Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

You seem to value brevity, so Mr. Smarty Plants will make this a short as possible, and still come up with a useful answer.

Going to our Special Collections page for Texas-Central Recommended will give you a list of 155 commercially available native plant species suitable for planned landscapes in Central Texas. This list is too large for now, so you need to go to the Narrow Your Search box on the left side of of the page, and make the following selections. Select Texas under State, Shrub under General Appearance, and Perennial under Life Span. Check Sun under Light Requirement, Dry under Soil Moisture. Skip Bloom Time and Bloom Color for now,  and check 3-6 (or your preference) under Height. Skip Leaf Arrangement, and check Evergreen (or your preference) under Leaf Retention. Click on the Narrow your Search button, and your list has shrunk to 3. Clicking on the scientific name of each plant will bring up its NPIN page which has information about the plant’s characteristics, growth requirements, and in most cases, images. Going through the list will let you know if a particular plant will fill your needs. You can generate other lists by changing some of your choices, eg height, soil moisture, leaf retention, etc.

For a source of help that is closer to home, contact the Houston chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas,  NPSOT-H.