We are pleased to share our first entry with you from Linda Green of Waco, Texas.

"Living in a duplex, we have only a small property, which I have planted with hummingbird-attracting perennial flowers (trumpet vine, honeysuckle, lantana, Texas scarlet sage, Mexican bush sage, apricot sunrise, bog sage, cigar plant, hibiscus, vitex tree) and annuals (morning glory, batface heather, petunias) and several begonias, which I have had about six years.  I also have perennial herbs (rosemary, Mexican mint marigold, society garlet, purple ruffles basil, lemon balm and lime balm).  The hummers will also feed on some herbs that are in bloom. 

 Most of my plants are Texas natives, which require less care than non-natives.  I have installed a drip irrigation system for the patio container plants and soaker hoses for the small bed beside the patio fence, which help considerably with watering and water conservation.  The drippers are in varying gallons-per-hour increments to adjust to the different plant requirements.  The dripper system allows the water to go directly to the plant roots, thus eliminating runoff.  With this system it takes me 15 minutes to water, compared with the 1 to 2 hours it took before.  I have a mister, which I use both with the plants and for the birds that visit our garden in which I keep several hummingbird feeders and a regular bird feeder.  With the water-saving systems and mostly native plants providing a minimum of upkeep, I have plenty of time to enjoy our miniature patio garden habitat!"

"Over the last 20 years, my backyard retreat in South Arlington has evolved according to my tastes during planting season. With its combination of strong sunshine and heavy shade from 200-year old oak trees, my yard easily accommodates any whim I devise for it. Over the years it has hosted an over-productive herb garden (how many jalapenos can one family eat, anyway?), an overgrown cutting garden, an ill-fated cactus garden, an expensive annual garden, followed by a more practical perennial garden, which became a hardy-perennial garden and now is a Texas native perennial paradise.

"The most wonderful aspect of a Texas native garden is that every year you already have an excellent base to work with. You can add some new plants here or there, but during the pizza-oven we call July and August, you can effectively abandon your garden and it still looks like House-Beautiful. Once I had the eureka that drought-resistant plants and poor drainage weren't happy bedfellows, I was three-quarters of the way to building a backyard sanctuary for myself and my migratory friends. A French drain system now eliminates excess rain water (you know...rain...that's the stuff that drops from the sky in other states), a retaining wall holds back all that wonderful mulch shed by those old trees, and with the help of a blanket of autumn leaves from other people's yards each year, even my tender perennials survive the winters without covering. Now, my backyard is a four-season garden with something interesting blooming all year round.

"In the spring the garden is inadvertently pink. I didn't plan this, it just happened that way. One side of my yard is solid shade produced by a 20-foot Shantung maple (an Aggie cultivar that is drought resistant and is much stronger than the wimpy silver maple that blew into matchsticks one blustery March evening.) At its feet are my favorite spring flowers, a bank of two-foot tall Texas Gold Columbine, which offset the carpet of hot pink moss phlox keeping company with the Earth-kind roses from Chamblee's in Tyler. In the sunshine garden, dark maroon and pink stripe Hardy Hibiscus monopolize one corner next to a Blue Wisteria (that didn't get around to blooming for six years. The garden center didn't mention that bit when I bought it). The delicate Canterbury Bells Campanula jingle under the profuse red-and white-striped Amaryllis (stolen fair and square from a good-natured couple who dug them up for me just before the hapless new tenants moved into their home). The Amaryllis are very hardy, but no match for the multicolored Four-O'Clocks, which were seeded over five years ago and still pop their heads up in different parts of the yard just to remind me that they are still there, like a patch of demented Forget-me-nots. In the center ring a constant wrestling match exists between the Rock Rose, which strives to be a tree; a Giant Echinacea, whose size matches its name; an occasional Hollyhock that I can't remember planting; and a Beautyberry, that just won't die even when hacked to the ground. I let them fight it out all summer. May the best weed win!

"During the summer my garden converts from primarily pink to bright yellow and red. The Lantana and Milkweed attract the monarchs. The cannas serve as a backdrop to block my view of the wheelbarrow and my spring potting mess. Dark red salvia drapes across the feet of the El Presidente purple Clematis with its dinner-plate sized flowers climbing the chimney wall. This is my mother's favorite flower, and every year she threatens to take a chainsaw to the Madame Galen Trumpet Vine if it even thinks of climbing too close to her lovely plant. But, my favorite summer plant is the Indigo Spires Salvia, a 5 foot vertical mass of electric blue flowers that even the hummingbirds prefer to the sugar water I brew for them. Supposedly hummingbirds like red flowers. Ours must be colorblind, because they completely bypass the blood-red Pentas and the red Monarda and Penstemon to drench themselves in the Indigo ambrosia. This year in front of the Indigo Salvia, I planted Blackeyed Susans, Yarrow, Mouse Toes and a happy little groundcover called Calyophulus, which looks and acts like Winecup, but is a bright cheerful yellow. It's my new Texas native and so far it's thriving through its stress test.

"I would love to buy more Texas natives, but keep running out of yard. I wonder how much my next door neighbor wants for his land?"