Ed and Donna didn't have many neighbors for some time, but now the neighborhood is growing, and they have neighbors on all sides. They'd like a little more privacy and while they are at it, add some plants that will to add interest to their property. Here are some of the plants that will do just that.
-One of the biggest and fastest plants that work to screen a view is crapemyrtle. The biggest is Basham's Party Pink. It has huge bloom heads and can get 35' tall.
-Potomac will get 25' tall and has great fall color.
-Tuscarora will get 15'-20' tall and is mildew resistant. It's also one of the most popular varieties in central Texas.
Under the crapemyrtle you can add these deer resistant perennials for summer color
-Homestead Verbena has purple flowers
-Jerusalem Sage will bloom yellow and get bigger each year. This one is probably about 3 years old.
-Autumn Sage or Salvia greggii blooms hard in the spring, on and off in the summer, and harder in the Autumn, hence the name.
-Oklahoma Redbud will bloom in early spring,
-then have beautiful foliage all summer.can withstand the summer heat.
-Pride of Houston Yaupon Holly is native to Texas and loads up with berries for the winter.
If your neighbors include lots of white tailed deer, one of your best choices for seasonal color is lantana. There are lots of varieties to choose from. Here are White Trailing, New Gold, and Purple Trailing.
-A big perennial that blooms late summer and fall is Mexican Bush Sage.
-A standout in the fall is Pink Muhly Grass. When it's planted in mass, it looks like a cloud of pink smoke above the plants when it blooms.
-And Pride of Barbados starts blooming in May and continues through September. The plant freezes back to the ground and comes back the following year bigger and better.
-When you are buying crapemyrtle make sure you read the labels closely. There are over 100 varieties and they mature all different sizes. Here is Velma's Royal Delight. It won't get much bigger than 6' tall.
-Lynn's Legacy Cenizo is a unique selection that only gets about 5' tall in 10 years. It also blooms more than any of the other selections.
-Four Nerve Daisy is a native that blooms every month of the year.
If you have some shade these plants will perform for you
-Turk's Cap-there are several varieties but the one in this picture is the native. It will get about 3' tall. There's another called Big Momma that gets 6' tall. And Pam's Pink will get 6' tall too.
-Blue Plumbago will get about 2' tall and bloom spring to fall.
-American Beautyberry loads up with berries that turn purple in the fall.
One way to create a quick screen is to plant vines...especially vines that don't go dormant. Here are my favorite vines because they are evergreen and they are not aggressive.
-Coral Honeysuckle- a great summer bloomer.
-Star Jasmine-a fragrant, late spring bloomer.
-Tangerine Beauty Crossvine- spring bloomer that will pop flowers all summer too.
-Pink Skullcap only gets about 12" tall and blooms in the summer.
-Zexmenia gets about 18" tall and blooms in the summer.
-Mystic Spires Salvia blooms spring to fall and will get about 24" tall.
Other small tree like plants
-Desert Willow blooms in the summer and will get about 10' tall.
-Possum Haw red berries stand out when it drops its leaves in the fall.
-Flame Leaf Sumac's leaves turn red in the fall just before they fall off.
Here are three great natives-
-Texas Persimmon is a native that gets about 12' tall and has exfoliating bark. Also, it puts on small fruit that can be used for jelly
-Evergreen Sumac is another great shrub deer don't eat.
-Texas Mountain Laurel is slow growing but nothing bothers it.
And some other great plants-
-Bells of Fire Esperanza-orange flowers all summer
-Mexican Feather Grass
-Wooly Stemodia is a great gray ground cover.
on Bottom
-Pink Pavonia blooms in the summer.
-Texas Betony blooms in summer too
-Frances Purple Oxalis-does best in some shade. It will bloom in spring and sometimes in summer.
A plant that's new to the Texas market in the last ten years is Coral Bells Huechera. There are many different varieties with different leaf colors and they all bloom. They do like shade.
More shade plants
-Chocolate Chip Ajuga is very low growing and will spread out in the shade.
-St. Bernard's Lily looks like a grass but it will have small white flowers all summer.
-Giant Leopard Plant has big round leaves. It will bloom in December. There are several varieties-Crested which has ruffles edges on the leaves, and Spotted which has spots on it like a leopard. They all do equally as good.
That's it for today.
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