Native Plants

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.

Help us grow by giving to the Plant Database Fund or by becoming a member

Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?

Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

Search Smarty Plants

See a list of all Smarty Plants questions

Please forgive us, but Mr. Smarty Plants has been overwhelmed by a flood of mail and must take a break for awhile to catch up. We hope to be accepting new questions again soon. Thank you!

Need help with plant identification, visit the plant identification page.

rate this answer

4 ratings

Tuesday - May 04, 2010

From: Austin, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Shade Tolerant
Title: Need plants with red flowers to grow in shaded area in yard in Austin.
Answered by: Jimmy Mills

QUESTION:

I have a shaded area where all the shrubs die. I would like to plant some flowers there instead of shrubs. What red flower plants can sustain a lot of shade.

ANSWER:

You might want to explore what factors are causing the death of your shrubs: too wet, too dry, too shady? What kind of plants are providing the shade?

In the mean time, let me introduce you to an exercise called "Combination Search". Go to our Native Plant Database and scroll down to the Combination Search window. Select Texas under Select State, Herb under Habit, and Perennial under Duration. Under light requirement, check Part Shade or Shade (which ever applies); check Dry under soil moisture; and check red under flower color. Click the "Submit combination Search" button and you will get a list of plants from our NPIN data base with images that match these characteristics. By clicking on the name of each plant, you will pull up its NPIN page that contains descriptions of the plants along with growth requirements as well as more images. You can generate other lists by changing the choice in the categories.

Here is a short list of red-flowered plants that I found.

Aquilegia canadensis (red columbine)

Nyctaginia capitata (devil's bouquet)

Salvia coccinea (blood sage)

Salvia roemeriana (cedar sage)

Malvaviscus arboreus var. drummondii (wax mallow) aka. Turk's Cap