Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

From a distance, we can't give you a landscaping plan. It sounds like what you have is almost entirely in either part shade (2 to 6 hours of sun daily) or shade (2 hours or less of sun.) It would probably help you choose if you watch your garden for a day or two, estimating how long each area is in sun. The choices for that much shade are pretty limited, and there isn't much with prominent blooms that will do well without more sun. We will give you a list of perennial herbaceous blooming plants as well as a couple of shrubs that are evergreen, all for part shade or shade. This is going to narrow the choices down quite a lot, as most blooming plants bloom better in more sunlight; however, there are some native to Central Texas, so we'll see what we can come up with. As for where they will go and which you will use, that will have to be your decision. You can follow each plant link to our webpage on that plant, and find out when it blooms, how big it gets and what conditions it needs in terms of soil and water.

Shrubs for Part Shade or Shade in Round Rock, TX:

Ilex vomitoria (yaupon)

Morella cerifera (wax myrtle)

Perennial Blooming Plants for Part Shade or Shade in Round Rock, TX:

Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly milkweed)

Conoclinium coelestinum (blue mistflower)

Coreopsis lanceolata (lanceleaf tickseed)

Echinacea purpurea (eastern purple coneflower)

Lobelia cardinalis (cardinalflower)

Gaillardia suavis (perfumeballs)

Hibiscus martianus (heartleaf rosemallow)

Melampodium leucanthum (plains blackfoot)

Monarda fistulosa (wild bergamot)

Salvia coccinea (blood sage)

From our Native Plant Image Gallery:

Asclepias tuberosa

Conoclinium coelestinum

Coreopsis lanceolata

Echinacea purpurea

Lobelia cardinalis

Gaillardia suavis

Hibiscus martianus

Melampodium leucanthum

Monarda fistulosa

Salvia coccinea

Ilex vomitoria

Morella cerifera