Native Plants

Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?

A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.

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Sunday - April 04, 2010

From: Kyle, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Trees
Title: Native trees that will thrive in Amarillo, TX
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

I need help in finding native Texas trees that will do well in Amarillo's low water and extreme temps.

ANSWER:

The good thing about choosing plants native to the area in which they are being grown is that they are already acclimated to the climatic conditions, temperatures, soils, rainfall, etc. by millions of years of experience and adaptation. Plants native not only to North America but to the area in which those plants are being grown are the only ones that will be recommended by the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. We will go to Recommended Species, click on the Texas High Plains section of the Texas map, and narrow our search by selecting on "trees" under GENERAL APPEARANCE, and then click on "Narrow Your Search." You can use the same procedure to find shrubs or herbs (herbaceous blooming flowers), cacti or grasses and to specify the amount of sun that is available. We will check each tree we select with the USDA Plant Profile on that tree to make sure it will, indeed, do well in the northwest corner of the Texas Panhandle. We found 7 trees which grow in or near Potter County. Follow each plant link to our webpage on that individual plant for more information. At the bottom of that page, there is a Google link to articles on that tree on the Internet.

Native Texas Trees for Amarillo:

Juniperus virginiana (eastern redcedar)

Populus deltoides ssp. monilifera (plains cottonwood)

Prosopis glandulosa (honey mesquite)

Prunus virginiana (chokecherry)

Quercus mohriana (Mohr oak)

Salix amygdaloides (peachleaf willow) - pictures from Google

Sapindus saponaria var. drummondii (western soapberry)

From our Native Plant Image Gallery: