Succulents form a vast and diverse group of plants, offering easy-care choices for your home. They look stunning planted alone or as companions and offer a almost endless color variation.

Succulents form a vast and diverse group of plants, offering easy-care choices for your home. They look stunning planted alone or as companions and offer a almost endless color variation.

Succulents form a vast and diverse group of plants, offering easy-care choices for your home.  They look stunning planted alone or as companions and offer a almost endless color variation. 

Succulents form a vast and diverse group of plants, offering easy-care choices for your home.  They look stunning planted alone or as companions and offer a almost endless color variation.

Bromeliads come in a wide variety of styles, provide an exotic touch to the home and bring a sense of the tropics and sun-kissed climates inside. Growing bromeliads is easy since they are tough and carefree while bringing interesting texture and color to your interior garden. 

Also commonly known as mother-in-laws tongue due to their sharp, pointed tips, snake plants are very straightforward. If a prize were available for the most tolerant plant, snake plants would certainly be among the winners. They can be neglected for weeks at a time yet with their strappy leaves and architectural shape, they still look fresh.

Peace lilies are one of the most common houseplants because they are so easy to grow. The dark green leaves and beautiful white blooms make for a stunning addition to any room in your home.

Corn plants are one of the most popular and easiest house plants to grow.  They produce leaves that look similar to corn leaves but remain green year-round.  Although they are primarily grown for their foliage, they also produce yellow-white blooms when properly cared for.

The Pothos plant is considered by many to be a great way to get started caring for houseplants. Because they are easy to care for and undemanding, this simple yet beautiful plant is an easy way to add some green in your home.

If ever there was the perfect plant for the ultimate brown thumb, it is the easy to care for ZZ plant.  This virtually indestructible houseplant can take months and months of neglect and low light and still look amazing.

In recent years, the ponytail palm tree has become a popular houseplant and it is easy to see why. Its sleek bulb-like trunk and lush, long curly leaves make it visually stunning; and the fact that a ponytail palm is forgiving and easy in its care makes this an ideal houseplant for many people. 

Flowering kalanchoes are staples of the Christmas season with their cheery clusters of blooms on compact, upright plants sure to brighten your windowsill.  

Foxtail ferns are not really ferns, as they’re multiplied from seeds and produce no spores. The common name likely came from the clumping habit of the plant that is similar to that of a fern. Foxtail asparagus ferns have an unusual, symmetrical look. These fern-like plants have arching plumes of tightly packed, needle-like leaves that look soft and delicate. Foxtail fern plants bloom with white flowers and produce red berries. The plants appear fragile and may cause gardeners to shy away from them, expecting difficult and extensive care of foxtail fern. Don’t let the appearance deceive you, however. In reality, foxtail ferns are tough and hardy specimens, flourishing with limited care. Foxtail fern plants are drought resistant once established. Plant the outdoor foxtail fern in a lightly shaded area, particularly avoiding hot afternoon sun in the hottest zones. The potted specimen outside can take gentle morning sun with light shade for the rest of the day. Indoors, locate the foxtail in bright light and even direct morning sun in winter.

Haworthia is a dainty succulent plant which is frequently compared to an Aloe. Commonly known as the Zebra Cactus, the white wart like tubercles cover the back of the leaves in a pattern which resembles a Zebra stripe.  They are almost always small and very slow growing plants but tend to look brilliant in unusual containers or interesting soil mixes. As a result, they can make fantastic easy care gifts and presents for people, suiting either a home or office desk environment.

Bougainvillea in the garden or as a hanging basket offers green foliage year round and brilliant color in summer.  Their orange, yellow, crimson or purple flowers are actually modified leaves called bracts. The bracts surround the actual flowers that are tiny and white.

They are extremely drought-resistant and thrive in almost any well-draining soil.  Once you know the basics, growing a bougainvillea vine is easy. When you plant bougainvillea in the garden, you need to learn the ins and outs of caring for them. Bougainvillea care takes less effort if you select the optimal site. Plant these woody vines in a site with full sun and well-draining soil. Although bougainvillea vines tolerate many types of soil, they prefer loamy soil that contains clay, sand and silt in equal parts. Amend it with organic matter to allow nutrients to easily reach the roots. 

The Blackfoot Daisy is a rugged, heat and drought tolerant native - a superb choice for low-water wildflower gardens. White, yellow-centered, honey-scented daisies cover the mound of grey-green foliage throughout an extensive bloom period, given moderate summer moisture. 

Whether you choose to grow it on a trellis, as a topiary or in a hanging basket, the mandevilla plant has become a common plant for patios and flowerbeds, and rightfully so. The brilliant mandevilla flowers add a tropical flair to any landscape. They need sandy, well-draining soil with plenty of organic material mixed in. A good soil mix for mandevilla plants include two parts peat moss or potting soil to one part builder’s sand. 

An essential addition to any Central Texas garden or flowerbed, the hardy Butterfly weed is essential to the survival of Monarch butterflies. Mature butterflies feed on the nectar produced in the flowers, while the foliage provides food for their larvae. The brilliant orange and yellow flowers are showy in massed plantings, but fascinating up close with their intricate detail.  Butterfly weeds typical grow to around  three feet in height and are native throughout the eastern and southern regions of the country.

These verbena-like flowers have long since been admired for their extended bloom time and  also make a great choice for those wishing to attract butterflies and hummingbirds to the garden. There are several varieties of Lantana available that offer a multitude of colors such as red, yellow, orange, purple, pink and lavender.  Though some parts of the country treat lantana as an annual, in Texas lantana is considered a perennial. Grow lantana flowers in the garden or in containers. Trailing varieties can even be grown in hanging baskets.  They prefer full sun but will grow in partial shade as well.  Lantana has also shown to be deer tolerant.

The clear crisp flowers and glossy green leaves of vinca are so perfect you may be tempted to rub them to see if they are real.  Also known as periwinkles, vincas are useful in borders, flowerbeds, rock gardens and containers and provides instant color wherever it grows. They come in a wide variety of colors from white, different pinks and lavender.  Vinca is drought tolerant and requires almost no maintenance to keep it looking terrific.  It performs best if you water the plants whenever the top inch or so of the soil feels dry to the touch. Take care not to overwater this plant; it's easily susceptible to root rot. 

Deriving their name from the five-pointed petals on the flowers, Pentas are warm region tropical blooming plants.  They come in a profusion of colors, with flowers that are a variety of pink, red or white, but new cultivars have introduced tones of purple and lavender and mixed blooms such as pink with red centers.  When you know how to grow Pentas, you have a foolproof way of attracting hummingbirds and butterflies, too. 

Big, heart-shaped leaves that display amazing color combinations of white, pink, red and green best describe caladiums. They love hot, humid weather and grow best in full to partial shade, though most varieties can also be grow in full sun as long as they get plenty of water. This provides multiple options for planting caladiums in gardens, landscapes, and combining them with other sun loving annuals, perennials and bulbs. Decorate outdoor sitting areas with caladiums since they grow well in pots and planters and are the perfect solution for brightening a shady porch or a covered deck.  They also brighten up window boxes and hanging baskets and make a colorful border along a sidewalk or flowerbed.

There are more than 650 types of air plants, scientifically identified as Tillandsia, that can grow—and thrive—without soil and come in all sizes and colors.  Air plants are probably the easiest plant to grow so it's perfect for gardeners who tend to have a "black thumb."   Although air plants used to be a rare greenery, these hardy plants have become popular in the past couple years.  Many air plants grow with strap-shape or slender triangle-shape leaves, and most have attractive tubular or funnel-shape flower and are native to the southern United States, Mexico, Central America, and South America.

The national flower of Barbados is one of the most attractive heat loving plants for Central Texas. The species name pulcherrima literally means “very pretty” and it definitely lives up to the name. The blooms are clusters of orange-red with a tinge of gold on the edges.  Easy to grow in alkaline to acidic, well-drained soils, fast growing and bloom best in full sun. Considered drought tolerant once established.  Great for attracting butterflies.