Native Plants
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Monday - June 09, 2008
From: Richland Hills, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Shade Tolerant
Title: Native understory plants for shade under live oaks
Answered by: Barbara Medford
QUESTION:
I have large live oak trees in my front yard. I would like to start North Central Texas native landscaping under them, where no grass will grow. Do you know of some plants that would do well in full shade and are drought resistant so that they would not compete too much with the live oak trees for the water.ANSWER:
Before you start, read this article from the University of Minnesota on Planting Under Existing Trees. Just remember that this is from Minnesota, and the plants they mention probably don't apply in North Central Texas. But the suggestions, instructions and warnings are excellent. Your live oak trees are very valuable in themselves, so your first priority must be to disturb those roots as little as possible. Among the suggestions this website made were start out with small (4" pots) plants so you need smaller holes; don't be tempted to build up the soil to make more room for understory plants, that will suffocate the tree roots; and be prepared to water your new plants until they get established, they will be competing with all those tree roots for moisture.
When we ran a Search in Recommended Species for North Central Texas, asking for herbs (herbaceous plants), perennial, sun less than 2 hours a day (our definition of shade) and dry soil, we got exactly one plant, columbine. They are lovely, but you probably want more variety in your garden. So, we amended that to sun 2 to 6 hours a day, which is "part shade." That gave us more to choose from, so we have six herbaceous plants, two groundcovers, three grasses and one fern, all perennial and all native to North Central Texas. Read each webpage linked by the Latin names below to help you decide what fits your area and ideas. When you are ready to look at plants, go to our Suppliers section, type in your name and town in "Enter Search Location" and you will get a list of native plant nurseries, seed companies and landscape consultants in your general area.
HERBACEOUS PERENNIALS
Aquilegia canadensis (red columbine)
Callirhoe involucrata (purple poppymallow)
Penstemon cobaea (cobaea beardtongue)
Salvia azurea (azure blue sage)
Salvia roemeriana (cedar sage)
Wedelia texana (hairy wedelia)
GROUNDCOVERS
Calyptocarpus vialis (straggler daisy)
Hydrocotyle bonariensis (largeleaf pennywort)
GRASSES
Bouteloua curtipendula (sideoats grama)
Poa arachnifera (Texas bluegrass)
Schizachyrium scoparium (little bluestem)
FERNS
Pteridium aquilinum var. pseudocaudatum (western brackenfern)
More Shade Tolerant Questions
Groundcover for rock garden under large oak
October 02, 2012 - I am planning a small rock garden under a large oak tree. I would like a spreading evergreen ground cover that will grow in the shade. Drought-tolerant would be preferred as I live in the high plains...
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Native alterrnatives for Bermuda grass in shade
July 30, 2007 - I have Bermuda Tif 419 on my lawn. As expected, there are small areas in the shade that the Bermuda is not doing well in. What would happen if I spread Zoysia seed in those shady areas? Would it gro...
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Plants for shade in Northern California
March 30, 2010 - What are good plants that grow and live in shade only?
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Shade Tolerant Grasses and Groundcovers for Waco TX
March 15, 2013 - What is the best shade-tolerant grass?
What is the best shade-tolerant ground cover?
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Stream Bank Erosion Control for Bryan/College Station
August 16, 2012 - I live in the Bryan/College Station area and need a ground cover to abate erosion on the bank of an intermittent stream. The bank is shaded. Do you have any suggestions?
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