Native Plants

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Monday - April 29, 2013

From: Sonora, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Drought Tolerant, Groundcovers, Grasses or Grass-like
Title: Narrow strip of groundcover from Sonora TX
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

I have an area that is right under my patio about 12 feet by 1 ft. I'm looking for something to plant in there. It has afternoon sun, morning shade. I live in SW Texas so it is hot. but would like some type ground cover to grow no more than 2 ft tall if that much.....

ANSWER:

We will go to our Native Plant Database, scroll down the page to the Combination Search, and put in Texas for state, "grass or grasslike" for Habit, "part shade" for Light Requirements, "dry" for soil moisture and 1-3 ft. for Height. We are selecting grass first because we think that is most likely to fill all your requirements. After that, we will try "herbs" (herbaceous blooming plants), "succulents" and then "shrubs" under Habit. Before we put any plant on your list, we will check that it grows natively in the area of Sutton County, which will help to ensure that your selection will be tolerant of the climate, soils and rainfall in your garden. You can follow each link on the list to our webpage on the plant to learn what that plant's growing conditions are. We cannot determine what soils you have (clay, sand, alkaline); if you are not sure either, you can contact the Texas A&M AgriLIFE Extension Office for Sutton County. There is contact information on that page, and they can help you with a soil test.

Grass or Grass-Like:

Nassella tenuissima (Mexican feathergrass)

Nolina texana (Texas sacahuista)

Herbaceous Blooming Plants:

Achillea millefolium (Common yarrow)

Asclepias tuberosa (Butterflyweed)

Dalea greggii (Gregg dalea)

Gaillardia pulchella (Firewheel)

Succulents:

Manfreda sileri (Siler's tuberose)

Yucca rupicola (Twistleaf yucca)

Shrubs:

Leucophyllum candidum (Brewster county barometerbush)

Mahonia repens (Creeping barberry)

Nolina lindheimeriana (Devil's shoestring)

If you have difficulty finding these plants native to your area in local nurseries, go to our National Suppliers Directory, put your town and state or just your zipcode into the "Enter Search Location"box, click GO and you will get a list of native plant nurseries, seed suppliers and consultant in your general area. All have contact information so you can check to see if they have what you are looking for before you begin shopping.