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.
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.
rate this answer
Friday - July 02, 2010
From: Bastrop, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Shade Tolerant, Herbs/Forbs, Wildflowers
Title: Flowering plants for shady garden in Bastrop
Answered by: Nan Hampton
QUESTION:
We live in Bastrop, 8 miles west of the Historical district. We have a small flower garden in a shady spot around 25 feet from the back patio of our home. We'd like to find out what native plants, flowering and perennial could we plant in this garden. We use only organic preparations on the plants. Thanks for your help!ANSWER:
Please visit our Texas-Central Recommended page where you will find a list of commercially available native plants suitable for landscaping in Central Texas. You can use the NARROW YOUR SEARCH option in the sidebar to select any criteria you would like. For instance, you could choose 'Herb' from the GENERAL APPEARANCE area, 'Perennial' under LIFESPAN and 'Shade - 2 hrs or less' under LIGHT REQUIREMENT. If your flowerbed receives more than 2 hours of sun per day, you can look for plants that grow in part shade. You could also change the LIFESPAN to 'All durations' and choose 'Shrub', 'Grass/grasslike' etc. Here are a few suggestions from the list and you can look for more:
Aquilegia canadensis (red columbine)
Coreopsis lanceolata (lanceleaf tickseed)
Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly milkweed)
Glandularia bipinnatifida var. bipinnatifida (Dakota mock vervain)
Wedelia texana (hairy wedelia)
Calylophus berlandieri ssp. pinifolius (Berlandier's sundrops)
Malvaviscus arboreus var. drummondii (wax mallow)
Nolina texana (Texas sacahuista)
Here are photos from our Image Gallery:
More Herbs/Forbs Questions
Erosion control in West Union IA
June 22, 2010 - Erosion control and native grasses/plants for steep, shady slope in northeast Iowa.
We are building a house in northeast Iowa (near West Union in Fayette County). The road that was graded to the ho...
view the full question and answer
Managing a wet area in Austin
November 18, 2013 - I suspect that my backyard lies at the very top of a creek watershed. However, all of the water flowing through it gets blocked by a solid stone wall. Whenever we get a significant rain event, part ...
view the full question and answer
Texas natives to plant in July and August
July 23, 2008 - My husband and I have a disaster of a lawn that we were planning to develop slowly, over time, with a sustainable design we contracted from a landscape designer. However, we are having to move out of...
view the full question and answer
Care for Blackfoot daisy?
June 05, 2009 - Hi,
I have two blackfoot daisies and one has died. I've planted them in full sun on a well drained slope. Do these ususally die after blooming? Should I cut the other one back?
Thanks.
view the full question and answer
Annual Native Plants for Interplanting in Iowa
January 20, 2015 - I'm looking for suggestions for annuals that will flower from seed or from spring plants. I want to use them to fill in the space around newly planted coneflowers and asters that I fear will look spa...
view the full question and answer
| Support the Wildflower Center by Donating Online or Becoming a Member today. |
