Plants in Austin (Round Rock, Center, Shady Hollow: sales, home, landscaping)

[Jenni5]

What kind of soil do you have? Sandy, clay, etc? What kind of plants can you grow there?

We are moving there next summer and I'm trying to get a feel for the area.

[mandib]

lots of clay and limestone. zone 8 means most anything grows. but be carefull of tags that say full sun...sometimes that doesn't mean Texas sun!!!

Check out this forum. They are experts in gardening in our area:
Gardening in Texas - GardenWeb

[doctorjef]

Roses in Austin are extremely susceptible to fungus - blackspot mostly - and are a pain in the ass to grow. Antique varieties will be relatively more disease free, but not completely by any means. Azaleas grow ok in some older shady parts of town (Tarrytown, for one), but generally the soil is too alkaline and there's too much sun. I'd suggest some of the many varieties of crepe myrtle, which are available from miniature through tree size. Xerascape is very popular and things like lantana do well. Periwinkles will do very well in the summer heat and sun, assuming you water them. Rosemary grows nicely. Asian Jasmine makes a good ground cover in Austin. Different varities of juniper require little water and maintenance and generally do very well -- there are again a whole range of sizes and foliage colours. Nandina and abelia do well as shrubs, and of course with nandina you can also get the small nana variety. Yaupon hollies are an excellent choice, as well. Remember: sun loving generally, heat and drought tolerant, not in need of an acid soil. If you have any very shady areas, caladiums and impatiens are a good choice for annuals. Beuganvilla (sp?) can also do well.

[jread]

I've had luck with Oleander, Crape Myrtles and Mexican Heather. I'm in Southwest Austin where the soil is shallow and worthless, and the sun fries anything you put outside. Also be prepared to water a lot because it seems to have stopped raining in Austin permanently.

[HappyTexan]

East of I35 is mostly houston black..heavy clay with little to no rock.

I have 6 different rose bushes growing around the yard and love them..antique varieties and all I do is prune when necessary.

Here's a link to a Texas rose grower. Good for a day trip to pick up a few containers.

http://www.antiqueroseemporium.com/

[love roses]

I'm East of 35 also with the black soil (West of 35 is sandier, thinner, and full of limestone). I have 2 Oak Trees, a Mimosa, 2 Crepe Myrtles, Pomegranate, Amaryllis, Oleander, Pear, Peach, Roses, Fig, Butterfly bushes, Grapes, Yellow Bells (?), Cactus, Bouganvilla, and several other variteties I can't even recall right now. It's all relatively low maintenance, although we do have to treat for insects on the fruit trees.

[Austinitegirl]

I'm east of 35 in the Round Rock/Pville area - CLAY soil there - very hard and dry. I swear we're in some sort of rain shadow up there - it NEVER rains!

Anyway - I've tried to stick with native plants/trees - for conservation reasons and because I'm too lazy to take care of a high maintenance yard (but I do love pretty flowers).

So I've had great luck with Mexican Heather, Bougainvillia, Verbena, Butterfly Bushes, Foxtail Ferns and my Lantana is taking over the world. I have a few trees: Oak, Redbud, Crape Myrtle and, believe it or not, Cypress trees. Cypress trees seem to do well in that area and my little baby tree is hangin' on, so I'm hopeful it will bloom next spring. I'm trying to get my Mexican Shellflowers to grow, but their struggling. I see lots of Oleander, Indian Hawthorne and Esperanza ("Yellow Bells") growing like crazy in the surrounding neighborhoods. I'm going to try to grow Pride of Barbados next year - it's a beautiful plant with vibrant yellow/red flowers and loves the heat: http://bexar-tx.tamu.edu/HomeHort/F1Column/2006%20Articles/JUNE11.htm (broken link)

For environmental and conservation reasons, I try to stay away from Annuals, and my neighbors don't seem to have much luck keeping them alive very long. I think most Annuals are very susceptible to heat/drought damage, so I stick to the sun-loving, drought-tolerant (Perennial) natives.

I was worried I'd have to plant a bunch of cactus in my yard to truly find some sun-loving, drought-resistant plants, but I've done a lot of research and managed to come up with some really colorful stuff. There's a great book called "Texas Home Landscaping" by Creative Homeowner (found it at Lowe's, but you can also get it on Amazon), filled with lots of great (detailed) plant profiles of stuff that grows well in this area. It also gives you tips and pointers for prepping the yard, selecting planting sites, etc.

FYI - you can get great, healthy natives at the LBJ Wildflower Center - they do periodic plant sales on Saturday mornings.

Good luck!

[G Grasshopper]

There is a great, book that is put out by the City of Austin called "Native and Adapted Landscape Plants; and earthwise guide for Central Texas". It is free in Austin, and $2.00 outside of Austin. This book tells you about plants that grow on the west side vs. the central/east side of Austin, those that are native and those that are not, but are well adapted. I picked mine up at the Nature Center at Zilker Park, but I think it is available in many places. You could call 512-974-2446 or check our City of Austin - City of Austin - Grow Green , which is a great City site on gardening and plants.

[doctorjef]

It's true that Mexican Heather is a great plant for Austin. Sometimes they will survive the winter and they can get quite big (a low growing bush). Succulants like agave and aloe vera can be quite rewarding. Red tip photenia is a popular shrub but I would recommend avoiding them, as they are unpredictably prone to disease. Indian Hawthorne is a good low growing shrub for the area. Eunymous (gold, silver and green leaf varieties) is popular, but IME can get zapped on those rare occasions when Austin gets a really bad freeze. This doesn't happen at all often, but can destroy whole species of plants. In the 78748 area of Austin (Shady Hollow, etc) there used to be quite a few Chinese Tallow Trees, which are beautiful in the fall, but which all got wiped out in a freeze in the mid-1990's. Some survived, but as bushes rather than trees, since the tops all died completely and then some of them came out from the base of the trunk.

[nsid23]

Quick question along the same lines.... there a lot of palm trees in Austin? I've been there once, but don't recall. I do remember seeing more than I expected in SA, was curious if Austin was similar?

Thanks