Ironweed, Frostweed, ruelia, lambs ears, Iris, hollyhocks, Lantana, walking onions, meadow sage, yarrow, goldenrod, vitex, sumacs, ... I am sure there are more but these are the backbone of my garden along with the roses that I baby maybe a little too much...

In my garden, Smilax is unstoppable, though I wish I could get rid of it . . .

:)

There are a number of passion flowers that thrive in Texas, but I'd put my Texas native incarnata at the top of the list. Once it's established, it's well-nigh impossible to get rid of, and withstands drought and freeze. Not that I'd want to get rid of it, mind you. ;-)

Here are some links that provide a listing of plants that do well here in Texas:

EarthKind Roses: http://earthkindroses.tamu.edu/
Texas Smartscape: http://www.txsmartscape.com

Here is a link that might be useful: Texas Superstar Plants

Good thread!
This is definately info I need as a new gardener. Thanks!

Flame Acanthus (which I watered only twice during our 2006 brutal summer). Rose of Sharon. Dwarf Pomegranate. Lantana (once it's established). Possom Haw, Burford, and Yaupon Hollies. As many failures as I've had with other things, it is these plants that keep me interested in gardening.

Carla in Rowlett

tbader-
I planted a Lady Banks rose for the first time last year, and it's doing great, but no blooms. Just wondering.....does it usually take a couple of years before it blooms?
I second your comments on the Rose of Sharon.....this plant does not get nearly enough credit for its toughness and beautiful blooms that last all spring and summer. I'm always surprised I don't see it at the top of more lists.
Also, planted for the first time last year was Zebrina and Mist Flower that thrived right through the heat last summer and are coming back like gangbusters this year...no blooms yet but very healthy and lush so far.
Coral Honeysuckle - striking orange-red blooms that bloom year round in Weatherford (although fewer in winter). Mine always reduces its blooms during the August drought unless I give it a little TLC (ie: water now and then) and then the blooms are right back.

Bushes I have ignored:
Winter honeysuckle - big background evergreen bush, sun or shade, fragrant blooms in later Winter
Mock Orange - Fragrant Blooms right now
Cramoisi Superieur china rose
Mexican Oregano
Fringe Flower in the shade

Flowers I have ignored:

Giant Zinnias
Echinacia
French Hollyhock - Zebrinus something something
Rosemary
Oregano
Whirling Butterfly
Salvias
Rock Rose

Dont forget these guys (simple love hibiscus) they are tuff and fill space fast little or no water .And my favorite Passiflora unstoppable.

{{gwi:2758}}
Both these bloom all winter here on coast .

But they both die back here in North Texas !!! They will BE BACK, though !!!!

Bermuda grass and nut grass. When do they bloom?

Hahaha

wfordgardener,
I'm not sure exactly when Lady Banks start to bloom, since when I bought my place, there was already a white on here that was at least a few years old. BTW, let me tell you about the deal I got this winter on some Lady Banks! You know, that after Christmas until the end of January, most plant places have have really good prices on plants! Lowes had everything 1/2 off, and I managed to get 6 (that was all they had left!) 1gal white lady banks for $3 each, where they are normally $6 each! But I wouldn't let that stop you from buying any now! BTW, they are all growing like crazy, and have gone from having a few "canes" here and there to actually being bushy now! Go Lady Banks Go! :)

frugal gary - you are so funny!

I grew Lady Banks once, but ended up ripping it out because it turned out to be too little sun for it. They really do need a lot of space and some sort of support like a sturdy trellis or fence. I have seen someone here in Allen that put a fence a few feet out from their air conditioner on the west side of their house which faces a busy street and then planted the Lady Banks on the fence. It looks absolutely georgous every spring and provides shade for their air conditioner in the summer.

We planted a yellow Lady Banks at our MG Demo gardens, Green Acres in Rockport. If I remember correctly, it bloomed the very first year. It is beautiful, but it is strictly a spring bloomer, i.e. only once a year blooms. But it is very pretty.

Another great rose is the climbing pinkie that is a repeat bloomer. Also the mutabilis and the Duchesse de Brabant are non-stop bloomers year round here on the coast. And regarding roses, stay away from the Bourbon roses on the coast. I kept trying to get them to grow and they just died on me. Some years back I was talking to Glenn from the Antique Rose Emporium, and he said to give up on growing Bourbons on the coast. Good advice.

And regarding lambs ear, which I love, it won't grow for me at all here on the coast. It has to do with the humidity.

And no one mentioned vitex and the Texas Star Hibiscus, two great beauties!

I have Lady Banks (four) planted outside my 8 foot fence.
They are 5 years old and have grown over the fence into the inside of the fence making a canopy and lots of shade where I had hibiscus growing. Think I will just unplunk the hibiscus, and make a shade garden there as the roses are breathtaking. Even though they bloom only once a year, they are evergreen and still add beauty to the landscape.

Just a thought. I've had more than my share of "unstopable" plants here. As in "run rampant throughout my garden and lawn" until I want to torch the place and start over. I value tough plants, but only ones that will stay exactly where I planted them, and that can be removed successfully when needed.

Randy

... I should have given examples of the tough plants that are also MANNERLY plants:

Savlia greggi (autumn sage)
Savlia nemerosa 'Marcus'
Intermediate bearded iris
Summer phlox 'John Fannick'
Dwarf daylily 'Mini Pearl'
Antique roses 'Pink Gruss an Aachen' & 'Mrs Dudley Cross'
Floribunda rose 'Valentine'
Oakleaf Hydrangea (in partial shade)
Nellie R. Stevens holly

Randy

Wax myrtle. Gulf muhly grass. Nandina...

Here are some of mine that have thrived with sporadic watering, lots of heat and a few freezes.

Perennials:
Zexmenia
Lantanas (upright and trailing)
Esperanza
Blackfoot Daisy
Cedar Sage
Russian Sage
Mealy Blue Sage
Society Garlic
Blue Plumbago

Bushes:
Fragrant Mimosa
Barbados Cherry
Rosemary
Rockrose
Cenzio
Abelia
American Beautyberry
Butterfly Bush

Grasses:
Mexican Feathergrass (my Favorite)

Trees:
Texas Mountain Laurel
Redbud
Crape Myrtle

I bought a 1 gal pot of lamb's ear about two years ago, and moved it around and divided it here and there, and now, it covers an area of about 10-15 times the original pot! I have a non-plant person come over and he comments on how neat looking the leaves are! BTW, I never really paid much attention to it, since it never really looked like it suffered the heat. From my experiments, it does like full sun the best! I had it in the shade under my buford hollies on the north side of the house, and the ones in the shade blew away those in coverage area!

I love it, but it just doesn't like the high humidity that we have here on the coast. It actually turns to mush. I'll just have to enjoy other people's lamb's ear.

all the old bulb plants; spiderlilies, paperwhites, cannas, crinims, saint joseph lilies, snowdrops, the wild onions. i inherited mine from my great grandmother, or maybe further back. once planted, they outlast you.

i have heard that they don't do well everywhere, but the cape jasmines are bullet proof here, and cuttings always root, and the flowers are just incredible! they get really big, and make good foundation plantings, stay green all year.

something else that will outlast you are the cemetery roses; especially martha gonzalez, clothilde soupert, louis phillipe, and many more.

and i collect and grow medicinals, which are mostly weeds, they grow really well, maybe too well, and bear watching so they don't get into territory disputes.

if you have enough room, the vines are very loyal and long lived; passionflowers, cross vine, tie vines, trumpet vines, wisteria, honeysuckle, all the morning glories, and more. all of these bloom very nicely during the year, and most are fragrant.

i love the elder, collect the flowers and berries all year. night blooming jasmine in a sheltered place up against the house makes summer nights special. mine made it thru a pretty bad winter this year, tucked up against the outside of the leaky old fireplace.

bluebonnets, once you get them out of the seed cases, come up good for many years, and are sweet and gorgeous. figs and old pear trees, and dewberries and blackberries which i treat very badly to try to keep in check. but i love the berries!

these old things will make you look like a good gardener, even if you aren't! this is a great thread--thanks
jeanine

Jeanine--you mentioned St. Joseph Lily and I had to Google to find out...yep, it is the plant I believe was growing under absolute neglect at the Heights home we used to rent. Each spring close to Easter it would burst with beautiful red blooms. It was growing on what was I believe the north side of the home, almost under the house. All alongside it was pure gravel. We didn't once water it while we lived there, yet still it blessed us each spring.

I wonder, does anyone know how to aquire bulbs of this beautiful red lily? I've heard rumor that it can't really be purchased anymore and is only a pass-along plant.

jrmankins

Where are you? I'd LOVE some dewberries..can't find any around here. (Corpus Christi)

ltcollins1949, that is funny about lambs ears. I had a patch in my yard when I moved in. It was about 20 x 20. I did not know it was a desiable plant so I kept mowing it down. My sister in law came from San Antonio and immediatly noticed it. She took some back with her. Well I finally killed the patch. Wish I would have saved it. I could have given away a coastal hardy lambs ear.

Jim

the saint joseph lilies we always called old red easter lilies, because they bloom every easter weekend, and lindseyrose, your description sounds right. each 18-24 inch bloom stalk puts out four red fragrant lilies with white lengthwise stripes. the lilies and the dewberries are both blooming right now, and i hope to get some berries soon. after blooming i could make a trade or two, probably in a couple weeks. i can only tell dewberries from blackberries by the early blooming and fruit. my blackberries have not started blooming yet.

Salvias: Lady in red is VERY invasive, so make sure you love her as much as I do! She also comes in a pink and a white.

Ruellia and goldenrod are VERY invasive

English Ivy is VERY invasive

Salvia Hotlips! she gets bigger each year and flowers in part sun.

Salvia mystic spires flowers in part sun(new favorite and it has returned yea!)

Salvia Black and Blue
Salvia Argentine skies

Duranta Saphire showers....needs water if in a pot, but don't we all.

Black Adder Hyssup...back and a good 4 times the size last year

Mexican Tithonia

lavenders

the tall Blue Mist

Daturas

One of my favorites is Gaillardia 'Goblin'. It is blooming now and will continue to bloom until the first frost. I gave mine extra water thru the hottest part of the summer and it suffered a bit, but once the weather cooled a bit it took off again. I didn't have much luck with 'Fanfare' though. My Lady Banks didn't bloom much last year so I pruned it back quite a bit and started watering with Super Bloom in Feb. and it was gorgeous this spring.
Jerrie

cynthianovak,
I'm surprised you didn't mention Morning Glory!
The previous owner of my place sprinkled some Morning Glory seeds about 4 years ago, and I just can't seem to get rid of it! I try digging it up and get as much of the roots as I can, but I think just a tiny bit of root will sprout a whole new vine! I had it in a location where the soil is that orange clay and where the sun is just brutal, and it just grew like crazy, covering my rose bushes. I like tough easy to grow plants that spread, but Morning Glory is just too much! It has even gotten a start in my compost pile and I can't get rid of it!

tbader01...the morning glories are probably coming back from seed. I love them even if they are a thug.

Pam

Hello Everyone,
Since the scope of the listing of unstoppable Texas plants was so broad, I thought I would narrow it down to just super tough plants that add fragrance to your garden!
My limited personal experience only consists of a few plants, and they only produce fragrance for only a part of a season (I have parts of the year that I need to fill with fragrance)! Hopefully you all can help me expand my garden so that at least I can have something to walk by at any time of the year and have something nice to smell!

Here is my listing of what I know:

Lady Banks - My white one actually has some fragrance to it, although it isn't as nice of a smell as some of the other flowers, it does have fragrance. This is a springtime blooming/fragrance plant.

Wisteria - Again, another super tough plant, but only blooms and has fragrance in the spring. (BWT, my 5 gal plant that I got last year seems to only produce leaves, but no flowers/fragrance! Did I get a lemon, or does it have to mature more?)

Violet Lantana - I was surprised late last summer(maybe even fall?) last year when I walked by my light purple lantana and couldn't figure out where the nice smell was coming from! I had a mental block thinking that Lantanas only produced nice looking flowers!

Copper Canyon Daisy - This plant actually has more of an herb fragrance when the wind blows through it, but it does produce fragrance all year (well, actually, I always cut mine back every year, and it takes a few months for it to grow back enough to have enough leaves to create fragrance!)

Texas Mountain Laurel - I learned of this one from the FW BG, so I bought a couple 1 gals, but it looks like it is going to take forever for it to get big enough to bloom and produce flowers/fragrance! It is tough and evergreen, but it only seems to produce fragrance in the spring as well.

Does anyone have any suggestions for fragrance the whole year round? Even having different plants with different fragrances at different times would be nice too!

Here is a link that might be useful: Listing of Texas Super Tough UnStoppable Plants!

www.desertropicals.com keeps a data base of many of the plants that we grow here in Texas. It talks about water usage, cold tolerance and heat tolerance:

My list:

Full Sun, the inferno strip:

Salvia Greggi-and Salvia Microphylla
Bulbine Fructans ( Groundcover-Takes reflective heat)
Lantana (Takes reflective heat, but the trailing doesn't bloom for me in the summer, only the spring, winter and fall.)
Cenizo
Vitex
Skullcap( Groundcover)
Soft tip yucca
Yellow Bells
Pride of Barbadoos (may not be cold tolerant in some areas)

It sounds a little "deserty". But I picked the hardest area.

Full sun:

Rosemary-a little harder to establish than,
Fall Aster (tough)
Bearded Irises

Trees/Shrubs: Mt. Laurel
Chinkapin Oak
Cedar Elm

Many other good plants were mentioned above.

I recently bought a Mystic Spires Salvia, and I LOVE it, but buyer beware. What you see is what you get. There is a lot of variation in quality of this plant between different growers/retailers.

The same is true for Salvia Farrinacea.

Right now, I also have Winecups growing next to my sidewalk. They will go "dormant" when the real heat starts. They have done very well this spring, but we've had a fairly cool spring.

I also bought this beautiful lantana called "Rose Glow". I LOVE it. It doesn't even look like a lantana!!! It blends in beautifully with my Pavonia, Pink Knock Out Roses and Winecups. But, the cold hardiness of these newer lantana camara hybrids is questionable. Even if it isn't cold hardy, it's ability to quickly adapt and put on a show, is worth it!!!

I had to laugh when somebody mentioned smilax. Years ago, on a cemetery plot, I kept cutting one to the ground and it came right back until I decided that wasn't going to work. So I used Roundup several times. Didn't faze it. Finally I took a sharpshooter and dug until I got to the bottom of the root system, and there was a "potato" half the size of my fist, and I've got a big fist. Guess the thing would still be sprouting if I hadn't gotten that modifed root out.

I'm looking for something evergreen that will cascade down small slope. I was thinking about Carolina Jessamine. But sounds like Lady Banks Rose will also fit the spot.

I'll probably interplant it with Blue Plumbago, so I can have both spring and summer blooms.

For North Texans, interplanting with an evergreen is a way to provide extra winter protection to plants like plumbago.

On Blue Plumbago, it is beautiful, but it can be hard to get established. I think it has something to do with it's root system. By that I mean, if a plant has gotten established, even in a few months, it is next to impossible to transplant it. The roots will be HUGE! And if I try to move it, it often dies.

However, sometimes newly planted plumbagos just languish. I think they need good well drained, organic rich soil.
Once they've got their roots established, they are wpnderful, heavenly.

Last year, on a whim, I bought this plant called "Clerodendrum"-Blue Butterfly.

I put it in the ground and it took off.

It's a large subtropical plant (zone 8b/9) with beautiful blue blooms.
I thought it would be a late summer bloomer.

Even with all of the cold this winter, it never completely froze. It is blooming already!!! My plumbagos in the same bed are not blooming yet.

Clerodendrum would probably not be cold hardy in North Texas, but I was suprised at how well it has done down here.

Cynthianovak, I'm always impressed at what you are growing!! Where are your salvia black and blue? Are they in part shade? I've always been curious about Blue Mist Shrub. There are several types: The Eupoturium is a Texas Native, which does well, but blooms in the fall. The other is Carpotr.....(Sometimes they call it Blue Spirea) Sometimes they call it Longwood Blue etc. I've seen them in the nursery, but haven't seen them in yards around here. Are they in full sun or part shade?

Also your black adder hyssop? Is that in sun or part shade?

PricklyPear

I have many of those mentioned plus Mexican Mint Marigold that is great, Caryopteris Blue Spirea that I love, Mullein, Larkspurs (lots!) and Turk's Cap!

Peggy

Heh, just wanted to advise you about the wandering jew...or maybe warn you, it is a rather pretty plant, all purple vines and leaves with small purple flowers, but is highly invasive, and for many years in my home, it was known simply, as the purple plant that will not die.

Starstryker

Ones I've gown that won't die

Vitex Agnus-cstus - will die back in the winter, comes back stronger every ear.

all your hardy perenial Hibiscus - Texas Five star, etc.

zebrina mallows

Cast iron plants

camelias