Rusty Blackhaw viburnum? Supposedly nice fall color. Chaste Tree (Vitex with purple flowers). Redbud but not sure of the mature size. I think Mexican redbud would be the smallest one but very drought hardy. There's a weeping Texas redbud called Traveller but I can't find it. It looked very interesting.

I live on a corner lot with 120 feet of h@llstrip on the side. It gets old getting soaker out and leaving it there all night long slowly soaking the ground a couple times a month in the summer. I still haven't made up my mind of what i want to do with it. I can't really do the entire strip because people need to park in the street and be able to get out of the car. Lol. Maybe just along the fence. It's hard to get excited about it knowing there's large rocks in there. Time is running out though as far as getting rid of rocks. There's undeveloped lot behind backyard where I can just dump rocks when I build a new garden bed. They are building houses every day!

For the situation you describe you might want to consider a Texas Kidney Wood Tree. It's a small native with ferny leaves and graceful multi-trunked habit of growth or it can be trained to a single trunk, very fragrant flowers off and on all summer, (the scent wafts) butterflies love it, after established will live with no supplemental water, but will bloom more with it.

For anyone living in San Antonio you may notice them growing wild along the fence lines of Huebner Rd. when they are blooming.

I have two in my yard. One at the side of the house gets no supplemental water and the other in the back yard does. These mature specimens are about 14/15 ft tall.

This picture was taken about four years ago. Click on picture to enlarge.

Happy tree searching!

Here is a link that might be useful: Texas Kidney Wood Tree ...

Roselee, your garden is drop dead gorgeous.

As far as small trees go...I'm watching this thread. But I'm thinking I might go with a large shrub instead....

Kwanzaa Cherry will work in a smaller space. Blooms very pretty in spring......unless it hails, of course.

Thank you sr -- it must have rained that year. LOL!

I second chaste tree, kidney wood, also sweet almond verbena, mountain laurel or more excitingly eve's necklace, red bud. Shrubbier... bird of paradise, trumpet creeper, esperanza, plumbago or cenzio. What about some nolina or pampus grass? Or what about just a ground cover? Something that loves sun. If you want a fun outing go to the native plants guy in Medina, TX. Fun drive and fun nursery, lots of unique stuff..

I'm not sure what a h@llstrip is.

Actually h3llstrip. I am planning on putting sweet potato vine under the cyrpuses on mine.

{{gwi:38332}}

You might consider Desert Willow

Veganruthie,

Are you talking about bald cypress? How wide is that strip? I had thought about growing Nanjing Beauty in mine which is semi evergreen version of bald cypress (actually evergreen in Houston at my mom's). I'm leaning toward shantung maple because of excellent fall color but tend to grow low branches unlike cypress....

H@llstrip is that little strip of grass between the sidewalk and the street. The powerline is cramping my style! I desperately want to plant a big old tree b/c the street and sidewalk need the shade real bad.

I have to admit that Kidneywood tree caught my eye in the Grow Green booklet. Now that I've seen your pics, I'm wondering if this is related to something my dad called 'whitebrush'. My granny in Devine had a lot on a ranch she once lived on. The smell was heavenly.

Roselee you inspired me this morning. I saw your kidneywood and thought that was perfect for what I was looking for. Something that wouldn't get too big, or be too shady underneath. You inspired me so much that I went out and bought one at lunch today. I know it's a bad time to plant, but the folks at the nursery said it's pretty tough so go ahead and put it in the ground, just be sure it gets watered enough. I'll be up at sunup tomorrow planting it. It might not suffer to much in the heat, but I will!

I agree, Roselee's garden is beautiful! I really like those kidneywoods. I wonder how hard it is to find them.

Here is a pic looking out from my front door. I want to put something that will cast some shade on the left side. I could see putting in some of those kidneywoods in the lawn area on the left. I have a vision of a nice garden there!

And another pic looking West up the street. You can see the powerline overhead.

Seems rather thin strip area. I also noticed that no one else is doing anything with theirs either. I guess it has to do with being able to get out of the car when parked on the street. it is a funny thing all over Texas. In Houston where my brother just bought a house, it is REQUIRED that he keep two trees in the h@llstrip. He has sad 2 sad looking live oaks there plus 2 more in the front yard so that's 4 live oaks in small area, probably same as yours. He wants to get rid of them but the problem is that trees need to be at least 10 feet tall in the strip. Ridiculous... Who wrote that stuff? Clearly they don't have a clue. That strip is only like 3 feet wide if at all.

if I could completely get rid of bermuda 100%, i would grow blue grama in the strip. Absolutely maintenance free. It feels so soft to walk. Barely ever needs water. Maybe once a month of deep watering. Doesn't grow tall at all. prob could get by monthly mowing! I had been watching this patch at my neighborhood park and am amazed by it. Needs full sun though.

We planted our h@llstrip with lantana and salvia. There is also a Texas mountain laurel there. Don't know if they grow where you are, but it provides some shade without getting too tall and stays green all year.

Lou - Hope you had a good weekend. Is that a current photo of the grama grass? If so, it looks a lot better than Buffalo Grass right now. We are considering what to mix with Buffalo Grass. Does it really need to be mowed once a month or could it go longer?

I like mexican olive and anacho orchid tree.

debndal ~

where'd you find kidneywood around here?

~ freshair

rock oak deer,

That is the current picture that I took the other day. No idea how long you can go without mowing but they don't seem to get very tall. The park is mowed every 2 weeks and bermuda grows taller than it is but grama seems to be fuller. May need a little bit of fertilizer to thicken it up and monthly of deep watering if needed. Last year when the park was full of weeds but not in that patch. I thought it was interesting to see that.

freshair - Green Mama's had 2. One left after I bought mine.

I recommend desert willow. It's native, drought tolerant and the hummingbirds love it. If you're at all considering vitex, please see this link:

Here is a link that might be useful: City of Austin invasive species list

Native American Seed sells a "Native Sun Turfgrass
A Proven combination 34% Blue Grama and 66% Buffalograss". I had never seen blue grama before. Sounds like a winner.

Here is a link that might be useful: Grass seed

Interesting about vitex being on the invasive list......I am about 2 1/2 hours southeast of Austin and have a vitex and have never seen any sprouting anywhere around. What I do see sprouting everywhere are little baby red maples from my beautiful red maples that I have. I'm surprised MAPLES aren't on the invasive list :) Cherry laurels also sprout everywhere.

Lynn

Lou and Prairie - Thanks for the info on the turf grass.

Interesting list of invasives. Didn't know Kudzu was a problem in Central Texas. Vitex is a great plant in my yard and I see no signs it has escaped. Bermuda grass is the only invasive here.

My parents in law has vitex at their house in Marble Falls but I don't see them sprouting up anywhere. Maybe because deer get to them before they had a chance to mature? They are EVERYWHERE.

Lacebark elm seem to be invasive but no more than oak trees...

I have been growing vitex for years, and I have yet to see any signs of it being invasive anywhere here on the coastal bend. I think it might depend on where you live whether it is invasive or not. It's that fine line again regarding invasives vs. non-invasives.

When I read that in the booklet, I was very surprised. One of the Vitex alternatives has always been invasive for me and my Mom. The TX Pistachio, lol

I think our strip is like... 3' wide? There are two huge oaks in the h@llstrip across the street. The roots are pretty intense.

Roselee, the link w/ info says the Kidneywood seed pods are 'persistent'...does that mean they constantly drop? Do you have lots of seedlings? do the birds carry the seeds? just curious. thx

I have both kidneywoods. One is Eysenhardtia texana in the pea family. That is the landscape tree. The other one is Aloysia gratissima in the verbena family. That one is a large rangy shrub. I love it because it is so very fragrant. You can see pics if you google kidneywood and click on the Ladybird Johnson wildflower center entry about 3 down.