Exciting Evergreens for the Southern Plains

Evergreens are crucial to attain wide-ranging grain and form , as well as the tonality to any successful four - season garden . alas , many gardeners would put a mass of evergreens in the “ necessary but boring ” category . They are a backcloth , the much - needed greenery during dusty months , but never the garden star that steals the show .

The plants below might just change your judgment about the humble evergreen . These foliation all - wiz can be called anything but tedious . From beautiful blooms to colorful foliage and tonic of hopeful berries , all of these evergreens have that little something extra .

1. Carolina Yellow Jasmine

Gelsemium sempervirens

Zones:7–9

Size : Climbing to 10 to 20 foot marvellous and 3 to 6 groundwork blanket

Conditions : Full sun to partial shade ; dampish soil

This unfearing , lustrous vine keep its leaves all through wintertime , have it an fantabulous viewing plant when mature on a fence or trellis . It produces an teemingness of fragrant yellow flowers in spring and will bloom slightly more meagerly almost year - rotund . While Carolina yellow jasmine is very hardy and fast - growing , it ’s not as hard to control as some other vine and will even bloom in fond sun ( although not as profusely ) . It ’s an excellent nectar source for butterfly and hummingbirds and shows eminent deer underground . All part of the plant are toxicant to mankind and farm animal if corrode .

2. Lindheimer’s Silktassel

Garrya ovatassp.lindheimeri

Zones:8–11

Size:6 to 12 feet marvelous and wide

condition : Partial tad ; well - drain soil

This thick , evergreen plant bush can be a suitable replacement for nonnative privet ( Ligustrumspp . , Zones 5–9 ) mintage when implant as an understory bush . Lindheimer ’s silktassel has thick , woolly leaves , and the manlike industrial plant bear flowers that are light-green and silky . The female plants produce clustering of dark regal berries that are beloved by razz . Although it can be a bit picky about its need for well - drained soil , it is extremely drought- and disease - tolerant , making it a valuable evergreen plant bush for foot plantings or privacy screenland .

3. Texas Mountain Laurel

Sophora secundiflora

Size:15 to 20 feet tall and 10 to 15 feet panoptic

Conditions : Full sun to fond tad ; dry , well - drain soil

Texas mountain bay wreath ’s clustering of fragrant purple flowers are a harbinger of spring ’s comer in its aboriginal range . This small Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree continue its lustrous , dark leave all wintertime and start out bloom in February , produce a knock-down aroma much like grape confect . The lustrous carmine seminal fluid have a foresightful and colourful history with humans ( they are beautiful and also very toxicant ) . Texas tidy sum Stan Laurel thrives in well - drained and even poor and rocky soils , and it is superbly drought - tolerant . Like many Tree that are aboriginal to poor dirt , it is a slow agriculturist , but its spring show makes it deserving the waiting .

4. Wax Myrtle

Morella cerifera

Zones:7–10

Size:10 to 15 feet tall and 8 to 10 base wide

I can not take the air past a wax myrtle and not crush a folio or two in my hand , free its redolent , somewhat medicative scent . Colonists even used its waxy fruits to make fragrant candles . This largish bush induce an first-class screen , as it is evergreen and bear leaves all along its height . It needs to be water faithfully while getting establish , but it is drouth - large-minded thereafter . Wax Vinca minor ’s aboriginal habitat is moist woods and stream banks , so it does well in damp loam and clays as well . Do n’t grate if your soils are not the Great Compromiser , though , because wax Vinca minor is adaptable to a jolly wide range of soils .

Karen Beaty is a horticulturist for the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin , Texas .

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Lindheimers Silktassel

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Carolina Yellow Jasmine