard freezes.  The two large pots just are too heavy to move indoors.  They have managed to survive freezes the last 5 years until the Mealy Bugs took them out this past summer.