can both of those handle shade for half the day or more? I thought they both needed full sun? I have some lantana elsewhere - two plants were really thriving, then suddenly they got some fungus and I finally had to rip them out. Both were in full sun. My two other lantanas have more shade, didn't appear to get the fungus but are also much smaller and not flowering - I figured it was because of the shade.

Ruellia should work in those conditions. Plumbago, though not native, works almost anywhere except deep shade. Salvias are available in many great colors and should work there too.

You could also try the natives database at wildflower.org.

Here is a link that might be useful: Link to flower list

I have a large bed of purple trailing lantana and dwarf ruellia under a live oak. They get early morning and late afternoon sun. More in the winter months than summer because of the sun being lower in the sky.

The ruellia gets kind of leggy in deep shade. The lantana used to die back in the winter, but hasn't the past few years. (Warmer, maybe . . . or the tree's gotten large enough to give it some real protection.)

I suspect that neither of them blooms as well as it would with more sun, but they do bloom some (the lantana looks especially good in the spring & fall) and it's all thick and healthy looking.

I'm just north of Dallas (Lewisville). I have both lantana (the confetti version that starts out one color and changes to another as the flower ages) and ruellia on the west side of my house, both in the ground. The lantana is just fine, it doesn't mind being shaded by the house until mid-day, it blooms OK with only what water it gets from the sprinkler system when I bother to turn it on. The ruellia is under the eaves and doesn't get very big but it also doesn't get much supplemental water. It does flower, especially when it gets a bunch of water, and will spread (I suspect it spreads pretty well by seed). It only gets leggy for me if it doesn't die back in the winter, which is only the plants in pots up here. You could also try Turk's Cap, I have one in more shade than sun, it doesn't get very big since it's died back each winter, but it does flower. All three would take being cut back to the ground in early spring pretty well if they get too leggy and don't die back in SA.

Thanks for the suggestions. I think these will work well.

About Turk's cap, so how best to cut it back? I have 3 - 1 I planted, the other two opportunistic (1 of these is a recent arrival it seems, the other has been here forever). They do get leggy. I'm afraid to prune too much - is there some good guide for that? I was at the Witte Museum the other day and saw some gorgeous Turk's Cap that was more like a shrub/bush.

On that matter, I also have a trumpet vine that looks really healthy, except no flowers this year, while the vacant house across the street has tons of flowers on its trumpet vine despite being totally ignored. What do I need to do?

Check out Texas Native Shrubs for more ideas.

cjra - looks like you should ignore your trumpet vine more. Actually, if you fertilize them, or the lawn nearby they will make more foliage than flowers. The one across the street probably doesn't get any fertilizer.

Thanks for the shrubs link.

re: vine - it doesn't get fertilized, nor does anything around it. It probably gets a bit of water when the lawn is watered, but that's about 1x every 2 weeks. I have trimmed it, but maybe not enough. It had tons of flowers last year, none this year.I have another one that doesn't look as healthy - kind of spindly and sparse, but it does have flowers...

You can plant beauty berry if you have shade.
Agarita will do nicely in morning shade/evening sun, as will fairy duster, barbados cherry, native lantana, coral bean (BEE-UTE-FUL!), button bush, flame acanthus, heart leaf hibiscus, agave, hairy wedelia, salvia greggii, Texas sage and esperanza.

We have all of these in our native plant garden, most growing in exactly the conditions you specify. They are thriving, and they don't get much care or water.

Neither plumbago nor ruellia are Texas natives.

Janie

Salvia regla does great in shade/western sun. pigeon berry, Turks cap and Giant mexican Turks cap will give you great november/December color. It comes in white , red and Pink. It will get large and spread outwards. Opuntia cochenillifera, Salvia roemeriana, mexican oregano, salvia gregii,Salvia macrophylla san carlos, Salvia macrophylla tngo blue, salvia madrensis, agave stricta, agave gemnifolia, yuca rupicola, yuca filamentosa, Yucca aloifolia, yucca pallida.

Botanic Gardens has turk's cap in full sun, so I know it can take all sun/shade conditions. I might wait to cut it back until the worst heat is over, but then really cut it to a nice shape.

Is your trumpet vine shaded? Perhaps it is just young and building up its strength to take over your yard next year.

Both trumpet vines are in full blazing sun.

Will wait a bit on the turk's caps. They're beautiful, just kind of leggy so not looking so hot.

Hands down esperanza. Just a rugged beautiful plant sun or shade and requires almost zero care. Really nice flowers in the summer and can take the heat.