Tough Plants

All these plants are pretty tough. You won’t have to worry about insects with them.

Cast iron plant

• Wants dry shade (in fact, it’s perfect for that dark shady spot where nothing else will grow)
• When leaves start to look battered or brownish, cut them to the ground
• Evergreen, but cut back in spring to encourage new growth
• Works indoors too

Flame acanthus (Anisacanthus wrightii)

• Drought tolerant, doesn’t need a rich soil
• Deer don’t like it
• Hummingbirds love the orange tubular flowers
• Can be a bit invasive; just cut several times a year to control seeding
• Will freeze back in winter; just cut it down and it comes back in spring
• Likes sun but will accept some shade or partial day shade

Bulbine

• Yellow and orange flowering versions
• Blooms about all year long
• When they get crowded, thin them and replant
• They don’t mind drought or lots of rain
• Sun to part shade

Society garlic

• There’s a variegated form along with the green one
• Edible flowers
• Works well for narrow spaces in sun or shade
• Nice upright texture against other plants

Frogfruit

• Texas native groundcover
• Butterfly attractant
• Member of verbena family; it trails all the ground
• You can mow it or walk on it
• Sun or shade, wet or dry
• Grows easily from cuttings

Zexmenia

• Loves the heat
• Blooms all summer; yellow daisy like flowers attract butterflies, bees
• Grayish green leaves
• Easily seeds out and can become invasive
• Prune now and then to keep it full and promote more flowering
• Perennial, but freezes back in winter, quickly returns in spring

Foxtail fern

• Grows in wet or dry, sun or shade
• Lovely texture, bright green color
• May have some freeze damage; just cut back damage and it will re-grow
• Wonderful in containers and for patios or small balconies; also good in the perennial garden
• Stunning container plant (or ground plant) where nothing else will grow