Nature and Gardening

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All things green, outdoors, and nature-y. Whether it's animals in their natural habitat, hiking trails and mountains, or planting a little garden for yourself (and everything in between), you can talk about it here.

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Landscape plant alternative to plumbago (Plumbago auriculata) (beehaw.org)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Plumbago is extremely popular as a landscape plant in my area (central Texas). It is drought tolerant and has light blue blooms pretty much all year. It tolerates light shade and generally doesn't have many issues with disease or pests.

My problem with it is that it is not native to my area. It's not even native to the same continent! As a lesser complaint, it's planted so frequently that I'd rather have something different.

As an example, one great alternative would be Texas turks cap. I already have quite a bit of that, though, so I'm looking for other options.

Any suggestions?

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Turks cap is far larger than the plumbago.

Anise hyssop is native and will get you similar height. Gregg’s Mistflower. Salvia greggii. Rock Penstemon. Plenty more options.

Check out Texas Smartscape to help you out.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

The space is pretty flexible size wise. Turks cap, Gregg's mistflower, and Salvia greggii are all happily growing in the bed already and doing well. It doesn't look like anise hysop is native to my area, unfortunately. Thanks for the Texas Smartscape recommendation, their search tool is fantastic!