Salvia farinacea
This 2-3 ft. upright or sprawling perennial, usually forms a mound as wide as the plant is tall. Mealy Sage is named for the mealy-white (sometimes purple) appearance of the sepals, which are covered with felted hairs. The blue flowers are 5-lobed and 2-lipped, 2/3-3/4 inch long, with 2 stamens and 1 pistil. They have […]
Salvia engelmannii
Engelmanns Sage is a 1-1 1/2 ft compact mound of velvety, narrow leaves and showy flower spikes. Pale lavender to pale blue, tubular flowers occur on 4-6 in. spikes. The species of this plant is named for George Engelmann (1809-1884) who was born in Germany and settled in St. Louis, Missouri, as a young man. […]
Ungnadia speciosa
Mexican-buckeye, an 8-12 ft., deciduous tree, can reach 30 ft. in height. It is often multi-trunked with with light gray to brown bark, smooth on young branches, becoming fissured with age. Leaves up to 12 inches long, with a central axis supporting 2 to 6 paired leaflets and a terminal one; leaflets up to 5 […]
Sophora secundiflora
Mescal bean or Texas mountain laurel is an evergreen, usually multi-trunked shrub or small tree ranging from just a few feet tall to more than 30 ft. in height, though its usual height at maturity is 10-15 ft. The dense, dark green, and glossy compound leaves are composed of 7-9 shiny, leathery leaflets that are […]
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
Vernonia lindheimeri
Woolly ironweed is a 10-30 in. high clump of gray-woolly stems and leaves. Flowers lack petals, but numerous lavender to purple disc flowers are arranged in showy, terminal clusters.Not a rampant colonizer like some other members of this genus. Well behaved species.This species is named after Ferdinand Jacob Lindheimer (1801-1879) who is often called the […]
Vernonia baldwinii
Western ironweed’s 3-5 ft. stems occur singly or in clumps, and are stout and hairy. Wide clusters of vibrant, red-violet flowers form at the ends of short branches near the top of the plant. Because the flowers are all of the disc variety, the 6 in. wide flower cluster has a fuzzy appearance. Long, lance-shaped […]
Phacelia congesta
Caterpillars or blue curls is a leafy annual or biennial which grows 1-3 ft. tall. Its purple to lavender-blue, bell-shaped flowers, deeply lobed at the rim, have conspicuously protruding stamens. The flowers are numerous, in slender, coiled clusters which uncurl as the buds develop. Leaves are soft and deeply cut, appearing ragged-looking. The plant is […]
Nolina texana
Texas Bear-grass is a 1 1/2-2 1/2 ft. perennial with large, woody, basal stems growing in a clump. Leaves evergreen, firm textured, long, thin, up to 4 feet long by 3/16 inch wide, forming a thick clump. The roundish leaves often have tiny widely-spaced teeth along portions of the margins. Flowers small, usually white to […]
Panicum virgatum
Clump-forming, warm-season grass with open, lacy sprays with small seeds, Aug-Oct. Purple stigmas at flowering time. Switchgrass is a 3-10 ft., rhizomatous, loose sod former with a large, open, finely textured, reddish-purple seedhead. Fall color is pale yellow. Bright green leaves occur up and down the stem, turning bright yellow in fall. Switchgrass is a […]