Gardening 101: Shrubs and small trees
NORTH TEXAS (CBSNewsTexas.com) - Over the last three years, the weather in North Texas should be charged with a crime.
First, we got the coldest three days in our history, down to -2° in February 2021. Then in the summer of 2022, we get one of the hottest, driest summers on record. In December of that year, before all our plants had gone fully dormant, we had two nights in the teens.
Then there was this summer, one of the hottest and driest on record.
The toll this has taken on North Texas landscapes is well documented. Many trees, shrubs and perennials have limped through the last couple of years, others just gave up.
If this last summer was the final blow on some of your trees or shrubs, you might be looking to replace them.
The Wax Myrtle is a good choice.
You can leave it in its natural shrub form or shape it into a tree form. These trees are extremely tough, they grow from the East Coast to Texas. They are also very drought-hardy once established and put out a nice bloom in the late Spring. The females produce a berry that birds love.
There are several kinds of Texas Sage to choose from.
The native Texas Sage is a good stand-alone plant, it'll get a little "wild" looking at six feet tall. They have bred more compact, fuller versions including the very popular silver leaf variety. The best thing about a Sage is that during the hot summer if a good rain arrives, the shrub will put out a flush of purple flowers. Two reasons to welcome a summer rain!
The Desert Willow is one of my new favorites.
Much of this is due to the changing climate. Hot and dry summers (more intense heat, longer dry spells) are likely in the decades to come.
The Desert Willow comes from the desert to the west, it'll survive the heat and drought once established. It also has willowy growth; it makes room for a landscape below at its feet.
These three suggestions have toughness as a common bond. If our weather continues to show criminal intent towards our plants, we better start putting in tougher plants.
Jeff Ray is the senior First Alert Meteorologist at CBS News Texas and an avid gardener. When not covering the weather, he is finding stories about Gardening in North Texas. If you would like Jeff to come talk to your group about how changing weather patterns are changing the way we garden in this area, please email a request to jaray@viacomcbs.com.