About
A practical guide to Texas native plants
Native Garden Guide helps Texas gardeners choose native plants for the spot they actually have, whether that's full sun on Blackland clay, dry shade under live oaks, or a lawn they'd like to stop watering, and then keep those plants alive.
Why it exists
The best native plant information in Texas is scattered across botanical databases, extension fact sheets and society newsletters. Those are excellent sources, but most are written to describe a species, not to answer a gardener's question: will this take my shade, when do I cut it back, will the deer eat it? This site collects those answers in one place, plant by plant, and links back to where each fact came from.
What's here
- 61 full plant guides covering planting, first-year watering, seasonal care, common problems and wildlife value.
- 6 in-depth guides for hard situations such as clay soil, shade and replacing a lawn.
- Plant lists by need: deer-resistant, drought-tolerant, hummingbird plants and more.
- Tools: a plant finder and a lawn-replacement calculator.
Who runs it
Native Garden Guide is an independent, one-person project. It isn't owned by a nursery or a seed company, it carries no paid placements, and it has no affiliate links. Nobody pays to have a plant recommended here.
How pages are researched
Plant names and native ranges come from the public-domain USDA PLANTS Database. Growing details are checked against the Native Plant Society of Texas, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Texas A&M AgriLife and other extension sources. Drafts are written with help from AI tools and then checked against those sources before they go live. The full process, including how conflicting sources are handled, is on the editorial standards page.
Our commitments
- Nursery-propagated natives only. We never encourage collecting plants from the wild.
- Every plant guide cites its sources and shows when it was last updated.
- "Native" means native to Texas, with the regions where each plant does and doesn't do well.