Lin Grado discussed the benefits of adding Texas native plants to home landscapes during the monthly Lunch and Learn hosted by the Wood County Master Gardeners Thursday, Sept. 24, at First Assembly of God in Quitman.
Grado is the garden manager and a Texas Master Gardener at the Wood County Arboretum and Botanical Gardens in Quitman.
She explained that native plants are generally those that were growing in an area before European settlement and developed naturally alongside the insects and wildlife found there.
Native plants are also adapted to Texas soil and weather conditions, which involve more than simply surviving summer heat.
“It’s not just the temperature; it’s the temperature swings,” Grado said.
She said plants in East Texas also have to handle wind, warm nighttime temperatures and the timing and amount of rainfall the area receives.
Grado said one reason to add native plants is the role they play in supporting the local ecosystem. Some are considered keystone plants because of the number of insects and other wildlife that depend on them.
Oak trees are one example. Grado said they provide food for hundreds of types of caterpillars, which are in turn an important food source for birds.
Goldenrod, asters, sunflowers and black-eyed Susans are among the native plants she recommended for supporting insects and pollinators.
Native plants can also require less water and fertilizer once established, but Grado cautioned that native does not mean maintenance-free.
“Any plant, when you’re getting it established, needs supplemental watering. Any plant you put in your garden is going to need supplemental watering,” Grado said.
Native plants may still need pruning and other care in a home landscape.
Grado also addressed the idea that using native plants means giving up a more traditional flower garden.
“If you are using natives in your garden areas, they don’t have to look weedy at all. It’s all in your plant selection,” Grado said.
Gardeners also don’t have to remove everything they already have and replace it with native plants.
“I have gardens and I have a lot of money invested in my plants, so I am not ripping them all out and starting from scratch,” Grado said.
Instead, she suggested adding native plants a little at a time, including using them to fill empty spaces or replacing plants as they die or outgrow their locations.
Among Grado’s recommendations for Northeast Texas were butterfly weed, blue mistflower, purple coneflower, obedient plant, black-eyed Susan, goldenrod and aromatic aster.
“If I could only have one native perennial, I think it would be purple coneflower,” Grado said.
She said purple coneflower is easy to grow from seed and will reseed in the garden. The flowers also remain attractive after the petals fall, leaving the center cone behind.
For monarch butterflies, Grado recommended native butterfly weed rather than tropical milkweed. She also recommended frostweed, a fall bloomer that provides a food source during monarch migration.
Frostweed gets its name from what happens after the first hard freeze. Ice can form around the base of the plant in shapes Grado compared to ribbon candy.
For ornamental grasses, Grado recommended muhly grass, known for its pink blooms in the fall, along with several varieties of switchgrass.
“If I had to pick one favorite vine, it would be crossvine,” Grado said.
Crossvine can grow in sun or shade and produces heavy blooms in the spring. A crossvine growing on an arbor in the arboretum’s water-wise garden has become a popular photo location.
“It is probably one of our most photographed spots at the arboretum because it looks so good at that time of year,” Grado said.
Coral honeysuckle was another recommendation. Grado said its long, coral-colored flowers attract hummingbirds and it can grow in sun or shade.
She also discussed native shrubs and small trees, including Virginia sweetspire, Texas sage, Turk’s cap, red buckeye, eastern redbud and Mexican plum.
When planning a garden, Grado encouraged gardeners to mimic the way plants grow in nature by using layers. Large trees can form the upper layer, followed by understory trees such as redbuds and dogwoods, then shrubs, vines, annuals and perennials.
She also suggested repeating plants in different parts of a garden rather than planting only one of each variety.
Finding native plants can sometimes be difficult, particularly outside larger metropolitan areas. Grado encouraged gardeners to ask local nurseries about plants they would like to buy. She explained that nurseries don’t realize there’s a market for some native plants until people request them.
Grado also cautioned gardeners to look closely at plants marketed as natives. Cultivars selected from a native species and hybrids created by crossing different species are not necessarily the same thing.
Grado encouraged gardeners to remove invasive nonnative plants when possible, naming privet, nandina and Japanese honeysuckle among those found in East Texas. She recommended native coral honeysuckle as an alternative to Japanese honeysuckle.
For gardeners interested in making the change, Grado’s advice was to start with one plant rather than trying to redo an entire landscape at once.
The Wood County Arboretum also has native plantings where visitors can see how different plants perform in a garden setting.
“Texas Fruits, Texas Roots” will be the topic at next month’s Lunch and Learn on Oct. 22.