Gardening in the Desert?

It might not be easy living in a desert, but I want to get into gardening! I bought a Topsy-Turvey planter and a tomato plant, so that's a start! ( :

Here is a list of "difficult to kill" plants:

ALPINE STRAWBERRIES
"Everyone loves strawberries, and everyone wants to grow the really big strawberries," says Gayla Trail. But she suggests blazing your own path -- straight to the Alpine Strawberry. "They're easy and under-valued," she says. Closer in heritage to the wild strawberry, the Alpine is a perfect border plant that she says is easier to grow and better-tasting than its plumper cousin. "They're very tiny strawberries, but what is amazing is that they pack a punch. The flavor explodes in your mouth."

LANTANA
Another easy annual, Lantanas are literally a burst of color -- little bunches of flowers in a rainbow of hues. The appeal to gardening neophytes, says Uyterhoeven, is that Lantana bloom all summer, attract butterflies and hummingbirds, are heat and drought resistant, require no deadheading, have fragrant foliage and are deer-resistant. "We grew a bright yellow flowering Lantana called Lantana camera -- Lucky Pot of Gold -- whose foliage smelled lemony," she says. "But my favorite are the ones with red, pink and yellow flowers, such as Lantana camara Patriot."

COLEUS
"If you have trouble making decisions, avoid this annual at all costs!" jokes Sonia Uyterhoeven. "Coleus comes in such a wonderful array of textures and colors that it will be impossible to make a choice." Some possibilities: Fishnet stockings (green leaves, purple veins); Religious Radish (burgundy on rose-pink), or Glennis (green to rose to yellow). If the basic Coleus seems too commonplace, Uyterhoeven says, consider the Plectranthus plant which has green foliage with a gold margin. Another option, she adds, is to mix Coleus with the brilliantly colorful Fuchsia. "My favorite fuchsia is an upright variety named Fuchsia European Uprights Kiralle. It has salmon color tubular flowers that attract hummingbirds and partners beautifully with reds, corals, pinks and whites."

RUSSIAN SAGE
Another grow-anywhere beauty is Russian Sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia), with its spiky silver-grey stems and gorgeous blue flowers. "It's gotten a lot of press in the last five or ten years," says Nardozzi. "That's because it's easy to grow and takes pretty adverse conditions -- it does well in the heat, it does well in dry conditions and it will grow well if you have water. It's a beautiful perennial."

BLACK-EYED SUSAN
There's good reason why this wildflower is a garden staple, and it's not just its cheery yellow face. "They're un-killable -- they're going to end up taking over the world," jokes Gayla Trail from You Grow Girl. A member of the poppy family, Black-eyed Susan grow and grow -- in height and footprint. Which means that if you want to control your swath of Suzies, you're going to have to be vigilant about cutting them back. That said, nothing could be easier to tend. Be daring, though, and go beyond basic Black. Charlie Nardozzi suggests trying newer varieties, like the Cherokee Sunset, which have fiery red and orange plumes.

DAYLILY
It might be hard to find anyone who doesn't love the Daylily (Hemerocallis). "You can grow them from northern Maine to southern California, and they produce flowers in the middle of the summer in a wide range of colors and shapes," says Charlie Nardozzi of the National Gardening Association. As the name implies, the daylily lasts only a day -- it blossoms at dawn, dies at dusk -- but each stem produces so many flowers that it blossoms for weeks. Talk about a gift that keeps on giving.

IMPATIENS
Talk about Gardening 101. Impatiens, quite simply, give you real bang for your buck -- they're inexpensive, easy to care for, and blossom from spring to fall. "Once you plant them, they sit for a week or two while the roots are getting established, and then they take off and fill the space beautifully," says Sonia Uyterhoeven of the New York Botanical Gardenn. She says she mixes impatiens with Foxgloves for a carpet of color with vertical accents, or she'll use double-flowering impatiens or New Guinea impatiens, which have bigger flowers and tolerate more sun.

HEUCHERA
How could you not smile about a plant that also goes by the name Coral Bell? The very name rings out cheerfulness. Though some varieties produce spikes of flowers (they're magnets for hummingbirds), opt for Coral Bell as foliage, a foil for flowering annuals, says Sonia Uyterhoeven, the New York Botanical Garden's public education gardener. Her favorites? "Huchera Dolce Peach Melba has orange foliage that turns pinky hues throughout the season; Huchera Mocha has huge chocolate foliage, and Huchera Key Lime Pie has citrine green foliage that will pop in any shady situation."

BEE BALM
No, Bee Balm (Monarda) is not a lip salve, though the plant was used for skin rashes and oral infections once upon a time. The bee in its name, says Charlie Nardozzi of the National Gardening Association, comes from the fact that the plant attracts bees -- lots and lots of bees, though they aren't the only creatures that want to propagate it. Since Bee Balm is widely adaptive, you'll want to grow it in your yard and give away cuttings to all your friends. Best, its flowers dazzle in a rainbow of colors -- white, red, purples -- while the leaves bear an intense, minty taste.

RUGOSA ROSES
Roses may be the stuff of poetry, but growing those garden divas can require slavish devotion. "People enjoy tending roses, but I feel like I'm dealing with a princess," says You Grow Girl's Gayla Trail. Which is why the hardy, indestructable Rugosa rose (Rosa rugosa) makes the pros, well, wax poetic. "It takes the heat, it takes the cold, and it produces beautiful, fragrant flowers," says Charlie Nardozzi, staff horticulturist for the National Gardening Association. "You get a big flush of flowers early in summer, then periodically throughout the summer, then big rose hips in early fall." If there's a downside, it's that the stems are covered in thorns. "But that," says Trail, "makes them good in my street garden because no one wants to pick them."

BROADLEAF THYME
Known, too, as Cuban Oregano, Broadleaf Thyme (Coleus amboinicus) may be one of the easiest plants to grow, says You Grow Girl's Gayla Trail. The herb does best in sunny spots, but, that said, this succulent can flourish outdoors or on a windowsill, in droughts or something wetter. "It's really aromatic, and it's pretty -- the leaves have little scallopy edges," Trail says. "It's fairly unknown here, but in Cuba, it's all over the place." Indeed, the pungent herb makes a great addition to bean and fish dishes and Jamaican jerk recipes.

GEM MARIGOLD
Marigolds may be as basic to a garden as dirt, but for a more interesting variation on the theme, try the Gem Marigold (Tagetes tenuifolia). Not only is this golden species colorful, but with names like Lemon Gem and Tangerine Gem, the flowers are also fragrant (think citrus scents) and flavorful (a hint of citrus-tarragon). "I'm not into marigolds, but when I found gem marigolds, I fell in love," says Gayla Trail, founder of the hip gardening website, You Grow Girl. "The leaves are ferny and delicate, the flowers are small but incredibly prolific -- and they're edible. I grow them in large pots with my tomatoes, so that I get beauty along with the tomato plant." And who doesn't love a two-fer?

Floating/Submerged Centerpieces

I saw a beautiful orchid centerpiece on "Who's Wedding Is It Anyway?" and now I am obsessed! I know they can be really expensive but they are dramatic and simple. Here are some examples that I absolutely love!