I have a hard time shooting most of the flowers in the front yard, because they’re in full sun. They always seem to come out a little blown out.

Gallardia, fat and happy because I ignore it. When I planted it last year, I watered it, and it was so sad looking, I didn’t think it would live. After a while, I got annoyed with it, and decided to let it go ahead and die. I quit watering it completely, and it burst into flowers, and was happy as a little clam for the rest of the summer, all the way into the fall. Lesson learned—don’t water the drought-tolerant native plants.

One of the bazillion gazanias I’ve planted. I started with six plants last year, which I divided into 24 this spring. I went ahead and bought a bunch more, because they’re good little fillers for bare spots, and will pretty much grow anywhere there’s sun without much attention.