Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

There is no assembled list of drought-tolerant plants for North Central Texas that I have been able to find. Andy and Sally Wasowski in their Native Texas Plants: Landscaping Region by Region have recommendations for landscape plants for the different regions of Texas. This is an an excellent book that should be easy for you to find at your local library, bookstore, or garden center. North Haven Gardens in Dallas has a 2006 Texas Natives List with some notations about drought-tolerant species for your area. In our Native Plants Database, drought tolerance is given for each plant under "Growing Conditions" in the menu at the top of the page for each plant.

Here are some recommendations for drought-tolerant species for your area compiled from a combination of the resources listed above:

Trees
Yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria), an evergreen
Mexican plum (Prunus mexicana)
Eve's necklace (Sophora affinis)
Mexican buckeye (Ungnadia speciosa)
Rusty blackhaw (Viburnum rufidulum)
Easter red cedar (Juniperus virginiana), an evergreen

Deciduous Shrubs
American beautyberry (Calicarpa americana)
Black dalea (Dalea frutescens)
Fragrant sumac (Rhus aromatica)
Smooth sumac (Rhus glabra)
Prairie flameleaf sumac (Rhus lanceolata)

Perennials
Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa)
Sundrops (Calylophus berlandieri)
Blue larkspur (Delphinium carolinianum)
Cutleaf daisy (Engelmannia peristenia)
Maximilian sunflower (Helianthus maximiliani)
Gayfeather (Liatris mucronata)
Texas star (Lindheimera texana)
Barbara's buttons (Marshallia caespitosa)
Missouri primrose (Oenothera macrocarpa)
Prickly pear (Opuntia macrorhiza)
Foxglove (Penstemon cobaea)
Mexican hat (Ratibida columnifera)
Mealy sage (Salvia farinacea)
Western spiderwort (Tradescantia occidentalis)
Arkansas yucca (Yucca arkansana), or
Pale-leaf yucca Yucca pallida)