A beautiful garden is a joy all year round, and spring is the perfect season to get your back yard planted so that flowers, shrubs and trees are well-established before the harsher winter weather sets in. Here’s a guide to some of the plants that really thrive in the Dallas climate.
Native Plants and Flowers
Often, the plants best suited to your local area are the indigenous species – and in the Dallas area, we’re lucky to have some beautiful options!
- Hibiscus – This tropical flower comes in a wide range of colors and varieties and are ideal for attracting hummingbirds to your garden. They can grow in containers or in beds, but they do need around 6 hours of sunlight per day, so pick a sunny spot if you want to get the best out of this plant. They do love water through the summer months while they’re flowering but require much less through cool months.
- Dwarf Mexican Petunia – These are hardy, fast-growing groundcover plants, and do very well in both wet and dry soil conditions. They have violet, pink or white flowers throughout the spring and summer months and do especially well in full sunlight. Once established, they’re very drought tolerant.
- Verbena – All the verbena varieties love the Texas heat, producing masses of deep blue, purple, pink and white flowers through spring and summer. It’s hardy, heat-tolerant, low maintenance and sun-loving. Old blooms should be deadheaded to encourage new flowers, and work well in rockeries, garden beds and containers.
- Vitex – The Texas Lavender Vitex tree is another plant that loves the heat and sun of Texas. It has beautiful 8-12-inch spikes of lavender flowers throughout spring and summer that the bees and butterflies love. You can expect it to grow to around 6 feet in height. It’s also deer-resistant!
- Esparanza – Known as “Gold Star”, this plant will transform your garden into a tropical paradise. It produces masses of yellow, trumpet-shaped flowers from spring until the frost season starts. These flowers have a wonderful scent, making them perfect for containers and beds near your patio.
The Best Plants for Shady Gardens
Every garden has some shady spots that can be a challenge to plant up and keep looking great. Here are some species that will thrive.
- Aralia – With large, tropical leaves, this plant is happy in the shade and can spread well once mature, growing to around 4-5 inches in height. It may die back if not protected from direct sun and frost. In addition to the traditional green variety, there are also variegated varieties.
- Aspidistra – Also known as the cast iron plant, this is a low-growing, evergreen plant that is well-known for its toughness, being drought and pest resistant. It’s great for mass planting, and you can find variegated varieties as well.
- Crape Myrtle – If you want to add color to your shady areas, this is the pant to grow! There are hundreds of varieties, all of which are low-maintenance, tough and love heat and humidity. You’ll get plenty of white, purple, pink or red blooms around mid-summer, and it’s natural for the bark to peel away in the winter months. In addition to full-size plants, you can also get smaller dwarf varieties.
- Camellia – This shade-loving shrub has glossy, dark leaves and beautiful, rose-like blooms in white, yellow, pink and red. They can grow quite tall, around 6-15 feet, and do require some maintenance. They thrive in well-drained acidic soil, in dappled sunlight, and require pruning to keep them in shape after flowering season is over.
- Turk’s cap – Another flowering plant for shade areas is the Turk’s cap. It’s a perennial that grows to around 4 feet once mature, with red, tubular flowers through the summer season. It’s drought tolerant and loses its leaves in the winter.
Planting for Fall and Winter
While spring and summer are easily filled with blooms, it’s a good idea to add plants and trees that will brighten up the cooler seasons.
- Possumhaw holly – A pretty, ornamental tree that is native to Texas, this holly variety is about 8-15 inches high once mature. It produces beautiful clusters of red berries in winter that add a pop of color to your garden. For best results, ensure that you have both male and female trees. It’s low-maintenance and doesn’t require a lot of water.
- Red oak – If you love fall foliage, this is the tree for your garden! The leaves transform to deep red, maroon and orange as the cooler weather arrives, but remember that it’s a big shade tree even though it’s a slow grower, so it needs to be placed where there is plenty of room to grow. It’s also a good idea to plant it well away from your gutters to prevent clogging from leaves.
- River birch – A smaller tree than the red oak, the river birch’s leaves turn a rich, golden color in the fall that contrasts beautifully with its bark texture. They grow 40-70 feet tall and does well in wet gardens and tolerates all soil types.
- Japanese maple – If you have a smaller garden, then Japanese maples are a perfect choice. They have attractive leaves that turn a rich, deep red, purple, or yellow in the fall, and do well in the sun as well as dappled light. Too much sun and the leaves are likely to stay green. They grow to around 8-30 feet tall depending on the variety and they perfect moist, well-drained soil. There are even varieties that grow well in containers.
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