Native Plants
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Thursday - March 30, 2006
From: Round Rock, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Drought Tolerant
Title: Low maintenance, drought tolerant, native plants for school garden in Round Rock
Answered by: Nan Hampton
QUESTION:
Our school is about to plant a memorial garden but need very drought tolerant plants and flowers as the schools water very little during the summer months. What would you suggest? The district does not finance landscaping except to the extent of mowing the lawn.ANSWER:
Here are some recommendations for drought-tolerant species for your area. If there is some other particular plant you would like to see in your memorial garden, you can check for its drought tolerance in our Native Plants Database by selecting "Growing Conditions" in the menu at the top of the page for each plant.Trees
Yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria), an evergreen
Purple sage (Leucophyllum frutescens), an evergreen
Mexican plum (Prunus mexicana)
Eve's necklace (Sophora affinis)
Mexican buckeye (Ungnadia speciosa)
Rusty blackhaw (Viburnum rufidulum)
Deciduous Shrubs
American beautyberry (Calicarpa americana)
Fragrant sumac (Rhus aromatica)
Evergreen sumac (Rhus virens), an evergreen
Prairie flameleaf sumac (Rhus lanceolata)
Perennials
Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa)
Sundrops (Calylophus berlandieri)
Cutleaf daisy (Engelmannia peristenia)
Maximilian sunflower (Helianthus maximiliani)
Red yucca (Hesperaloe parviflora)
Gayfeather (Liatris mucronata)
Texas star (Lindheimera texana)
Barbara's buttons (Marshallia caespitosa)
Missouri primrose (Oenothera macrocarpa)
Prickly pear (Opuntia macrorhiza)
Foxglove (Penstemon cobaea)
Mexican hat (Ratibida columnifera)
Mealy sage (Salvia farinacea)
Western spiderwort (Tradescantia occidentalis)
Twisted-leaf yucca Yucca rupicola)
Please note that for the woody plants (trees and shrubs) especially, it may be necessary to do a moderate amount of watering until their root systems are established.
More Drought Tolerant Questions
Drought and Fire Resistant Plants for Round Top, Texas
April 24, 2011 - Dear Mr. Smarty Pants
Do you have any advice on plants which are drought tolerant and fire resistant for a central Texas location near Round Top Texas?
Thanks
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Plants for a Austin thicket underlayer
July 25, 2014 - We live in Austin, west of 183. We are planning to put a thicket in our backyard, where there is no threat of deer. Anchoring the thicket are a clump of live oaks, a Texas persimmon, an Eve's Necklac...
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Drought resistance of non-native Abelia from Austin
March 14, 2013 - Are abelias drought resistant? I have a spot that is sunny from early morning till about 2-2:30 in the afternoon. Is this enough sun?
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Native plants for a school garden in Austin
May 14, 2009 - We are starting a native garden at our school in Central Austin, what native plants and flowers would be best to plant? The area we are planting faces east. We also need drought tolerant plants becau...
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Deer Resistant and Drought Tolerant Pink-Flowering Shrub for Austin, TX
April 15, 2013 - Is there a pink-flowering bush that is deer resistant and drought tolerant that would do well in Austin, TX? If not pink flowering, any color of a flowering bush is fine.
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