Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

It may be easier finding shrubs that will grow in the shade than ones that the deer won't eat. We'll try two approaches.

First, go to the Recommended Species page and scroll down to the Special Collections box. Select DEER RESISTANT. This will give you a list of 344 species of native plants that have some degree of resistance. Rember, a hungry deer will eat anything (almost). Notice that the list has herbs, shrubs, and trees so we need to narrow our search.

Go to the Narrow Your Search box on the right side of the page and make the following selections: Select Texas under State, shrubs under General Appearance, Perennial under Lifespan. Check Part Shade under Light Requirement, and Moist under Soil Moisture. You can ignore the bloom information for now. Click the Narrow Your Search button. This narrows your list to 22 plant species. You can get different lists by changing your selections for Light Requirement and Soil Moisture.

Clicking on the name of each plant will bring up its NPIN page whch gives plant characteristics, growth requirements, and images for the plants. By using this resource, you can select a plant that matches the growing conditions in your yard.