Looking for year-round plants for the yard (Houston, Katy: sales, coupon)

[Svensk08]

Originally Posted by crone

What you are suggesting is not a casual thing. Plants are living things, not something you just go to nursery and stick in the ground and cross your fingers. They all have preferences and needs.
Sun, shade?
Well drained or boggy? Sandy or clay soil?
How tall and big around do you want the final growth to be, or do you intend to prune weekly, monthly, annually?
Ph of soil.
Flowering?
Budget?

Agree 100%!

Do some research or you'll be wasting time, effort and money. Visit some of the independently owned nurseries to see what various plants look like. Ask questions -- garden experts love to talk. Take notes. What you need may be cheaper at the BigBox chain stores, but they aren't a reliable source of information.

And don't plant anything within 2 ft. of the foundation of your house.

[elnina]

This might help:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...g/6880416.html
NPIN: Recommended Native Plants - Texas-East
http://www.npsot.org/Houston/February%202010%20NPSOTH%20%20Information%20Pages. pdf (broken link)

Happy gardening!

[tstone]

Knockout roses + a scoop of this every other week

ColorStar 19-13-6 | Nelson Plant Food

[Bike4Life]

No, no, no! Boxwood and Sago Palm is boring by itself. You have use layers like a tall, medium, and short bush or tall grass. Refer to Neil Sperry's Complete Guide to Texas Gardening and choose some good local plants and the right size to grow. Then add some natural rocks, too - not the kind you buy at the orange box store. Good luck!

[citizen_jane]

I agree we need to know more about the location where the plants will go. Azaleas are beautiful but can not take full sun. I think Indian Hawthorne is a good all purpose choice that doesn't need a lot of maintenance. I hate sago palms. They need to be trimmed but are difficult to work around because of the spiky sharp branches. I think it's so ridiculous when people plant one of each side of a sidewalk. The look fine when they are small but when mature they encroach on the walkway and the sharp leaves are a problem. Sometimes I think people just get them because they're expensive.

[LilyLady]

When I lived in west Harris Country, we bought a "Red Sister Palm" that we planted in a flower bed at the front of the house. It didn't require much maintenance at all other than removing dead leaves occasionally, but it didn't like full sun at all. It was quite unusual in that the leaves really did look red.

If you're not much into gardening, I'd definitely visit some of the local nurseries and talk with them. Lowe's has a one year guarantee on its plants, but if you buy the wrong type for your soil or the amount of sunlight it's going to get, you can have guarantees up to your eyebrows, but the plants still won't grow.

Good luck and enjoy yourself!

[Malvie]

All you people suggesting all these exotic things; the OP is obviously not a gardner and from what I gathered, not particularly interested in becoming one. No harm, no foul, not everybody wants to be a gardner, but almost everybody wants their house to look good without hiring a full-time professional landscaper.

OP:

1. Take pictures of your house: 2 corners and front-on (assume you're talking front of house; if other places, take pictures of those).
2. Know which direction your house faces. This is important. Also note any trees you have, or trees in neighboring yards, because shade/lack thereof is important.
3. Go to a GOOD garden center (home-owned, not Lowe's or even Houston Garden Center; find a good LOCAL nursery in your area. You'll pay a little more, but consider that you are paying for their advice and expertise (and their plants are usually, but not always, of better quality and have had better care).
4. Show them the pictures and get their advice. Tell them you are not interested in heavy maintenance, you are interested in looking nice with little effort.

They will help you find the right plants for your situation. As my friend crone points out, you can spend a bloody fortune on plants and plunk them in and they will promptly die because they were not right for the place you put them.

[Oskar_Z28]

Originally Posted by katydiva

I have Knock Out Roses in my backyard and while they are not really flowering right now, they survived just fine and will be back soon. They are pretty easy to maintain, i.e. no covering.

I second that. They smell nice too.

[RVD26]

Originally Posted by Malvie

All you people suggesting all these exotic things; the OP is obviously not a gardner and from what I gathered, not particularly interested in becoming one. No harm, no foul, not everybody wants to be a gardner, but almost everybody wants their house to look good without hiring a full-time professional landscaper.

OP:

1. Take pictures of your house: 2 corners and front-on (assume you're talking front of house; if other places, take pictures of those).
2. Know which direction your house faces. This is important. Also note any trees you have, or trees in neighboring yards, because shade/lack thereof is important.
3. Go to a GOOD garden center (home-owned, not Lowe's or even Houston Garden Center; find a good LOCAL nursery in your area. You'll pay a little more, but consider that you are paying for their advice and expertise (and their plants are usually, but not always, of better quality and have had better care).
4. Show them the pictures and get their advice. Tell them you are not interested in heavy maintenance, you are interested in looking nice with little effort.

They will help you find the right plants for your situation. As my friend crone points out, you can spend a bloody fortune on plants and plunk them in and they will promptly die because they were not right for the place you put them.

Thanks, Malvie. You hit it right on.
I am not looking to grow a green thumb, I just want some stuff that will look nice without me being in the yard all day.
The front of my house faces east and the backyard faces west.
I am having 2 new beds put in the backyard this weekend that will be right next to the back fence. We chose to pick the plants rather than the lawn guy.
I live in a new subdivision so there are no tall trees around.

Can you recommend a good local garden center in the Katy area?

[right]

you can't beat the classics, these are extremely easy to maintain:

indian hawthorne
red tip photinia
gardenia
liriope
crepe myrtle


also good are:
sweet olive
wax myrtle (and dwarf variety)
bottlebrush


Do not buy from Houston Garden Center. Lowes has very good suppliers and they stand by their 1 year guarantee--just hold on to the receipt and container.