I believe those plants all love sun and really good drainage. Happy planting! Skullcaps were always slow growing for me, and eventually got replaced by country girl mums in my bed.

Thanks quarzon, I added some coarse sand and decomposed granite to the area that I'll plant them in and I consider that area the xeric part of my yard since I hardly water it and it's in full sun. I guess I'll have to be patient with the skullcap because it's a small scrawny plant. I was thinking of planting the snake herb in a slightly raised bed but it would still be in clay soil, so maybe I should rethink that one?

Sand really isnt a good additive in my opinion. Try peat moss and compost instead. There are a lot of opinions on gardening medium though. And always mulch.

I would plant the snake herb in the raised clay. A lot of gardening is figuring out what doesnt work, do dont get discouraged if it doesnt thrive.

Also, skullcaps are brittle and easily damaged when they are young.

I was also going to recomend trying to propogate cuttings of plants you enjoy. Its an easy way to try new plants without spending much money. Go on youtube if you need instructions. Downside is that it can take 2 or 3 years before the plant gets to a decent enough size, so there isnt any instant gratification.

Rohde's is great - we've gotten a bunch of plants on our wish list from them.

We took a chance with snake herb under a Chinese pistache because we heard it might do okay with partial sun, but it didn't like the amount of shade (or competition?) and languished away over a couple seasons. Am going to move the one scrawny survivor to a sunnier spot where am pretty certain it will do well. Know others have had good results with it in north Texas.

Quarzon you're right it will be a learning process but I hope I'm successful. I guess I should have gotten some pine bark fines to break up the clay instead of sand? Once they start growing, I could start more from cuttings. I'll also be careful removing the skullcap because it's so scrawny.

Bostedo thanks for telling me that about snake herb, I'll be sure to give it as much sun as possible. I hope your line survivor recovers and multiplies? I now know where to go for harder to find native plants.

Snake herb likes full sun, but it is a very easy grower in different soil types. I grow it in poor caliche soil and it thrives on just rainfall. Plan for it to spread- it's a nice bloomer during the heat of summer.

I'm glad it's an easy grower because some plants I don't have luck with. I planted it in the slightly raised bed and I put some decomposed granite around it as a mulch. The spot where I planted it doesn't have many plants nearby so I hope it will fill that area?

Thanks for posting those pictures roselee. Did the snake herb take a long time to fill in that area? I hope my skullcap will reseed because I wouldn't mind more of it. I planted the skullcap in a bed with agave, Blackfoot daisies, and the four nerve daisy. I'm hoping each plant thrives. I'll have to take pictures of the plants and areas tomorrow for everyone. I really like how you incorporated the rocks near your skullcap.

Blackwillow, The Wright's skullcap seems very nice - looking forward to hearing how it does for you in DFW. I goofed up in placing of our snake herb where I thought it would get 4+ hours of sunlight all year, but wound up getting 2 hours or less by mid-summer. Good to see from Roselee that half a day is enough for it to thrive.

Snake herb was fairly slow to fill in for me. I think I planted it about three or four years ago.

Bostedo I hope I'm successful because growing plants that need excellent drainage is a new concept for me. I think the area where I planted the snake herb gets some late afternoon shade thanks to my neighbors red tip shrub.

Roselee I'll just have to be patient with the snake herb. Even though it's a small plant, I can see some of the blooms from a distance.

Sorry for the delay, I had to wait until it stopped raining. Here's a picture of the newly planted snake herb.

The Xeric part of my garden with the newly planted skullcap and four nerve daisy.