13 plants
Blackfoot Daisy
Melampodium leucanthum
A tidy mound smothered in honey-scented white daisies for most of the year.
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..
Damianita
Chrysactinia mexicana
A low evergreen cushion of fine, aromatic foliage smothered in golden daisies in spring and again in fall.
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.
Frogfruit
Phyla nodiflora
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..
Gregg's Dalea
Dalea greggii
A silvery, trailing groundcover that spills over walls and banks and dots itself with small purple flowers.
Gregg's Mistflower
Conoclinium greggii
A butterfly magnet without equal — its fuzzy blue flowers are the single best plant for pulling Queen and Monarch butterflies into a Texas garden..
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..
Pink Evening Primrose
Oenothera speciosa
The pink cups that wash over Texas fields and roadsides in spring.
Prairie Verbena
Glandularia bipinnatifida
A low, spreading mat of purple flower clusters that bloom nearly nonstop and draw butterflies constantly.
Winecup
Callirhoe involucrata
A sprawling perennial that spills chalice-shaped magenta flowers across the ground each spring.
Zexmenia
Wedelia acapulcensis var. hispida
A tough, low mound of orange-gold daisies that blooms right through the summer with no help at all.
Choosing groundcovers for Texas
These 13 species are all native to Texas and suited to this use. Because they belong to the local climate, they'll do the job with far less water and care than the non-native alternatives usually sold for it. Open any plant for full growing details, or use the finder to narrow further by sun, size, and bloom.