Tall Coneflower
I often refer to this season as our second spring, fall flowering plants expressing brilliant colors before a short winters rest. As you explore your local horizon, you may see broad bands of pink or yellow appearing as a sheen across pastures and coastal prairies. Closer inspection reveals a striking brilliance of species like Goldenrod (Solidago sp.), 4-foot-tall sun yellow wands that gracefully bow in the wind. Fall is its season to shine, indicating cooler weather is on the rise. You may notice other yellow-flowering plants such as 3-feet tall coneflower (Rudbeckia sp.); what looks like one single flower are uniform ray petals surrounding a brown, cone-shaped structure made of hundreds of individual complete flowers.
Benefits for using native and appropriate non-native plants in the home garden include resource conservation (less water, limited fertilization) and food for wildlife (nectar, pollen). There are quite a number of native plant species and hybrids appropriate to enhance your home landscape and come in all shapes and sizes. For vining plants try Crossvine (Bigononia capreolata), a vigorous evergreen growing to 50-feet and producing large 2-inch orange trumpet-shaped flowers fading to a golden throat. The vine blooms on new growth in full sun from end of March through May and intermittent through summer, prolific and beautiful as a backdrop tied to a trellis and running along a fence, or gracefully cascading over an arbor. Explore Coral honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens), delicate 2-inch-long tube-shaped flowers that bloom through early summer. Both vining plants attract hummingbirds and Crossvine appears to also be a favorite of bees.
American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) is a deciduous shrub with graceful arching stems that will tolerate occasional saturated soils. Individual shrubs can reach 5-feet tall and wide, and the payoff are clusters of magenta berries clasping in bunches about 6 to 7-inches apart along outward facing stems in late summer through fall. The shrub can be grown in the understory, and I always make sure to place it in my landscape with dappled shade exposure. For full sun and well-draining and dry soil, you may try Barbados cherry (Malpighia glabra), a native shrub that has the potential to reach 6-feet tall. It offers petite wrinkled leaves and produces clusters of small flowers across the surface of its canopy. This shrub is semi-evergreen, meaning it has the potential to retain leaves in milder climates. The shrub will tolerate shearing and formal pruning to form a dense hedge for ornament or privacy. I have seen the top of a Barbados cherry hedge shimmer with dozens of tiny pink flowers.
Turk’s Cap
Finally, Turk’s Cap (Malvaviscus arboreus var. drummondii) is a shade tolerant and airy woody sub-shrub of our forested areas, with arching single stems that reach 4-foot tall. Unique turban-shaped and brilliant red flowers are produced in spring and again in fall, emerging as a resource for migrating hummingbirds. Texas A&M AgriLife Texas Superstar® program promotes Turk’s Cap cultivars ‘Pam Puryear’ with soft pink flowers and variegated ‘Fiesta’ with yellow and white splotched leaves. We can continue to nurture our connection to our natural world through use of native and appropriate non-native plants in our gardens. To find out more about the Texas Superstar® program, visit online: https://texassuperstar.com. Enjoy the beauty of Fall in Texas, and I’ll see you in the garden.
