Some of you may not know but I accepted a part-time job at Lowe's to add a bit of money to my retirement income. I hoped to be assigned to the Garden Center just because I love plants and their flowers — and luckily they chose to put me right where I wanted to be.

This photo shows the area just outside with lots of beautiful plants chosen to catch the eye of the passersby — hoping to draw them into the larger garden area.

This display definitely caught my eye — very small plumaria trees. You may recall my photos from Hawai’i of plumaria blossoms in an array of colors. You may also recall that these flowers are favorites for leis — beautiful, fragrant, and just a bit exotic. And with proper care, they will grow into trees just like in Hawai’i.

A favorite in Arizona is Cape Honeysuckle. It is colorful and fragrant too — and is well suited for Arizona's hot summers. I see a lot of them in my neck of the woods.

Here is a Ruellia brittoniana AKA Mexican Petunia. This plant was new to me when I started at Lowe's but now one of my favorites. Its lavender-blue flowers are displayed from midsummer to fall and are loved by butterflies, bees, and other pollinators. Best of all, it tolerates heat (we have plenty of that), humidity (not an issue normally in Arizona), and drought (always an issue here).

New plants are brought in daily — we are now starting to see fall plants such as Chrysanthemums AKA Mums with a profusion of colorful flowers. I thought this grouping of yellow Mums plus a couple of scarecrow figures was just delightful.

But I was really blown away by these Mums. When I saw the guys from the nursery bring them in, I told them I was surprised to see multiple colors of flowers — because I thought Mum plants were one color only. One guy then said to me, "You caught us — there are multiple plants in each pot". What a great idea for a beautiful Autumn display.

From my first day in the garden, customers have been asking for Vincas — a tropical perennial in most regions, meaning that it does not die during the winter. With the super hot summer that we experienced in Arizona, we had multiple days when I was working as the temperature soared to 110° and above. And would you believe that the Vincas tolerated that extreme — which brought many customers asking for them all summer long? One of the features I love about Vincas is that the blossoms have multiple colors — white, pink, rose, and lilac — that can be blended into magnificent combinations

Here is an interesting flower — Celosia. It can be found in orange, pink, purple, red, white, and yellow — although I confess that we only carried red and white variants. They bloom in the summer through the fall — and are popular for bouquets. I confess that this flower was new to me.

One of the most popular flowering plants in this part of Arizona is Lantana — offering nonstop color throughout the summer growing season. They are popular with professionals because they tolerate the heat and require full sun at least six to eight hours a day — thus they live longer with much color but require less care. The flowers attract butterflies, hummingbirds, and insect pollinators.

This plant was new to me but I have come to love it — Podranea ricasollana, AKA the pink trumpet vine — the reason for the name is obvious. The plant is indigenous to South Africa but does quite well in our Arizona climate.

Next, we see pots of Bougainvillea, a mainstay in central Arizona. Note that the "flowers" are not really flowers but bracts, leaves that change color from green to red (and adjacent colors on the spectrum. They are hardy here and are seen everywhere! Do note that they have nasty thorns with which I have had personal battles when all I wanted to do was trim the overgrown bugger. 🤪

I love these flowers — Firecracker plants, although it also goes by names such as Fountainbush, Coral plant, Coral fountain, Coralblow, and Fountain plant. The flowers are shaped like the little firecrackers — the ones that are exploded during Chinese New Year celebrations. You can hear them now, pop, pop pop pop, pop pop! I love 'em.

Roses! Everyone knows roses. We sold tons of these delightful flowers in the spring and early summer but the later heat made all the plants wilt away. Well, with cooler (or rather less hot) temperatures, roses are making a comeback in the garden. Note the two tones in the flower in the left center of the photo. Way cool!