Rudbeckia hirta
Depending on growing conditions, this species may act as an annual, biennial or as a short-lived perennial. Bright-yellow, 2-3 in. wide, daisy-like flowers with dark centers are its claim-to-fame. They occur singly atop 1-2+ ft. stems. The stems and scattered, oval leaves are covered with bristly hairs. Coarse, rough-stemmed plant with daisy-like flower heads made […]
Rhus virens
Evergreen sumac is a shrub or small tree, from 6-10 ft. in height with spreading branches. Its shiny, evergreen, pinnate foliage is tinged with pink in early spring and maroon after frost. Leaves are alternate, 2-5 1/2 inches long, with 5-9 fleshy leaflets on stiff stems. The 5-petaled, inconspicuous, greenish or white flowers grow in […]
Rhus lanceolata
Prairie Flameleaf Sumac is a thicket-forming, small, deciduous tree to 30 ft. in height, but usually no taller than 20 ft. Pyramidal panicles of red, fall fruit follow white, summer blossoms. Pinnately-compound foliage becomes vivid red or orange in fall. Native from southern Oklahoma through north, central, and west Texas to New Mexico and south […]
Rhus glabra
The colony-forming smooth sumac is a 10-20 ft. shrub with short, crooked, leaning trunks and picturesque branches. The pinnately compound leaves are alternate, with 13-30 sharp-toothed leaflets on each side of the midrib. Deciduous leaves become extremely colorful in early fall. On female plants, yellow-green flowers are followed by bright-red, hairy berries in erect, pyramidal […]
Rhus aromatica
Fragrant sumac is an irregular, spreading, deciduous shrub, 6-12 ft. tall, with velvety twigs and lower branches turned up at the tips. Glossy, somewhat blue-green, coarsely toothed, trifoliate leaves turn orange, red, purple and yellow in the fall. Yellowish catkin-like flowers precede dark-red berries which persist into March. A sprawling, small to medium-size shrub with […]
Quercus fusiformis
Plateau oak or Escarpment live oak is a thicket-forming shrub or large, spreading tree that is nearly identical in appearance to, and considered much hardier than, Q. virginiana. A short, tapering trunk supports picturesquely gnarled branches and limbs that over time will spread horizontally a great distance from the main trunk. It can reach a […]
Prunus mexicana
Bigtree or Mexican plum is a single-trunked, non-suckering tree, 10-35 ft. tall, with fragrant, showy, white flowers displayed before the leaves appear. Mature trunks become satiny, blue-gray with darker, horizontal striations. Leaves up to 5 inches long and 2 inches wide, ovate to narrower with serrate margins; minute glands on the petiole near the base […]
Schizachyrium scoparium
Little Bluestem is a very ornamental bunchgrass with fine-textured foliage that forms very dense mounds 18-24 inches tall. Slender blue-green stems often reach 5 feet, or more, by September, and become radiant mahogany-red with white, shining seed tufts in the fall. Color remains nearly all winter. Perennial clumps grow up to a foot in diameter.This […]
Senna lindheimeriana
Velvet-leaf wild sensitive-plant or Lindheimer’s senna is a bushy perennial, 3-6 ft. high. Its yellow, 1 1/2 in. flowers are borne in terminal or upper axillary, spike-like racemes. The 5 oval petals are crimped at the edges. The compound leaves have 4-8 pairs of leaflets that are oval, sometimes pointed, and covered with soft hairs […]
Senna roemeriana
This attractive perennial maintains a neat mound shape and grows 1-2 ft. tall. Its showy, yellow, pea-like flowers occur in upper axillary clusters. The leaves are long-stalked and uniquely divided into two leaflets about 1 1/2 inches long.Named for Ferdinand Roemer, a German geologist who collected specimens in the New Braunfels, Texas, area from 1845-47