I planted fig vine to cover cement block wall many, many years ago and now have had to take it all down. The reason, the roots are traveling to house, etc. and uprooting cement walkways. The roots have grown to at least four or five inches circumference (sp??). What a bummer. This plant covers everything. All plants near it were being covered. Planters beware....think ahead about 10 or 15 years.

If you're in the Houston area, check with Cornelius Nursery. They usually have a lot of tropicals. I looked up Brilliant and it's sold by Monrovia, which Cornelius sells. Or, you could contact Monrovia and ask them what would be a good equivalent that has the qualities you're looking for. I found one on Monrovia's page that I've had before and am going to try to get again! Here is a link that might be useful: Monrovia's Hibiscus Collection This post was edited by eahamel on Tue, Apr 2, 13 at 7:34

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!

Both Ligustrum japonicum (privet) and barberries suggested above are listed invasives for most of the east coast. Invasive means that it spreads into wild areas via birds or wind and replace native plants. So I would recommend against either one. Considering your other responsibilities, the easiest maintenance is lawn because you just mow it. If you don’t feel the urgent need for gardens, and it seems you have enough on your plate without adding gardening chores, grass probably involves the least time and skill to maintain. There are no maintenance-free gardens. If you want flowers and healthy plants, proper bed preparation is important. The first thing to do is to get rid of all the weeds currently there. If you are comfortable with glyphosate, go for it. Get a soil test done through cooperative extension to see what if any improvements you should add to the soil. For instance, if you have some of those old oak leaves that have rotted, dig them in to add organic matter which will improve the soil texture, moisture-holding capacity, and some nutrients. Or if you have a pile of rotted bedding or manure from your animals add that. Make your beds a minimum of 5’-6’ front to back so there is actually room for plants and the garden looks proportionate to the building. Then mulch deeply (several inches) with a fine-textured mulch, tamping it down to keep light from getting to the soil surface. Use a deeply buried edging and add bricks on the inside edge to help keep grass from growing into the bed, but you may need to use grass-be-gone periodically or more glyphosate. Use Preen as directed on the box to prevent weed seeds from germinating. You will still need to check every couple of weeks and pull up any weeds that sprout to keep them from getting a foothold. And mulch will need to be added periodically to the surface since it breaks down. Preventing weeds is far easier than getting rid of established weeds. As far as planting, few if any plants other than annuals will bloom all season. You want an overall combination of perennial plants (both shrubs and herbaceous), including some evergreens along with some annuals that need to be replaced each season (so perhaps 2-4 times annually in your area) to provide a lot of flowers. In choosing shrubs and perennials, choose some with evergreen leaves and some with colored leaves for the times when flowering isn’t happening due to adverse weather conditions. Use a range of leaf sizes for textual interest. Even in times of no flowers, you still want the garden to look nice, and there will be times with no flowers. For me, the no flower season starts now, but in youR area it may well be the hottest time of year. Way up near the top of this thread, someone suggested getting a consultant. It need not be too expensive, and can save some potentially expensive mistakes since gardening successfully has a good learning curve. But if you don’t want to go that route, at least go to a good independent nursery with photos of the beds and ask for suggestions. Then do research, looking up the plants for the potential to be invasive, their ultimate size (tags typically give 5 year estimates), any disease issues, etc. Less variety is usually better than using one of this and one of that. Plant in sweeps or blocks of one kind of plant for more impact. You can also look around at plants that you like in gardens in your area and seem healthy. Take photos and post on the Name that Plant forum for ID. https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/namegal Generally, my area is too different from yours for good plant recommendations, but for one plant I love that is perennial and long-blooming here, but also does well in Georgia, check out the native honeysuckle Lonicera sempervirens such as Major Wheeler. Mine blooms from May until now, though in your area, I am sure that will be different. Japanese honeysuckle are invasive and so should be avoided, but this native is very attractive to hummingbirds as well as beautiful and long-blooming. It is a vine and so will need a stout support that it can twine around, but it can be pruned when it gets larger than you want.