Lady Bird Johnson was a true lady in every sense of the word. Her work in the 1960s to make the nation’s highways more beautiful through native plantings was a true gift to all Americans. And it was the first big push toward using native plants.
The colorful part of Indian paintbrush isn’t the flower, but the bracts.
Photo Credit: Photo courtesy of Dan Morrison, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Texas bluebonnet is the showiest of all the lupines.
Photo Credit: Photo courtesy of Marian Reid, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Make sure you’re in love with the looks of Mexican hat, because it can be aggressive and crowd out other species once established.
Photo Credit: Photo courtesy of Campbell and Lynn Loughmiller, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Winecup can be planted as a groundcover.
Photo Credit: Photo courtesy of Randy Heisch, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Today, native perennials, shrubs and trees are popular across the country. In fact, every year it gets easier to find them, but many gardeners still have to visit specialty nurseries or grow plants from seed to create their own native gardens. But informational resources are expanding, and many states now have native plant databases (which you can get through your area Extension Services associated with a research university).
While the explosion in native-plant popularity would’ve made Lady Bird proud, perhaps the greatest tribute to her is the fact that so many Texas yards (and beyond) now abound with native plants! Below I’ve listed five beloved Texas native wildflowers you might want to try. (And you don’t need to live in Texas to enjoy them.) I’m sure Lady Bird would’ve approved of each and every one.
Indian paintbrush (also known as Texas paintbrush) grows wildly throughout the countryside and blooms in spring. The flashy species, Castilleja indivisa, can be found in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas. Its bracts are the showiest part – they’re orange-red – and they hide the green flower inside. The plant also has woolly gray-green leaves. And it’s a hungry one: The roots of Indian paintbrush grow right into the roots of other plants and steal their nutrients! Despite their thieving ways, hummingbirds and butterflies love this 1-foot-tall plant. If you’d like to grow it, plant Indian paintbrush in a sunny spot with slightly acidic soil, and water it moderately (which means, don’t let it get too dry, and don’t drench it every day).
The Lone Star State is home to six species of bluebonnets, but the one most people are know is Texas bluebonnet. It’s got stems with clusters of more than 50 deep-blue flowers each – which certainly make a bright and bold statement in Texas springtime landscapes! While known for their blue color, flowers can range from white to pink. These 1- to 3-foot-tall lupines grow throughout the South and into Oklahoma. The Texas beauties like full sun and calcium-rich soils, and they’ll get by in Xeric conditions. As annuals, bluebonnets reseed themselves. If you grow them, you’ll notice lots of butterflies and bees zipping about.
Firewheel (also known as Indian blanket) is a sunny, self-seeding annual. It goes by the Latin name Gaillardia pulchella, and you can find it all over Texas’ limestone prairies in spring and summer. The cheerful ray flowers are orange in the center, and the edges of the tri-cleft bracts have yellow tips. There’s also a rust-colored disk flower at the center. Petals can be solid orange or red. The plants grow 1-2 feet high, and the leaves and stems are green and hairy. Firewheel likes full sun, moderate watering until established (good drainage is important) and calcareous soil. It’s found around the US, attracting all kinds of butterflies.
Not many flowers look like sombreros, but Mexican hat (also known as prairie coneflower) does just that. The brown-yellow-tipped ray flowers of Ratibida columnifera unfurl around the brownish central disk, but you can sometimes find reddish and yellow petals, too. Mexican hat generally grows about 1-1½ feet tall, but its bare stalks can reach up to 3 feet! In the warmer parts of Texas, this neat plant blooms almost all year – from late spring to December. And you can find it almost everywhere – in fact, it’s planted all over the Lower 48. This perennial likes full sun and medium watering for growth, but it’ll tolerate drought once it’s established. It’ll also grow in a wide range of soil types, bringing in bees and butterflies from near and far.
Winecup (also known as purple poppy mallow) is a wonderfully elegant, five-petaled, pink to magenta-purple perennial. You can find Callirhoe involucrate in a number of states, from Arizona all the way to Florida. It even grows as far north as Wyoming, throughout the Midwest and eastward to Pennsylvania. This all adds up to a plant that can live in a wide range of soil conditions! Its pretty flowers open with the morning sun and close with the sunset. The stems, which have gray-green foliage, have a low, spreading habit that can form mats up to 1 foot tall. Winecup doesn’t flower until spring in its second year, but when blooms do come, they last a long time. A good drought-tolerant native, winecup prefers a sunny to partially shady spot in the garden to attract the most bees and butterflies.
So not matter where you live, consider trying native plants. One of these Texas beauties might work in your own garden – and Lady Bird Johnson would surely approve!
