I think it might be Ehretia anacua. That's really neat!

Native Texas Trees

Wow! Thank you Texasflip. It looks like you nailed it. Very interesting tree and not a shrub forever. Would love to have it in my yard! But it is close enough to enjoy -- even more so now that I know what it is :-)

Yep, those are pretty, Roselee, I am surprised you don't have any that were given to you by a birdie, lol

Maybe they have Jolana, and I pulled them up thinking they were weeds! LOL

Now that I know the name I remember hearing Manual Flores talking about them on the radio garden shows, but don't remember reading any recommmendations to grow it here on the GW.

The picture on the link that Texasflip provided shows a mature tree which looks and sounds like a very desireable type tree -- native, low water needs, blooms, berries for birds -- lots of good things.

If you feel the leaves, Roselee, you'll know why it's called "sandpaper tree". I delivered two of these today, about 8' tall each, to a man in a neighborhood that is full of deer and man are those leaves rough, so safe from the deer. Maybe you can feel the leaves of your birdie-gifts before pulling them? Maybe you'll end up with one that way.

I'd bet if the leaves on yours are anywhere near as rough as the mature tree's leaves, Tammy, (and I don't see why they wouldn't be) deer won't touch them. I haven't looked that close at the ones we sell ~ aamof, I'd never encountered an anacua before I delivered those yesterday (I'm learning so much at this job!), so was surprised at just how rough the leaves were. I was glad I was wearing long-sleeves!

I just don't see how a deer would ever find that palatable, even if it was extremely hungry. They're more rough than native lantana (L. horrida). I'd heard numerous reports from customers that this year the deer ate their lantana, but only the smoother-leaved cultivars ~ never the native.

Knittlin, when we lived in Dripping Springs a while back we had native lantana growing all over the property and several herd of deer, we went through some droughts and they never ate the lantana
We had neighbors that would buy lantana, lol you know what follows

Well, better safe than sorry. I'll hold on to that cage for a while. I've been surprised too many times already, LOL.

When we first moved out here (2001) I planted several lantana horrida and they ate some and left others alone. I'm just on 1/4 acre so I have no idea why they preferred some over the others. They kept them sheared down quite a bit but never ate them to the ground. We have some odd deer out here.

The birds have planted a pink and yellow one that Jolana calls ham and eggs. They haven't touched that yet. I see some orange varieties growing around that they leave alone as well. AND this year a few neighbors have a low growing yellow variety (assuming it's just the standard one you can buy everywhere) that are all doing fantastic. They look great with the mealy cup sages that are all blooming right now. Have to get me some of that one.

Linda, I also wanted to say that the yellow lantana seems to be more lemon yellow than the one I used to see at every garden center across Texas. Any clues to it's name if it is not just the everyday one?

Sorry for the hijack, Roselee.

That does look like a good tree for this area.

trsinc- you might want to keep the cage until the trunk gets about three inches because the deer like to rub their antlers on small trees even if they don't eat the leaves.

I've seen some large Anacuas...usually in the wild in deep soil and moist areas near rivers, creeks or drainages. They can give pretty deep shade when they are that large. For that reason, I wouldn't want one in a regular yard unless I could keep it at a smaller size...actually, I do have a small one at the front edge of my yard. Hopefully the caliche and drier environment out here will keep it small while letting it bloom. But so far, no blooms have occurred. The blooms and seeds can make it a good wildlife tree.

trsinc,I have 2 yellow lantana one is lemon ice which is the pale lemon and gold mound which is the darker lemon. I also have cherokee red which hasn't grown very much in the past 10 years amd of course the confetti which is huge and grows like a weed plus the purple and white trailing lantana that's more like a ground cover. I love them all.

Heh-heh, Jolana ~ yep, surprise! Most of the people who reported their lantanas being eaten were extremely surprised. Quite frankly I was, too, until I figured out which ones they were talking about.

Yep, better safe than sorry, Tammy. The native lantana that the deer ate ~ did it happen to just be the new growth they ate? If they kept them sheared, coming back for the tender new growth, maybe that explains it? Or it could be like you said ~ y'all just had weird deer. ;)

No clue about the lemon yellow one, either. The most popular one everyone sees is likely New Gold. That's the really golden orangey yellow that really pops. I don't remember seeing the ones Phyllis mentions, so maybe one of those is it?