Native Plants
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Ask Mr. Smarty Plants
Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
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Friday - March 19, 2010
From: Sweetwater, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Grasses or Grass-like, Herbs/Forbs
Title: Plants for yard in Sweetwater, Texas
Answered by: Nan Hampton
QUESTION:
What plants or grass would you suggest for an area that that is located on the east side of our house - full sun morning through noon, then it's shaded the remainder of the day.. Thanks!!ANSWER:
Mr. Smarty Plants suggests that you visit our Recommended Species page and select the Texas High Plains from the map or from the pull-down menu to find a list of commercially available native plants that are recommended for landscaping in your area. You can limit that list by various criteria—in your case, in the NARROW YOUR SEARCH column, choose "Part Shade" from the LIGHT REQUIREMENT option.
From that list, here are some grasses that should do well:
Bouteloua curtipendula (sideoats grama)
Pascopyrum smithii (western wheatgrass)
Poa arachnifera (Texas bluegrass)
Sorghastrum nutans (Indiangrass)
Here are some shrubs/small trees:
Diospyros texana (Texas persimmon)
Rhus microphylla (littleleaf sumac)
Zinnia grandiflora (Rocky Mountain zinnia)
Finally, here are some showy herbaceous perennials or annuals:
Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly milkweed)
Gaillardia pulchella (firewheel)
Glandularia bipinnatifida var. bipinnatifida (Dakota mock vervain)
Melampodium leucanthum (plains blackfoot)
There are many more that you can see on the Texas-High Plains Recommended list.
Here are photos of the above from Image Gallery:
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