Making your home the envy of the neighborhood is easier than you think when you choose Texas native plants in your landscaping. Native plants mean low maintenance, less water, and higher chances of success. It just makes sense. Here’s the Top 15 Texas Native Plants that Will Make Your Home Look Stunning.
Want to grow your own garden? It’s easy with these tips.
With so many Texas native plants to choose from your home’s landscaping can look great not only right now, but for years to come.
A beautifully landscaped yard can even mean a great return on investment when it’s time to sell by increasing your home’s curb appeal.
Here’s Everything You Need to Know About Top 15 Texas Native Plants that Will Make Your Home Look Stunning:
DFW Cold Hardiness and Growing Zone
Because the metroplex takes up such a large area, it is important to note that our 13 counties take up two major growing zones, zones 7 and 8.
This means that plants with a higher cold hardiness may survive the winter in Dallas, but not in Decatur or Denton.
Be sure to know your growing zone while choosing plants for your landscaping, and then match it with the plant’s tag or description.
Maintenance Tips for Adaptive and Native Plants
Adaptive and Native plants mean low maintenance. Even though native plants typically mean less water usage, choose wood mulch in your landscaping to help retain water and lessen the frequency between watering.
Once established, they can thrive with our average rainfall.
Native or adapted drought-tolerant plants are naturally disease and pest resistant so you won’t have to worry so much about chemical control methods. They also require little or no fertilizer.
Still Have Questions About Adaptive Or Native Plants in Your Landscaping?
A great resource is your county’s Cooperative Extension Office or Texas A&M Extension. We like this list of Top 100 Plants for North Texas put together by Texas A&M.
You can also take a class with your Master Gardeners Association and they usually have friendly staff ready to answer all your questions.
Dallas put together a comprehensive list of native and adapted plants for your landscaping.
The following photo is by Michael in Plano, TX. He has a really awesome native plant garden on his property that will give you lots of ideas on creating your own beautiful yard in Dallas Fort Worth. Read his post and learn tips from him here.
Top 15 Adaptive and Native Plants for North Texas
Native Trees for North Texas
1. Texas Red Oak
- red foliage in autumn
2. Common Persimmon
- orange fall foliage; small, edible orange fruits
3. Redbud
- yellow fall foliage; bright pink blossoms
4. Rusty Blackhaw
- mauve to red foliage in autumn; white flowers
5. Live Oak
- “evergreen” green foliage
Adaptive and Native Shrubs for North Texas
6. Crepe Myrtle
- summer blooms in a variety of colors, don’t give this beautiful shrub/small tree a Metroplex Haircut…no hacking please!
7. Texas Mountain Laurel
- violet clusters of flowers in the early spring that smells like grape kool-aid
8. American Beauty Berry
- fuchsia colored berries in fall and winter
9. Red Yucca
- pink blooms
10. Texas Sage
- silvery green foliage, deep pink blossoms
Native Plants that Attract Pollinators and Birds
11. Passion Vine
- stunning purple flowers, tasty small fruits if you’re lucky
12. Coral Honeysuckle
- red flowers
13. Butterfly Weed
- reddish orange blossoms
14. Texas Gayfeather
- purple blossoms
15. Any of our great Texas Wildflowers
- such as bluebonnets
- be sure to check growing zone and planting instructions
Top 15 Adaptive and Native Plants for North Texas
There are literally so many different adaptive and native Texas plants for landscaping in DFW that it’s going to make it difficult to choose which ones you want in your own yard.
You should also check out:
- Best Places For Bluebonnet Photos In DFW
- You Can Play With Butterflies At This Garden In Dallas
- This Hidden Dragon Garden In Dallas Will Make You Feel Like You’re In Another World
- Growing Your Own Garden In North Texas Is Easy To Do In North Texas
Is your yard landscaped with native plants? We’d love to see any photos you have and we may even feature them! Follow and tag us on social media @metroplexsocial #discoverDFW.
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Hi Allie! Your article is very well written but the list of 15 native plants is a little inaccurate. Some of the plants listed are adaptive to North Texas, not native, and one is actually considered invasive. For instance, Crepe Myrtles will grow well here in Texas because they are adaptive to our climate and soil but they are not native. Spanish Lavender does tolerate our heat but it is also not a native. A native alternative to the lavender would be Gayfeather, which also has purple blooms and attracts all sorts of pollinators. Nandina is considered an invasive species and best avoided completely. Please consider a correction to the article to at least remove the Nandina as we need to stop it’s spread.
Thanks!
Nandina is NOT a Texas native and is very invasive. This should be removed from this list.