I can speak from experience with the Texas Star Hibiscus and Mexican Honeysuckle.

I had a couple of white TX Star Hibiscus that I gave away to my in laws because my wife wasn't a big fan of them. They do get a bit scraggly late in the season. That said, I dug them up and put them in plastic grocery bags for them to take home. They didn't get around to planting them for a couple of months and they started sprouting right in the bag. That's how resilient they are.

The MX Honeysuckle is extremely slow to establish. I planted three last spring and they didn't put on any new growth until late in the season. With the hard freeze this winter, they died back to the roots. All three have returned and are about a foot high, at most. I'm going to be patient with them as there's some large specimens in the neighborhood.

I'm in Austin, so your mileage may vary up in DFW.

Ah, puppy damage! We've moved everything fragile from the back yard and caged what really needs to stay there, same as you do. Ours just run right over plants and thankfully don't chew them.

Your plants look marvelous though. Does the Baptisia require much sun?

Cage the plants and let the dogs run free! Love it!

Thanks to their cages the little plants are looking good as well as being safe. I'll be watching for when they outgrow their cages and can really show their stuff.

I've also noted that Mexican honeysuckle can be slow to start, but once it reaches a certain size it seems to take off and form a big clump.

They seem to like a clay based humous over caliche/limey soil. They LOVED my intown location but have struggled out where I am now in the limestone/caliche.

Bressler, Thanks for confirming the Mexican honeysuckle is a slow starter. Had no idea and didn't want to leave it languishing for another year if poor placement was the cause. They're not seen growing or sold around Dallas much, so suspect it may be marginal during the worst of our cold/wet/clay combinations.

Puppy definitely killed a smaller Texas star hibiscus by pulling the root ball out of the ground after a rain. I didn't find it in her hiding spot until after it was too torn up and dried out to replant. She also chewed the stems off of a larger one and it is showing no signs of life yet:

Pkponder, Puppy is actually pretty good about not chewing most things she shouldn't. She'll most often grab something just fallen out of a tree or that I've recently pruned off. However, she cannot seem to resist tall thin stems like hibiscus... so good chance she would also go after the pond cypress if able. Am pretty certain this chewing phase will pass, then we too will be left with just the occasional "impact damage".

Baptisia seems to do okay in partial shade, but does appear to do better with 5+ hours of sun. Most likely reason ours had stayed so small was the adjacent Turk's caps had gotten so large I had trouble keeping them from shading the Baptisia from late June until first freeze.

Roselee, Will look forward to Mexican honeysuckle eventually taking off if it proves to be root hardy this far north. It's funny to watch how the puppy can make her older, and usually sedate, dog visitors so rambunctious. A year, two maybe, before this winds down and then we MIGHT even miss it. Here she is with a piece of mulberry root retrieved from the compost pile for chewing..... a cage for the compost is in the works ;-)

Mara, Our soil sounds more like your intown lot - was it on the Blackland Prairie side?

What a beautiful dog! Looks like a chocolate lab (mix?) with one blue eye and one hazel and she likes sticks! Thanks for the photo. We dog lovers were wondering what kind of dog you are protecting the plants from.

She is a beauty!

Yes, mom was a chocolate lab and she gets the eyes and ears from dad, a husky. Not quite fully grown at 7 months, but has lost much of the puppy look - though only a bit of the behavior.

It was right on the edge west of the Shoal creek ( Balcones uplift) line but it was in the cut bank of the Colorado river in a deep bank of clay and cobble that had been improved for 100 years . So it had more in common with the blackland prairie than Edwards Plateau. DEEP SOIL. Fertile. The Mexican Honeysuckle loved it. I got it from an old old lady neighbor and she had had the clump for over 40 years.

I like your puppy- she's adorable. Lab coat and husky eyes- cool combo.

Lisa

Roselee, Hah... so true. Our activity trackers have certainly been registering a lot more steps since she joined the family in December. That bug the quadrivalent shots missed this year is a bad one. First time in my life I called on an MD for flu when it found me in late January. So glad you are now on the better side of it.

Great photo essay. Looking forward to progress reports on Slender Silhoutte sweetgum. Have never seen one IRL til now.