Texas Native Plant Week

Posted on October 23, 2026 by Tina

To mark the 17th year of celebrating native plants of Texas each third week of October, I thought I’d profile a few of my favorites. That’s a bit of a joke, as at one time or another, I’ve designated all of the plants I grow in my garden as one of my favorite plants!

Blue Curls or Caterpillars, *Phacelia congesta*

I’m not a purest, I grow a number of plants that aren’t native to Texas and they really are some of my favorites. But Texas is a big place with a huge variety of flora and fauna and our native plants are–like all native plants everywhere–lovely, resilient, and special to this particular place on the Earth.

Rock Rose and Zexmenia, *Wedelia acapulcensis* var. *hispida*

I live in Central Texas, straddling two ecological regions: westward resides the Edwards Plateau, eastward sits the Blackland Prairie. My own garden profiles plants comfortable growing in both regions, though plants evolved in the Edwards Plateau generally need good drainage and full sun.

Left to right: Four Nerve Daisy, *Tetraneuris scaposa,* Engelmann’s Daisy, *Engelmannia peristenia,* Mexican Feathergrass, *Nassella tenuissima*

My garden’s soil is richer and deeper than in other parts of Austin, for which I’m grateful. I don’t augment my soil for trees, perennials, shrubs, or annuals: I dig, plant, sometimes toss a dab of compost over the dig site, then mulch and irrigate. From early in this gardening adventure I desired hardy plants which thrive in the native soil, with little fuss or bother.

I don’t baby any plants, but rather grow what works in my garden with minimal exertion.

I water sparingly. I don’t have a sprinkler system, but only a network of soaker hoses which “sweat” water to the root system of the plants. I hand water when I transplant, but only for the initial period of a few days or weeks, depending on the season. For established gardens, I irrigate only during the mid-to-latter part of summer. My back shady gardens receive only what nature delivers.

Gregg’s Mistflower, *Conoclinium* *dissectum*

I plant for diversity, for wildlife, and for what can survive and thrive without constant care.

Hill Country Penstemon, *Penstemon triflorus*

Mealy Blue Sage or Henry Duelberg Sage, *Salvia farinacea*

For this post, I profiled perennials and shrubs. There exists a whole world of shade trees, smaller understory trees, and annual wildflowers which deserve their own story. Perhaps another time…

I view my gardens as separate communities, each growing with different combinations and textures, and exposure to sunlight. I allow those that re-seed to have their way–to a point–but take control when plant chaos threatens. After all, native plants are survivors and they reproduce prolifically for the future!

Native grasses, left to right: Big Muhly, *Muhlenbergia lindheimeri*, Gulf Muhly, *Muhlenbergia capillaris,* Little Bluestem, Schizachyrium scoparium

I plant what I find beautiful, but also requires little effort. I plant to support critter life: birds, insects, mammals, reptiles. I plant to limit water use. I plant for what brings me joy and a sense of place. Native plants fulfill all those requirements.

Go natives!

Petal Resting

Posted on October 9, 2026 by Tina

Strolling through the garden on a recent cool morning, I spied a Southern Pink Moth, Pyrausta inornatalis, on the lower lip of a White Tropical Sage, Salvia coccinea. The moth wasn’t pollinating or fluttering, just pink and still. I walked by later and the moth was in the same position.

What a lovely place to rest, to nap, to sleep!

Cowpens!

Posted on September 24, 2026 by Tina

Not this sort of cow pen! (Though they look quite content.)

Nor this kind of cow pen–which is apparently a maternity pen. I didn’t know there was such a thing and judging from the look on this cow’s face, neither did she!

This is the kind of Cowpen I’m talking about–the flowery kind! Check out a couple of yellow daisy flowers bobbing above the grey-foliaged shrub and just in front of the yucca.

These are two Cowpen Daisy, Verbesina encelioides, plants that I popped into the ground in late May or early June. On a drippy day I walked Duke the Dog, poop bag in one hand, leash in the other and came across two seedlings tossed on the wet sidewalk in front of a neighbor’s house–where she grows scads of Cowpen Daisies. This was during the late spring/early summer rainy period, oh-so long ago. Sigh. I imagine the gardener tossed them as she weeded, maybe earlier that morning, as the seedlings looked fresh. I picked up the two abandoned plants and finished my walk with the dog-on-the-leash, the poop-bag-in-hand, and carefully cradled Cowpens.

I planted the seedlings in the front of my front garden, watered a couple of times, and promptly forgot about the garden newbies. Later in summer, I thought I’d lost them. But here they are, all grown up and ready to bloom!

Cowpen Daisies are native to a wide range of the Continental US and are an annual plant. Being annuals, they grow from seed, flower during the growing season and set seed, then die in the winter. The fallen seeds germinate in the ground during the next spring, grow, flower, and die, thus continuing the cycle. The neighborhood school is just across the street from the Cowpen house and I can attest that these wildflowers seed out prolifically–like so many other native wildflowers. The school garden now grows quite a few Cowpen Daisies without assistance from students or adult volunteers.

I have two individual plants now, but that number will at least double by next year. Many of my natives re-seed joyfully, so this doesn’t scare me, but will entail weeding out unwanted seedlings. Who knows–perhaps next year, during a rainy period, I’ll be tossing out extra seedlings and someone will pick them up for their garden!

Cowpen foliage is attractive with a nice grey-green tint and interesting serration around the edges of the leaves. Cowpens like the soil dry and the sun at its fullest. The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center indicates that Cowpens are especially important for butterflies, but what I’ve observed are a variety of native bees working these blooms.

My best guess is that this little bee is an Oil-collecting bee, or Melittidae.

These two Cowpens fit nicely in their new garden community. For now, they’re a bit overwhelmed, but once they get going with more of their kind, the pops of pretty foliage and sunny daisies will complement the native grasses and shrubs.