Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

There are lots of interesting Texas native plants that are good possibilities for your fence landscape (that you aren’t already growing). In summary, you are looking for plants that tolerate full sun and dry soil, and that are evergreen, thorn/spine-free, and only grow to be a small tree size or shorter (so they do not interfere with the overhead wires).

The first place to go to find a list of potential plants is our Native Plant Database. Use the Combination Search feature instead of Recommended Species. This will provide a bigger selection with much more choice to narrow down. The volunteers and staff at the Wildflower Center who maintain the database have partners in different regions to help with these recommended species lists based on what is easy to access in local nurseries.

Under Combination Search, select the following categories: State – Texas, Habit – All habits, Duration – Perennial, Leaf Retention – evergreen, Light Requirement – Sun, Soil Moisture – Dry, Height – 0-12 ft. You can narrow down this search further by indicating blooming time and bloom color too.

This search criterion resulted in 72 plants of which the list was further narrowed to 20 by removing the plants with spines or thorns. Follow each plant link to our webpage for that plant to learn its growing conditions, bloom time, etc. At the bottom of each plant webpage, under Additional Resources, there is a link to the USDA webpage for that plant. Take a look there for more specific details about suitability before you put them on your final planting list.

 Additionally, the list of potential plants has notations about toxic properties for you to consider. These plants have concerns for animals, pets or humans. To get more information about the toxic nature of some plants look up toxic plants of Texas at the Virtual Herbarium online at the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Plants of Texas Rangelands website.

 Suggested shrubs and trees for your fence landscape:

Acacia constricta (whitehorn acacia): look for a thornless type.

Cercocarpus montanus var. argenteus (silver mountain mahogany) – toxic properties.

Forestiera angustifolia (narrow-leaf forestiera)

Lycium berlandieri (wolfberry)

Paxistima myrsinites (myrtle boxwood)

Quercus turbinella (shrub live oak)

Rhus virens (evergreen sumac)

Sabal minor (dwarf palmetto)

Native perennials for your fence landscape:

Asclepias asperula (spider milkweed) – toxic properties.

Callirhoe involucrata (winecup)

Chrysactinia mexicana (damianita)

Coreopsis lanceolata (lanceleaf coreopsis)

Engelmannia peristenia (Engelmann’s daisy)

Hesperaloe parviflora (red yucca) – toxic properties.

Penstemon havardii (big bend beardtongue)

Manfreda maculosa (spice lily)

Scutellaria wrightii (wright’s skullcap)

Sphaeralcea lindheimeri (woolly globemallow)

Symphyotrichum ericoides (white heath aster)

Tetraneuris scaposa (four-nerved daisy)