Native Plants
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Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?
A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.
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Friday - June 06, 2008
From: Austin, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Shrubs
Title: Native sun shrubs and perennials to replace St. Augustine
Answered by: Barbara Medford
QUESTION:
Hi, I live in Austin and I'm removing the St. Augustine from the southwest side of our house. This area gets intense sun all afternoon, and I'd really like to use a combination of native shrubs and perennials there. Any suggestions? Thanks!ANSWER:
Hooray for you, disposing of the non-native, water-gulping St. Augustine. And of course you want native shrubs and perennials to replace it, because natives are adapted to where they are, with less need for water, fertilization and maintenance. We are going to go to the Recommended Species section of our website, select Central Texas on the map, and then Narrow Your Search, first, for state-Texas, habit-herb (herbaceous perennials), duration-perennial, light requirement-6 or more hours of sun a day, and dry for soil moisture. After that, we'll make the same selections, except substitute shrub for habit, and, finally, substituting grasses for habit. You can do the same thing, making your own choices based on personal preferences and we'll select some of our favorites to suggest to you. Be sure and read all the webpages that our links take you to, in order to have as much information for selection as possible. All the plants in our Recommended Species lists are commercially available. Then, when you're ready to shop, go to Suppliers on our website, type in the name of your town and state in the Enter Search Location box and you will get native plant nurseries, seed companies and landscape professionals in your general area, most of them with websites or phone numbers so you can find out if they have what you want.
HERBACEOUS PERENNIALS
Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly milkweed) - attracts butterflies, blooms yellow, orange May to September
Callirhoe involucrata (purple poppymallow) - blooms white, pink, purple March to June
Echinacea purpurea (eastern purple coneflower) - blooms pink, purple April to September
Wedelia texana (hairy wedelia) - blooms orange, yellow May to November
SHRUBS
Chrysactinia mexicana (damianita) - blooms yellow, April to September
Eysenhardtia texana (Texas kidneywood) - blooms white May to October
Malvaviscus arboreus var. drummondii (wax mallow) - attracts hummingbirds, blooms red May to November.
Salvia greggii (autumn sage) - attracts hummingbirds, blooms white, red, pink March to May
GRASSES
Andropogon glomeratus (bushy bluestem) - 2-5 ft tall, striking in winter
Bouteloua curtipendula (sideoats grama) - 2-3 ft tall, blooms red, yellow June to November
Panicum virgatum (switchgrass) - 3-6 ft tall, blooms green, brown August to October
Sorghastrum nutans (Indiangrass) - 3 -8 ft tall, blooms yellow August to October
More Shrubs Questions
Landscape color for Rialto, CA
May 11, 2009 - My sister-in-law lives in Rialto CA near the base of the San Bernardino Mt ranges and it gets very windy out there. She and I were trying to figure out the best native plants for her area. Her home fa...
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Shade tolerant plants for erosion from Austin
May 03, 2014 - I live in Austin and my house backs up to Shoal Creek. I am looking for a native creeping vine or something that will grow on the shaded bank to help prevent erosion. It should be able to tolerate the...
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Repairing the split trunk of a TX mountain laurel
February 28, 2015 - I have a fairly large mountain laurel that I just realized has a split down the trunk. Is there anything I can do to save it?
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Lantanas with brown leaves
December 18, 2008 - I have several lantana plants here in Austin, TX. They did extremely well all summer long up until our first freeze. It looks like they have all died. Are they just dormant or are they dead? Their lea...
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Project on natives in Connecticut from Chino CA
April 13, 2010 - Hi Mr. Smarty Plants,
My 10 yr. old daughter is doing a project on Ct., and would like to know what the most common plants, trees and flowers are found in this state. A few of each would be a great ...
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