I like iris is the spring.....zinnias in the summer, they do well in the scorching heat.
I've just discovered thrift roses and I love them...I planted white ones this spring and they have had bloomed profusely ever since they were planted.
As for flowers of my childhood,,,,,,I remember picking honeysuckle flowers and sucking the sweet nectar out of them, I remember the mimosa trees with their lacey blooms....mimosa trees, you hardly ever see them now and I remember the beautiful iris by the rabbit pens in my grandmother's yard.