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I lucked into the seeds to grow this pepper, which are rather rare and hard to find. It was originally grown in northern Syria and southern Turkey. It is also known as halaby pepper. It is nice and flavorful with the heat following. Not too hot: I think they rank about 3 or 4 on a heat scale of 1-10. Aleppo/halaby peppers are popular in cooking and more commonly found in powder form. The plants are quite prolific and can grow to about 4 feet tall. Love these peppers.

As promised, these eggplants start producing before most others get going. I am continuing to harvest fruits as I write this. Fruit best picked at around 6 inches, when they are the most tender and delicious. They also seem to have a smaller seed cavity than other eggplants. Saving seed to grow again next year.

This sweet bell pepper matures to a light yellow. I really love these sweet peppers. They have wonderful flavor and are delicious in salads, raw, cooked, and grilled. Great flavor, crisp texture, and very good producers! I have two plants growing in a large container and they just keep pumping out fruits. No telling how they will do in the ground -- next year!

Native to much of North America, including Texas. The plant is a source of nectar and pollen for many native bees, wasp, butterflies, and other insects. It's also a host plant to a variety of insects, including the Dainty Sulphur butterfly. Cattle will avoid this plant because it is bitter and toxic to them. Most typically found growing in moist areas.

This was grown by accident this year and has turned out to be one of our garden favorites. Said to be a true French cantaloupe that originated in the Poitou-Charentes region. The scent is as intoxicating as I've read and as flavorful too! Juicy and sweet, better than any melon I've had. The only negative is that the fruit has a tendency to split as it ripens. We've found that the fruit is just as wonderful just before its ripest state, when it is still a little firm. Fruit ripens at about 65 to 70 days. Good producer. Plants are sprawling and need room to grow. Will definitely grow again.

This one has wonderfully rose-scented leaves that make a nice fragrant potpourri when the leaves are simmered in water. Leaves can also be hung and dried and will keep their scent for a long time, even a year or more. This Pelargonium graveolens can get quite large when grown in a fairly large container. Overwinters in an enclosed structure. In the spring, it can take a good pruning to get rid of any leggy stems and/or branches. The flowers aren't all that showy, but they are edible. Scented geranium also has many culinary uses. Makes a good tea or flavors alcohol. It's also said to have some medicinal properties. I love it for its gorgeous scent.

This unusual variety of Fuchsia is a small deciduous perennial that grows like a ground cover with a creeping habit. Also grows well in a hanging pot. The spring flowers are unique and colorful, followed by edible fruits. I haven't had a chance to taste the fruits yet, but my chickens must have thought they were pretty delicious! In hot climates, it grows best with a little morning sun or a shady spot. It's supposed to be hardy to around 20F, but I think it's best protected over winter -- just in case.

There are somewhere around 40 species of snapdragons, many of which have become naturalized in regions of North American. Antirrhinum majus is the common variety that makes a great addition to the cottage garden. Snapdragons do best in cooler climates, so I have mine growing in a semi-shady area where they are slower to bloom and longer lived.

The Rocoto pepper is also known as Locoto in Bolivia and is one of the oldest known domestic peppers, going back some 5,000 years when it was grown by the Incas. Locoto, which is the pepper I am growing, is a smaller version of the Peruvian Rocoto. This pepper is a perennial "Pepper Tree" that can live for many years. Grow it in a large pot in cooler areas where it can be protected during the winter. Here in Texas, it seems to like some shade from the hot afternoon sun. It is a plant of the Capsicum pubescens species, so there is no worry of cross-pollination with other varieties/species of peppers.

Heat is medium to hot (hotter than a serrano) and the flavor is intense, very nice in cooking and even more flavorful when dry roasted. I think this is the only pepper with black seeds and hairy leaves. 'Pubescens' means hairy leaves.

A nice slicer tomato with good old fashioned flavor and meaty texture. Not a bad producer once it gets going, this one is still giving nice sized fruits during our hot summer months.

Aunt Ruby's German Green tomato was a pleasant and tasty surprise for us this year. I haven't tried many green tomatoes, but this one has a great old-fashioned sweet and tangy flavor. These green tomatoes turn a light yellow to pink color on the blossom end when ripe, making it easy to tell when they are ready. Adding this one to our "grow again" in the tomato garden list.

I really love these little zinnias. Every flower is a surprise because each one looks unique. Like all zinnias, they are butterfly magnets and very easy to grow.

A very sweet and juicy cucumber, ripe at any time from yellow to a brownish color. The skin is not at all bitter but also very sweet. The plants didn't produce much but that may have been my fault (probably) for not adding enough compost/amendments to the soil.

Dewberries bloom here in spring along with others in the Rubus family, such as the blackberry bramble. I must say that I will seek out the dewberry vines (and keep track of the ripening fruit until they are ready for picking) because they have the plumpest and sweetest fruits of all.

This is a very ornamental lettuce with deep red semi-frilly leaves on large rosettes. Makes a tasty and attractive addition to salads, and the ruffled red leaves look pretty in the garden. This one is known to be heat tolerant too and can be grown year-round.

Buttercup is at the top of my favorite winter squash because of its meaty texture that is creamy, not mealy or watery. The flavor is sweet and nutty. High in Beta Carotene. We usually bake or steam it, but it also makes a very rich and creamy soup.

Tuscan Black/Lacinato Kale is very attractive in the garden with its dark blue-green leaves, but it's also very delicious. I like to treat kale as a 'cut and come again' crop, trimming off the tender young leaves for eating, which encourages more leaves to form, making a nice bushy plant. As with most kale, this variety is frost hardy.

Wild parsnips are a biennial root vegetable, completing their life cycle over two years. Extremely hardy, they can be left in the ground over winter when they become sweetest in flavor. Leave a few roots in the ground to develop pretty spring flowers and they will attract lots of beneficial predatory insects to your garden.

This is an heirloom variety that I've been growing for about 5 years now. It's very heat tolerant, with a high yield of pods on stalks that sometimes grow to over seven feet tall. Harvest pods when they snap off easily for best eating. Short and stalky ribbed okra. These are a favorite in our house. Great peppery flavor, tender yet crunchy texture, great pickled or cooked with tomatoes, onions, and garlic and in soups and gumbos.

I tried this variety because it is said to tolerate heat. It has lived up to its expectations as a very hardy variety. Not only has it survived our heat, growing in full sun, it's still thriving in the cold of winter. With temps at night down in the 20's and 30's, I'm still harvesting plants in my garden without any protection from the elements. On top of being so hardy, it's very tender and juicy and has a great flavor. Both stems and leaves are great raw and cooked.