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.

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Tuesday - November 02, 2010

From: Paige, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Wildflowers
Title: Interested in planting wildflowers in the area of Paige, TX.
Answered by: Jimmy Mills

QUESTION:

Interested in planting wildflowers in the area of Paige, TX.

ANSWER:

The area around Paige should be a great place to grow wildflowers. Our data for Bastrop County shows that it is in Hardiness zone 8b, has sandy loam and clay loam soils, has 240 to 270 frost free days per year, and an average annual precipitation of 32 to 42 inches.

To get started, I'm going to send you to our How To Articles page. There is a wealth of information here, but I want you to start with the articles below.

Using Native Plants

Wildlife Gardening

How to Grow Bluebonnets

Getting Started

Meadow Gardening

Recreating a Prairie

After taking all of this in, its time to select some plants. Go to our Recommended Species page and click on Central Texas on the map. You will get a list of 155 commercially available native plant species suitable for planned landscapes in Central Texas. You really need a shorter list, so go to the Narrow Your Search box to the right of the page and make these selections; select Texas under State, herb under General Appearance, and All durations under Lifespan. Check Sun under Light Requirement and Dry under Soil Moisture. Bloom Time and Bloom Color are not important at this time. Click on the Narrow your search Button and your list has been shortened to 40 species. Clicking on each name will pull up its NPIN page which contains information about the plant's characteristics, its growth requirements, and images. Using this along with the information you got from your reading will be helpful in selecting the species for you plantings.

You can alter the list by changing the selection criteria; eg. selecting Herb instead of All durations under Lifespan.