Native Plants

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Tuesday - April 22, 2008

From: Killeen, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Container Gardens
Title: Native plants for containers
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

Dear Mr. Smarty Plants, I have found the website very helpful, but have a few questions of my own. I recently purchased the winecup plant, phlox and cedar sage perennials. I have planted them in potting containers with miracle grow potting soil. I have read afterwards that they grow in rocky soil. Will these plants do well in pots? If not can you recommend some good native plants that do well in pots. I have two basset hounds that love to play in my flower beds, so I have reverted to planting in containers.

ANSWER:

Are you kidding? Those plants would be tap dancing, if they had tap shoes. The native plants of this area often grow in rocks because that's what there is. Those rocks still have to have some soil around them, and when you put a native plant into a lovely potting soil, with its own uncrowded space and good drainage, it will flourish. Read this How-To Article on Container Gardening with Native Plants to find out more about how to plant and what to plant. We took some of the plants you mentioned, all Texas natives, and added a few more, mostly succulents that will do well in containers.

Callirhoe involucrata (purple poppymallow)

Phlox drummondii (annual phlox)

Salvia roemeriana (cedar sage)

Manfreda maculosa (spice lily)

Manfreda sileri (Siler's tuberose) - Images

Sedum nanifolium (dwarf stonecrop)

Sedum pulchellum (widowscross)

Echinocereus reichenbachii (lace hedgehog cactus)