Desert Classic~~ Pick Three

Shirl (Shirl's Garden Watch) has issued the Desert Island Plant Challenge to gardenbloggers. We are to pick  three plants that we would take with us to a desert island.  Just three...and we don't have to worry about building shelter or providing food...that's not the challenge!  Picking three plants is the challenge!

My dear friends~~this is quite possibly the most difficult challenge for an

'I would  like to keep my options open kind of girl'.  None the less, lets see what I can do!

Since none of the  choices needed to produce food ~~a good thing since my talents don't lie in growing food~~ I decided that they needed to provide:

Beauty~a plant that was enjoyable to behold

Food ~for bees, birds and butterflies

Multi-season interest~ just in case this island has seasons

Entertainment~it's a desert island

Here they are!

Practically Perfect Pink Phlox~~like you're at all surprised!

 

Phlox pilosa starts blooming in March and perfumes the garden all spring and into the summer.

I can't imagine not having PPPP's soothing to the eye pinks in any garden I have~~anywhere!

PPPP with columbine, lunaria, faded Iris cristata in the GOBN.  (Imagine the garden now that all that bush honeysuckle is gone!)

The Susans ~~again, are you the least surprised?

Shall we have another look at Rudbeckia hirta~



She is practically perfect in my eyes...some gardeners might see her yellows as too loud, but not me, she lights up the garden until frosts wipe her out. She provides food for butterflies, bees and her seeds are tasty to Goldfinches and other birds.  Practically perfect!

This final choice was the hardest. I so wanted to be able to take Zinnias.

Zinnias~~~beloved of gardeners, butterflies and bees, but I had to add a tree.

It's my favorite tree in winter, with it's exfoliating bark and tall white limbs reaching up toward the heavenly blue sky~~


Platanus occidentalis, American Sycamore or Plane Tree~~

I needed a tree that is beautiful to look at, would provide shade on a hot day and had limbs low enough to the ground for climbing. Now that's entertainment!

Plus, it will be very handy when I decide to climb to the very top of the tree and flag a passing ship to rescue me and take me home to my wildflowers and zinnias.

That wasn't so very hard!  Now it's your turn!

Gail

Thank you Shirl~~this was fun!