Flowering Plants That Survive Texas Heat

Wow. Not only could you be having culture shock moving from the Netherlands to here, but you seem to also be in "garden shock."

I would LOVE to have a garden full of the rich, colorful flowers I've seen in my travels abroad. But, alas, this is Texas and I have resigned myself to sticks and weeds. A native garden around here (meaning drought-tolerant and heat-resistant) will largely be different shades of green, with a smattering of color.
My husband has a master's degree in environmental science and has paid close attention to what grows around here and what never needs watering (and we've certainly tested this theory by never watering -- our grass is dead, but shrubs are fluorishing):

Texas sage (also called Silverado sage) is hugely popular here and will bloom all summer long into the fall (I am horribly allergic to it, so we avoid it).
Indian Hawthorne has rich green leaves with barely pink little bud-type flowers.
Crepe Myrtle provides lots of color early in the summer
Wax myrtle is another good one, but will only be green.
Mexican oregano is a nice shrub with purple flowers -- and you can cook with it! And it's evergreen.
Rosemary is nice too. It's only green, but adds texture to the garden.
Lantana is good for color and should come back every year. It's really hit or miss. We have some that survived the winter and some that didn't.
We also have a lovely little flowering plant similar to lantant called red skullcap. It has lasted 2 summers now.
Mexican Heather is also easy to care for and has purple flowers.
And we have a ground cover called "purple heart" that is good color. The whole plant is kind of eggplant colored.
It grows and grows all summer, then disappears in the winter and comes back in the spring.
My husband is also a big fan of yaupon (sp??) holly
We got a lot of great ideas from a nursery in New Braunfels called Schumaker's. Everything they have is native and/or drought tolerant/heat resistant. Granted, they get more rain further south, but we came home with a lot of new things to test in our yard.
Keep in mind that things which come back year after year in other parts of the state (or world) may only last a season here. My sister lives in south Texas and has things growing all the time that we have to re-buy and re-plant every year.
Also, one note of warning: A lot of people like to buy oleander for it's rich color, but they may not know that it's very poisonous. If you have pets or small children, you don't want this plant!!

Anyway, good luck! Happy gardening!

I'm just now learning this stuff myself but have found this website to be helpful: http://www.txsmartscape.com/index.asp

I love Pentas--they are in our front yard and have done AWESOME all of May, June, July and Aug..They are showing no signs of dying..and I bet they will last till the first frost.
They are light and dark pink and amazing. I get so many compiments on them!
When it does get cooler, I'll do what I did last year, I'll have my prrennials of Dusty miller and then plant annuals (pansies and tulips and other flowers for the winter, cooler months)
I would reccomend a book I use all the time- Dale Groom's Texas Gardening Guide.
Other perrennials for TX--Lantana is great, so is the Yarrow and Mexican Petunia. I've had lots of luck with Salvia too.
Hibicus are very Hardy too.
Other things I've had in my hard this summer that I love...are Sedum, Rosemary, Knock out Roses, burning bush, flowering quince, and Barberry. Iris and Daylilies are great too.
I love to garden, but need low maintence plants, evergreens and flowers. I have a 3 year old and a 1yr old, so as you know, all of my attention goes toward them!!
I bought a lot of my plants at Home Depot and they were well priced and the graden center was wonderful. Hope this helps! Good luck!!
Also, we don't have a sprinkler system, so we layed soker hoses on times and made sure all beds were covered with lots of Mulche---Texas Native mix mulche ( I think that is the correct name?)- it's great!!!

Any kind of bulbs. I do daylilies and mine are actually hybrids so they are huge. Other evergreen shrubs that flower nicely are Salvia (comes in blue, white, pink, red, purple, and white with red tips); Indian Hawthornes (pink and white flowers); plum delight (purple plant with pink flowers); Silverado Sage (lighter green shrub with purple flowers). The shrubs will only flower once a year except for the Salvia. The Mums will start to bloom, will die off, and come back even bigger next year. They are not the prettiest all the time until they bloom. If you want color also the Fire Power Nandina shrubs are smaller and they are green in the spring and summer, but turn dard red in the fall and winter. I could go on and on as I love to garden and change flowers out with every season. The nursery you are probablly thinking of is Calloways!

Happy Gardening!!!

Those mums will start blooming any day now since it is cooling down and will be beautiful. If there are any dead buds snip them off and that will promote growth. Be patient, keep them watered and you will be glad you did.

Check out Calloways *grin*. Their plants are all all proven to thrive in TX (with proper care of course!) and each store has at least one Certified Texas Nursery professional (aka, all members of the TNLA, TX Nursery & Landscaper's Association). They have free informational clinics every Saturday and anyone there will be more than happy to assist you with every foliage question you have!! They are very picky about the merchandise they carry so their quality is WAY above Home Depot/Lowes/Wal-Mart. As for your mums, try pinching the buds off (to encourage new growth) and fertilize them! Also, they need full sun and good drainage. You didn't say if you planted them, or they were already there...but nonetheless, stop by Calloway's, and tell them T. sent you! <wink>

Go to Lantana Garden/Nursery on FM 407 in Bartonville. The owner, Susan, will tell you exactly what to buy and she has very high-quality plants that are made for Texas.

I am in mabank tx,and so far i have no answer i moved from san diego were everything grows so good that you have to cut it back.
I am close to giving up trying to grow things that will come back the following year,i wish there was some kind of a law that if it don,t grow in this area don,t sell it.
I used to grow lantana and ecacia ,i tried lantana here but it did not make it.
I might try grow stuff under the deep shade cloth durring the summertime and it might even give enogh protection during the freeze too.
B./manank tx.