Neil Sperry 
Choose durable plants to withstand North Texas' brutal, dry summers
Previous Columns
Neil Sperry
- Here's the lawn and short of choosing the right turf
- Watch out for these four landscape problems
- Taking cover
- Plants are thirsty for attention at this time
- Plant it cool
- Going pro? How to find a landscape designer.
- These climbers will show you a vine time
- All-nitrogen fertilizers not all created equal
- Are your (fill in the blank) troubling you? Rest easier.
- Picking the right plants for the ever-shrinking city yard is essential
Texas landscaping does have its challenges. Summer heat is one of the biggest, so it’s the wise gardener who chooses the most durable plants. Let’s examine your options.
Shade trees
Choose types that are either native or adapt perfectly. Avoid the fast-growing types, since they will fade in the heat.
The best big shade trees for Tarrant County and the rest of North Texas include live oaks, Shumard red oaks, bur oaks, chinquapin oaks, Chinese pistachios, cedar elms and pecans. If you’re looking for something smaller but you don’t want to give up much in durability, look for Lacey oaks, redbuds and Mexican plums.
For small trees or large shrubs, some of the best include vitex (lilac chaste tree), Texas mountain laurels, crape myrtles, yaupon hollies and 'Warren’s Red’ possumhaw hollies.
Shrubs
Try hollies, including dwarf forms of Chinese, yaupon and Burford, Carissa, Willowleaf and Nellie R. Stevens, among others. You should also consider nandinas in their various forms, junipers, elaeagnus, Italian jasmine and abelias.
Groundcovers and turf
Groundcovers often succumb to the heat faster than other landscape plants. That’s partly because they’re growing close to the ground, where hot air accumulates. The best candidates include Asian jasmine, purple wintercreeper euonymus and trailing junipers.
Bermuda is our most drought- and heat-tolerant turf. These lawns will need just a little more moisture, however, if they’re going to look like real lawn grasses. If you’re trying to conserve water in your landscape, use St. Augustine only where it is too shady for the Bermuda to survive.
Landscaping plants
You can still have landscaping color in the face of hot, dry weather, but it is more challenging. The most summer-tolerant annuals we have are tropical hibiscus, small-flowering zinnia hybrids, copper plants, firebush, trailing lantanas, purple fountain grass, dahlberg daisies, moss rose and hybrid purslane.
There are things you can do to help them get through the tough times. Use drip irrigation. This method of watering plants very slowly also means little or no loss to evaporation. You’ll be able to apply water specifically to those most critical areas, saving water and money.
Mulch your plants generously. Not only will that keep the soil from heating so quickly, but it will also reduce the soil-to-air contact, so there will be less drying wind across the moist earth. Mulches also retard weed growth.
And watch closely for signs of insects and diseases. Plants that are under stress become more susceptible.
