10 Plants to Begin Your Wildscape

The PHP Wildscape Demonstration Garden is a teaching garden showcasing Texas native plants that support local wildlife. A “wildscape” is a landscape designed to restore wildlife habitat in our rural and urban areas. It enables everyone to directly contribute to wildlife conservation by creating habitats where we live, work and play.

The Master Naturalist volunteers, Patsy Kuentz and Evelyn Penrod, have created a list of suggested plants to get started with. These plants were chosen for their value to wildlife as well as availability in the nursery trade. They are hardy species that serve well as an introduction to planting and caring for native plants. If you start incorporating native plants into your garden, you will begin to see more wildlife, adding to the beauty of your garden.

American Beautyberry

Blooms May - July. The purple berries are loved by wildlife and landscapers. Once established, this plant needs little watering. It loves partly shady areas.

Antelope Horn Milkweed

Milkweeds are the only known host plant for Monarch and Queen butterflies. The Antelope Horn Milkweed has these lovely ball-shaped blooms from March - October.

Autumn Sage

Blooms from May - November. It is a low-growing shrub that enjoys full sun.

Crossvine

Blooms March-May. It is a great nectar source for pollinators and is great for climbing over trellises and providing shade.

Frogfruit

Blooms from May - October. This low-growing plant is an excellent groundcover. It does well in wet soils and dry soils. It is very hardy and can even tolerate being mowed.

Gregg's Mistflower

Blooms from March - November. This is a Monarch and Queen butterfly favorite. It is low growing, hardy and easy to maintain.

Texas Lantana

Look for the red-orange lantanas as those varieties are native to Texas and are beneficial to wildlife. They bloom from April to October and need very little watering once established.

Hinckley Columbine

Blooms in April and May. This yellow-flowering plant likes part-shade to shady areas and is larval host to the Columbine Duskywing.

Flame Acanthus

Blooms July - October. This shrub can grow up to 5-feet-tall and enjoys sunny spots. It is a great plant for wildlife and a larval host to the Texas Crescentspot.

Orange Zexmenia

Blooms May - November. This shrub grows to be around 3-feet-tall. It does well in full-sun and part-shade. The Bordered Patch butterflies use it as a larval host.