5 Favorite Waterwise Plants for Dallas

July 28, 2014 | By webadmin

While we admit it’s difficult to limit our favorite waterwise plants to just five, here are a few star performers for your Dallas garden. When you’re looking for the perfect plants for your garden, you should always consider size, season and sun tolerance. Also, be sure to balance flowers with foliage.

Pincushion flower (Scabiosa) Pincushion flower is right at home in a traditional cottage garden, but is also perfect for softening a modern landscape. The bounty of pincushion shaped blooms are a favorite of butterflies. Plants bloom almost non-stop throughout the year, only taking a break during the coldest parts of winter. Once established, pincushion flower tolerates blazing sun and reflected heat from driveways and sidewalks. They prefer good drainage and to dry a bit between watering. ‘Butterfly Blue’ is a beautiful variety, but pink varieties are also available.

Red Yucca - This gorgeous, architectural evergreen succulent is a favorite around Dallas; it puts on quite the bounty of blooms in summer. Plants can reach 5-feet tall when in bloom and clumps can spread up to 4-feet wide. Red yucca is most often found in the coral-red flower color, but yellow varieties are also available. Look for a new deep-red variety called ‘Brakelights’. It’s the perfect plant for low-maintenance, low-water use areas of your landscape.

Oregon grape (Mahonia) – Homeowners can often find it challenging to create a beautiful shade garden. If you’re looking for a tough and easy-care evergreen for your heavily shaded areas, Mahonia, also called Oregon grape, is an excellent choice.  Mahonia offers up texture with its unique foliage. Bright yellow flowers in spring are followed by beautiful dark blue berries. Mahonia grows to about 6-feet tall and 3-5 feet wide. A newer smaller variety that sports fine, feathery foliage is called ‘Soft Caress’.

Rosemary – Extreme sun and heat? No problem! Rosemary is a true workhorse of the garden. Lucky for us, it’s also beautiful. If you’re into edible landscaping, rosemary is the perfect plant for you. The aromatic foliage is evergreen and plants will produce tiny blue flowers sporadically throughout the year; the honeybees love them! Upright varieties can grow to 5-feet tall and wide, while trailing varieties are perfect for retaining walls and containers.

Desert Willow – Looking for a small urban tree that delivers tons of blooms? Desert willow is a beautiful and waterwise choice for Dallas gardens. Plants are tough and drought tolerant once established. The willow-like foliage is the perfect backdrop for the billowy flowers that come bloom in colors of lavender, purple, pink with shades of burgundy. These open form trees (or large shrubs) grow to about 25-feet tall and 15-20 feet wide.  

Please keep in mind that all new plantings must be watered regularly until they become established. Need help deciding which waterwise plants would suit your outdoor living space? Contact us this summer to begin planning for fall!