Groundcover · Deer-resistant
Frogfruit
Phyla nodiflora
Also called: Texas Frogfruit, Turkey Tangle Fogfruit
A flat, spreading mat that takes light foot traffic and blooms with tiny pollinator flowers — the leading native lawn substitute for sun to part shade in Texas.
Growing & care
Mows fine but rarely needs it. Fills bare ground fast and chokes weeds. Water to establish, then very drought tolerant. Can spread into beds — edge if needed.
Bloom season
In bloom: Mar–Nov · Colors: white, pink
Where to buy
Look for frogfruit (Phyla nodiflora) at: native Texas nurseries, Prairie Moon Nursery.
Sources
Range, nomenclature, and the USDA symbol above come from the federal plant record for this species. Check it yourself:
Good for
Plant it with
Natives that pair with frogfruit
Same conditions, same uses — species that share frogfruit's growing requirements and belong in the same bed.
Horseherb
Calyptocarpus vialis
A soft, low groundcover that quietly replaces lawn in the shade where turf fails, threading tiny yellow flowers through its foliage for pollinators nearly year-round..
Cedar Sedge
Carex planostachys
A fine, arching native sedge that forms a soft green carpet in the dry shade beneath cedars and oaks — one of the very few things that will grow, and hold soil, there..
Blackfoot Daisy
Melampodium leucanthum
A tidy mound smothered in honey-scented white daisies for most of the year.
Four-nerve Daisy
Tetraneuris scaposa
A tidy evergreen tuft that lofts cheerful yellow daisies on wiry stems in nearly every month of the year.
Fragrant Sumac
Rhus aromatica
A low, spreading shrub that blazes orange-red in fall and holds slopes with its suckering roots.
Gregg's Dalea
Dalea greggii
A silvery, trailing groundcover that spills over walls and banks and dots itself with small purple flowers.