PLEASE help me pick plants in Zone 9a!

3 years ago

Recently moved to Zone 9a and I'm interested in tropical plants and trees. I like palm trees and foxtail ferns. (That's all I got so far) I want things that will have minimum upkeep and I'd like plants that look decent all year round and not for just 2 months in Spring.

I also desperately need help "designing" the front yard. I'm putting down some round cobble stones to create a path to the mailbox but other than that I have no idea what would look good regarding plant heights, width, texture etc.

The whole house is a fixer upper so please just ignore the other issues.

Excuse my horrifying paint skills. My front door was just replaced and looks similar to that one. We're redoing the garage with 2 windows and removing the door there and I'm going to paint the trim at some point. Plant options were limited on this program but I did a little mock up and it gave me nothing.

The yellow section goes in about 3-4ft so I have no idea what I could plant there to take up some room but not growing so big it blocks the window.

I have ample room in the blue section but the red section is only about 1ft deep and 4ft wide because of the walkway from the driveway to the front door.

I would greatly appreciate any mock ups or suggestions on plants. I've just been looking at local nursery websites for plant names. The front gets a few hours of morning filtered sunlight because the neighbor across from me has 5 giant pines.

I can post more photos and take measurements when I get home if need be.

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Comments (18)

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
3 years ago
Where are you located? Not all zone 9a's are the same. I live in a zone 9a but the list of tropical plants that can survive here is limited. 9a is not considered a frost free zone.
Christina
Original Author
3 years ago
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9) just southeast of Houston. Obviously A LOT died from the freak freeze we experienced last month but the foxtail ferns and windmill palms made it just fine. Some of the other palms are looking iffy, all varieted ginger is dead as well as all the banana trees. Before that though people had them for years and grew hibiscus and birds of paradise with no issues.
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PRO
Dig Doug's Designs
3 years ago
some ideas to consider using Sago & Windmill Palm:
PRO
Celery. Visualization, Rendering images
3 years ago
Check your nurseries for some variegated ginger , cordyline and what else they have for your zone.
Christina
Original Author
3 years ago
Celery- varieted ginger and cordyline are everywhere, those won't be hard to find

Doug- 😯 ooooo that looks so nice! I'd have to completely rework the walkway though so not sure if all those plants will work on the right side.

Here's some more pictures of that area
calidesign
3 years ago
If you want minimum upkeep I would avoid the tall palms - anything other than Sago. They have to be pruned at least once at year, and it's not a DIY job so it's expensive.
Christopher CNC
3 years ago
Here is a landscape plant guide you can browse.

Guide to Florida Landscape Plants for the southern half of the Sunshine State (south-florida-plant-guide.com)
Christina
Original Author
3 years ago
Thanks Christopher! Every page I've looked at gives a couple details on care then when I google it I find out it gets way too big or they won't say how far away to plant it.
Christopher CNC
3 years ago
For your small planting beds up against the house look at the Small shrubs and Accent plant grouping tabs.
Christina
Original Author
3 years ago
Thanks, I'm also going through some of the small ornamental grasses too, I've seen them all here too but I only knew the name of mondo grass.
HU-232399493
3 years ago
Check out Zone 9 Tropicals, family owned nursery in Houston.
https://www.zone9tropicals.com/

You could consider using citrus in your landscaping, there are a lot of varieties that do well in the Houston area and they are beautiful, evergreen trees. Urban Harvest (based in Houston) has a list of varieties that do well, unfortunately I don't think they did their fruit tree sale this year due to covid.
Christina
Original Author
3 years ago
Thanks HU! I admit I've been looking at Houston Garden Center's website only because a lot of local nurseries don't have a real website to see what they have but I'm definitely only gonna purchase from a small business here.
calidesign
3 years ago
Bird of Paradise are beautiful, easy to maintain, and look nice all year round.
Christina
Original Author
3 years ago
calidesign- one of my neighbors has a pretty big one, I'll have to pay attention when I drive by to see if it survived the freeze.
calidesign
3 years ago
You could also consider crepe myrtle trees for accent plants. They stay fairly small, and have beautiful blooms all summer long. They are all over the Dallas area.
Christina
Original Author
3 years ago
calidesign- I do like crepe myrtles and I know they come in multiple sizes but my mom has 3 crepes and they started to get leggy looking and not many blooms once her tree grew too much and kept them in the shade. My front yard doesn't get a ton of light and the sun moves corner to corner but I am considering them for the right side of the driveway. I'll have to pay attention this weekend to exactly how many hours it gets.
calidesign
3 years ago
Yes, they need full sun for sure.
btydrvn
3 years ago
If you plan on construction changes .. on the house... landscaping should not start til that is done...

PLEASE help me pick plants in Zone 9a!

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gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)

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PLEASE help me pick plants in Zone 9a!

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