Native Plants

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Wednesday - August 14, 2013

From: Cedar Creek, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Planting, Trees
Title: Evergreen Trees for Cedar Creek, TX
Answered by: Larry Larson

QUESTION:

Hello I am wanting to plant some evergreen trees on my property out in Cedar Creek Texas. We have a lot of cedar trees but I really would like some live oaks. Is it possible to grow live oaks or something different that cedar out there?

ANSWER:

Sure, it’s possible to have Oaks, but it takes awhile! The way we find trees to recommend is to search the “Recommended Species” page. For areas in Texas, these lists have been split up into the differing Texas Ecoregions. Bastrop County is in Post Oak Savannah Ecoregion. When I sorted for evergreen trees, there were six evergreen trees were recommended as successful natives including:

Quercus virginiana (Coastal live oak) [Hurrah! the one you want!]

Ilex opaca (American holly)

Ilex vomitoria (Yaupon)

From the place name and from your comment, you may want to put some effort into clearing and/or controlling the Juniperus ashei (Ashe juniper) growth. They are actually a native, but they have been so successful in Central Texas that they tend to crowd out the other trees and monopolize the water supply. This Mr. Smarty Plants question/answer pair has more detail towards watering care for young trees: Watering practices for live oaks in drought from New Braunfels TX

From the Image Gallery

American holly
Ilex opaca

Coastal live oak
Quercus virginiana

Yaupon
Ilex vomitoria