Fire Ants

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By Barbara Elmore, HCMG	OUR FAVORITE PLANTS, PART 1
Sometimes it's fun to go back to what brought us into the master gardener organization to begin with — our roots. Pun intended. So thanks to everyone who answered the question "What is your favorite plant and why?" The responses from Hill Country Master Gardeners not only a reflect individual personalities, but the realities of where we live.
Reading what members wrote was so much fun that responses appear pretty much verbatim. What follows is some of the responses, in random order:
Anne Moss All of my favorite plants came from relatives or other gardeners. One of them is the Mary Todd daylily, with many large, golden yellow flowers, preceded by big buds that look like bananas. I originally acquired it when I joined my first garden organization, the "Gardeners Exchange Group" in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. Members would trade plants and garden information with each other. The MT daylily came from a man who had a huge yard full of daylilies on the Shenandoah River, and was known for being very generous about sharing his plants and garden lore with other members. It is one of the few plants that I brought with me when I moved back to Texas. Daylily 'Mary Todd' Hemerocallis
Marilyn Pease Lilacs, lilacs, lovely lilacs, which we can't grow here and I miss so much for their purple hues and lovely fragrance.
Ron Smith Mexican sage. Easy to grow and great display of blue flowers. June Sher My favorite plant has become an herb, lavender, because it grows in the Hill Country without difficulty, and it even grows in caliche! I have started testing the different varieties, primarily in pots, and am having so much fun with them, even though I have just begun. I do not think it will be frustrating because it grows in whatever weather conditions Mother Nature brings. The sweet smell is so fragrant and the extra bonus is the deer do not touch it. I look forward to having it growing everywhere since it propagates so easily! Mexican Bush Sage Salvia leucantha
Pam Bresler 'Juliet' tomato is a large grape tomato hybrid that gives abundant fruit with excellent disease resistance. Even the heat of July and August won't slow down "Juliet's" vigorous growth, and she sets fruit in brutal summer heat when the large tomato varieties don't. While called a grape tomato, it seems more like a small Roma. I've picked as many as 30-40 per day. One plant will easily keep two people supplied with tomatoes. Even the tomato hornworms and leaf-footed stink bugs seem to leave "Juliet" alone. Betty West Jerusalem Sage. Hardy as all get-out. Has pretty yellow flowers in the spring, gray-green foliage and the deer won't touch it! My prayers have been answered. 'Juliet' tomato Lycopersicon esculentum