Favorite plants to grow/cultivate in Houston

[tstone]

Originally Posted by crone

Are you looking for a small tree? Shrubs? Try Vitex.

[NTT]

In chosing what plants to plant, you may also need to consider what plants NOT to have in your yard. Do you have children and/or pets? If you do, there are a few toxic plants that you'd want to avoid. Some of these are Oleander, Hyacynth, Daffodils, Narcissus, Lily of the Valley, Dieffenbachia (Dumb Cane), Elephant Ears, Iris, Wisteria, etc.. Search more online for a list of other toxic plants.

[coconutbutter]

Thanks for all the helpful responses, everyone! Truly do appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Thila

Joshua's and Buchanan's will not steer you in the wrong direction. Both carry native plants.

Small to large plants/shrubs that have thrived in my garden include Bottle Brush (both Little John and the larger varieties), Pineapple Guava, Indian Hawthorne (boring!), Rosemary, Turk's Cap, Salvias, etc. I could go on and on so I will stop and recommend my bible titled Plants for Texas by Howard Garrett. I would also look at Randy Lemmon's website for plant lists. He is the local Houston guru.

I saw this book, and I was planning on getting it! It seems to have really great reviews on Amazon, and after your recommendation, I'm sold. I picked up the 3rd edition of A Garden Book for Houston since the latest probably is too advanced for me. I also have Houston Garden Book: A Complete Guide to Gardening in Houston and the Gulf Coast coming to me.

Thanks for telling me about Randy Lemmon - will start following him for more plant information.

Originally Posted by NTT

In chosing what plants to plant, you may also need to consider what plants NOT to have in your yard. Do you have children and/or pets? If you do, there are a few toxic plants that you'd want to avoid. Some of these are Oleander, Hyacynth, Daffodils, Narcissus, Lily of the Valley, Dieffenbachia (Dumb Cane), Elephant Ears, Iris, Wisteria, etc.. Search more online for a list of other toxic plants.

Thanks for the reminder! I don't have kids, but I do have an indoor cat who is occasionally allowed to play outside under my supervision. As such, I won't even bother putting in lilies, etc. in the yard.

[Squidlo]

Sago Palm, Beautiful plant: toxic to pets. I keep and eye on my pup as I have quite a few in my landscaping.
I like Live Oak, Indian Hawthorn, Banana plant, Dwarf Yaupon & Oleander (poisonous). I am reworking my yard now. Any super hardy good looking foliage would interest me as well.

[houstonfan]

It would help if you could narrow it down to what you want to put in there, trees, shrubs, annuals, flowering plants, mixture, etc. Do you like to garden or do you want hardy low maintenance types? Do you have any functional requirements like shade, not poisonous, privacy, etc?
I personally prefer a mix of stuff organized to give nice landscaping.

[coconutbutter]

Originally Posted by houstonfan

It would help if you could narrow it down to what you want to put in there, trees, shrubs, annuals, flowering plants, mixture, etc. Do you like to garden or do you want hardy low maintenance types? Do you have any functional requirements like shade, not poisonous, privacy, etc?
I personally prefer a mix of stuff organized to give nice landscaping.

I'm actually not really looking for specific answers from people here about what to do with my yard, but mostly, just curious what other people like to plant and grow in their yards.