How does your garden grow?

We did a lot of gardening over the Memorial Day weekend. When we moved into our home, almost exactly 4 years ago, there was nothing in the way of landscaping in the front yard. There was 1 tree, and 2 shrubs. Oh yea, and a horribly mangled rose bush with huge thorns. Honestly, it was drab looking...

But the landscaping in the back yard was even more puzzling. There were 10 crepe myrtles, all along the fence. And we don't have a big back yard here, people... They weren't spaced out evenly and they weren't lined up with one another in any way. And right behind 1 of the crepe myrtles was yet another mangled rose bush. It was a big mess!

So shortly after we moved in, I dug up the rose bush from the back yard, and tried to transplant it to the front yard, but it died. Hector and I also dug up 2 of the 10 crepe myrtles, in an attempt to open up the back yard just a little. And I slowly started trying to see if anything would grow in the front yard. But the dirt was so full of clay that nothing lived. I worked the dirt and added sand, and waited. A year later I bought a few plants from the clearance greenhouse at the local garden center. I wasn't going to pay a lot of money for plants, only to have them all die. Sure enough, most of them died, but a few lived. Oddly enough, I paid a dollar for this plant from the clearance greenhouse (it's on the left in the picture below). And it's done the best out of anything in the front garden. I don't even know what type of plant it is (but I know it's not Dusty Miller). I would welcome your comments if you think you know what it is. It was about 4 inches tall and about 2 inches wide when I bought it. But as you can see, it's taking over my garden now. It smells great, especially after it rains. The kids and I love running our fingers over the leaves, because it gives off the most wonderfully fresh scent. Over the past few years I've added landscaping bricks, Spiraled Junipers, purple Pampas Grass, Dusty Millers around the trunk of our tree in the front yard, and an herb garden. Avery's added her own herb garden too.
I also planted a butterfly bush that attracts the most beautiful butterflies every spring.

And this past weekend I finally dug up that horribly ugly rose bush in the front yard...

...and planted a trumpet vine in it's place!

I also planted a Texas Sage in the front yard, and 2 Indian Hawthorns. And as for the back yard, well I added some Lantana shrubs this past weekend. And last summer, Hector and I dug up even more crepe myrtles (6 more, to be exact!), and made room for something I truly love, our family garden! Which, if you know anything about me, you already know about our garden because I talk about it all the time... Yesterday, we harvested tons of green beans, 2 carrots, 2 spears of broccoli and yet another potato. :-)

I've got a few tomatoes, and tons of flowers on my squash, cucumber and cantaloupe vines. But nothing that's ready to be picked quite yet.

But perhaps the thing I am most proud and excited about is the fact that I finally planted a tree in the front yard. I've always known I wanted a tree in the front yard, but I never could decide what type of tree I wanted. I've researched several different types that I find absolutely beautiful, but when I saw this poor creature in the clearance greenhouse at the garden center (notice a trend here?), I knew I had to bring it home with me. It's a Flowering White Dogwood. It had fallen over during the last big rain storm we had here, and it looked pitiful. Funny enough, it rung up as costing only 2 cents (2 pennies). When I called the cashier's attention to it, she told me that 2 cents did seem like the wrong price, but that's the price it rung up, so that's the price I was paying... Okay!!! I didn't see the need to argue with the lady. :-) So, I brought my 2 cent tree home, and planted it!!! Hector and I let the kids play in the mud that we dug up. It was a crazy mess! But we had fun. And it may look pitiful now, but I seem to do really well with nursing pitiful looking plants back to health! :-)

I am hopeful it will look something like this next spring...
And eventually, something like this...

So, how does your garden grow? What are some of your successes, as well as some of your not-so-successful gardening ventures?