From Hill Country to Bay Country: What We Can Learn about Native Plants from Texas!
- 2 hours ago
- 5 min read
Lady Bird Johnson Wildlife Center, Shared Plants and Sustainability.
When both my niece and best friend from high school, both nascent gardeners, relocated to central Texas around the same time, I had two gardening related thoughts. I'd have to relinquish my efforts to encourage their gardening interests as I know nothing about gardening in Texas and I hope I get to go to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center!
Texas springs forward with fields of annual Texas bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis). The woodlands of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed are awash with perennial Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica) this time of year. These regions are so vastly different yet there are some shared experiences.
Years ago when I started this blog, I linked every plant mentioned to one of two sources, the Missouri Botanical Garden or the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. The Missouri Botanical Garden has a world renowned data hub of plant information -- details about plants from around the world. The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center has the largest database of native plants in the United States with just over 25.000 plants. While more recently, I link to the Mt. Cuba Center or North Carolina Extension Service Plant Toolbox because information about growing conditions is a little more mid-Atlantic specific, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center remains the place for the most accurate and detailed information about native plants. So I was very excited to visit there.
The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is in Austin in Zone 9. I quickly learned Texas is one diverse State ecologically. It has 12 eco-regions; Maryland has 3. Parts of Texas are humid, parts are bone dry and some areas get 10" of rain a year while others get over 50". So what on earth would we gardeners in the mid-Atlantic learn from Texas gardening? Well, I found a surprising wellspring of ideas!
Native Plantings
The 284 acres of grounds at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center include cultivated areas, savannas, an arboretum and wild lands. The Center itself lies within 2 eco-regions. The core gardens are all about gardening with native plants. I came across some pretty cool ideas for plants Chesapeake gardeners may be well acquainted with.
Coralberry
Coralberry (Symphorocarpos orbiculatis) shrubs can be a bit of a conundrum for the average garden. The small deep fuchsia colored berries in fall add an unusual color at that time of year yet the shrubs themselves are, well, sort of scrubby. They do spread by suckering and form sort of a thicket which can be challenging depending upon your space. The stems and foliage do not standout and the shrubs meld into the background. This planting beneath a tree is the way to grow coralberries!
Massing the plants shows them to their best advantage. The thicket of coralberry shrubs provide a soft landing spot beneath the tree for newly hatched insects. The growth of the thicket is contained by a rock wall and walkway. This is the perfect use of coralberry.
Cross Vine
Cross vine (Bignonia capreolata) is a vigorous growing plant. The sunny red and orange trumpet shaped flowers are a delight but let the vine loose on a fence and it's easy to lose track of it. At Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center cross vines we growing up and across walls. This makes it so much easier to keep track of it and to see when a prune is needed. Encouraging it to grow up and out shows off the flowers beautifully.
Golden Ragwort
The golden ragwort native to parts of Texas are also native to the Chesapeake watershed and, as it is here, golden ragwort is lauded for its early spring and long bloom time and its ability to bloom in deep shade and dappled sun. Planting it among rocks seemed to set the cheery flowers off to their best light.
Verbena
Verbena (Glandularia canadensis) is an annual, or sometimes a perennial, wildflower. Often in garden centers, I have seen purple verbena sold as an annual plant that blooms all summer and it will often be labeled as a "US native." I was never sure where the bright purple flowers were native to. Turns out Virginia south to Florida and west to Texas and Oklahoma. Native annuals can be harder to come by so learning that this lavender straight species is native to parts of Virginia makes it a good addition for your garden if you are looking for native annuals.
Northern Sea Oats
Northern sea oats (Chasmanthium latifolium), one of our native grasses, grows well in shade. Planted en masse along this path shows how beautiful perennials left standing, even after. along winter, can be. Planted in moist conditions, by all accounts, northern sea oats will spread rapidly. Planting in drier conditions reduces their tendency to spread.
Virginia Creeper
Much like the cross vine, vigorous Virginia Creeper vine is also grown up walls. It's the very same technique - growing these fast growing vines on walls and where you can easily see where the branches are heading, greatly reduces maintenance and the chance they will run amok in your garden. The vine is just leafing out in March.
For the Love of Oaks
Here on the east coast, thanks to the research and work of Dr. Doug Tallamy, many gardeners are well versed in the powers of oaks. Their ability to host over 500 types of insects is legendary. Believe it or not, oaks seem to be on an even higher plane in Texas. Texas has 53 species of oaks. Those make up 74% of the oaks in the United States. Holy smokes - that's a lot of oaks!
The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center offers a shop and gallery centering nature. There you can find a piece of art speaking volumes about the strength of oaks in our world. Titled "Beneath and Oak in January," artist Clair Gaston created a botanical drawing of the things she found in January beneath an oak she walks by every day. So simple; so powerful.
You can view more of Clair's work here. Many thanks to Clair for allowing me to share with you a photo of her brilliant piece.
Sustainability
Many of the practices in use at the Lady Bird Wildflower Center feature ways to minimize our impact on the world -- from water wise techniques to leaving leaves and so much more. Last fall, I read a new book, just out, called Gardens of Texas. I wanted to share it with you but trying to hew closely to our shared purpose, gardening with native plants in the mid-Atlantic, I hesitated.
As I just learned from visiting the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, sometimes, getting a fresh perspective can renew your eye, inspire ideas and remind you of the creativity of gardeners. Pam Penick's book does all of this and more. And yes, it features plants of Texas. I highly recommend it because Pam writes about each garden and gardener beautifully and at the conclusion of each discussion, she summarizes takeaways we can use in our own gardens. While the plants are different in Texas, our need to conserve and reuse water, lighten our footprint on the environment, and enjoy creative spaces are very much the same. Gardens of Texas is one of the best gardening books I've read and so concisely and simply presented!
As for my dear niece and fantastic friend from high school, they have adapted. My niece is into growing veggies in raised beds and my high school friend and her husband are all in on the native plants. They have acquired a jack hammer for digging new holes for plants. That's right a jack hammer. Not a shovel. Not an auger. Makes one pretty appreciative of gardening in hard clay and construction fill. And it just goes to prove, gardeners will make it work!
Happy Gardening.
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