Rob's plants
home garden plants wildlife seed photos
plant sale journal topics plantlinks fun guestbook

The left fence border

 

Houston left fence border April 2020
Left fence border in April 2020, dominated by our huisache tree

Along all of the length of the fence between our home and the neighbors to our left runs our unimaginatively named left fence border. At the front end, it swings around for just a few feet to also buffer the front-facing fence – that section is called (you guessed it) the front fence border, but it is too small to warrant its own page, so is included here. The border completes (or starts, depending on your point of view) the line of garden that separates our ugly bermudagrass lawn from the functional fence that hems us in. The line separating the border from the yard swerves around a bit, giving the plantable area a maximum depth of about seven feet at the point where we planted our Texas persimmon, and down to about three feet at the narrowest. I'm sure that line will change through the years (it already has a few times), as my plant lust gets the better of me and I need more space. Virginia pine

The border will eventually be defined primarily by its trees. We planted several, all still fairly small. Near the front fence is a Virginia pine that we purchased as a winter house plant. It should do OK here, so I gave it a home outside when it had served its purpose indoors. It stayed quite small for a few years, but then entered a growth spurt and is starting to look like a tree now. Its mature size is almost certainly too large for the space it's in, but that's for later worry. Texas mountain laurel

Next in line to the right, just behind our seedling nursery area, is in the lawn area just outside of the border, is a Texas mountain laurel, grown from seed I collected from the campus of Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio; it bloomed as a three-year-old plant, and should continue to grow into a small tree. Hercules club

Continuing along the line, there's a Hercules club, a thorny native with wildlife benefits, and also a sizeable tree at maturity; followed by a showy senna (also a butterfly benefactor). Texas persimmon

The middle of the border is reserved for the Texas persimmon, a small tree that I admired when visiting Mercer Arboretum in Houston and tracked down at a local native nursery. We hoped it would eventually produce fruit, but later found out ours is a male specimen, so no such luck. huisache

Further to the right follows a huisache, a ferny-leaved acacia tree that should give us yellow puffballs to admire in early spring. fig tree The border is rounded out by two fig trees in the back corner that were among the earliest plantings in our brand-new garden. The Celeste and Brown Turkey varieties have been finnicky, giving us a nice harvest some years and barely any fruit to snack on in others – but they're always nice to look at as they leaf out in spring.

In between all these trees and shrubs are many herbaceous plants and smaller shrubs (some of which die back to the ground when we have harder freezes). Among the more notable are a blue butterfly clerodendrum that fights for space with a 'Big Momma' Turk's cap, a Texas sage, many rain lilies, and a variety of lower-growing plants that can handle some drought in the left end of the border.

This expanse is also home to several sections where I have established well-draining soil raised above the lawn level to grow on the various seedlings I start every winter. For the most part, seedlings live there for a year, to be moved the next spring to a permanent spot in the garden (or, for extras, to be offered in my occasional plant sales).

Currently growing in our left fence border

Acaciella angustissima (white ball acacia; fern acacia; prairie wattle)
Agave gracilipes (slimfoot century plant)
Agave ovatifolia (whale's tongue agave)
Anisacanthus quadrifidus var. wrightii (flame acanthus,hummingbird bush, Wright's desert honeysuckle)
Argemone mexicana (Mexican prickly poppy)
Bauhinia mexicana (Mexican orchid tree)
Caesalpinia mexicana (Mexican bird of paradise)
Calliandra emarginata (dwarf red powderpuff)
Callirhoe papaver (woodland poppy mallow)
Chamaecrista fasciculata (partridge pea)
Clerodendrum wallichii (nodding clerodendrum)
Clethra pringlei (Mexican clethra)
Combretum indicum (Rangoon creeper; Chinese honeysuckle)
Cuphea viscosissima (blue waxweed)
Dasylirion wheeleri (sotol; desert spoon)
Diospyros texana (Texas persimmon; black persimmon)
Echeandia texensis 'Loma del Potrero Cercado' (Texas crag lily)
Ficus carica (fig)
Freesia laxa 'Joan Evans'
Gladiolus tristis (sword lilyl; marsh Afrikaner)
Habranthus tubispathus (copper lily)
Hesperaloe parviflora (red yucca)
Hibiscus coccineus (scarlet rose mallow)
Hippeastrum hybrids (amaryllis)
Lagerstroemia 'Midnight Magic' ('PIILAG-V') (crape myrtle)
Leucophyllum frutescens 'Greado' (Texas sage; cenizo)
Lilium formosanum (formosa lily)
Liriope muscari (lilyturf)
Malvaviscus x 'Big Momma' (Turk's cap; wax mallow)
Manfreda maculosa (deciduous agave)
Melochia tomentosa
Nolina texana (bear grass, sacahuista)
Oxalis brasiliensis (Brazilian oxalis)
Prospero autumnale (autumn squill)
Rosa 'Speedy Gonzalez' (climbing rose)
Rotheca myricoides (blue butterfly)
Salvia coccinea (scarlet sage)
Salvia roemeriana (cedar sage)
Salvia texana (Texas sage)
Senna splendida (showy senna; golden wonder)
Sophora secundiflora (Texas mountain laurel)
Tetramerium sp.
Viguiera stenoloba (skeleton-leaf goldeneye; resinbush)
Yucca cernua (nodding Texas soapwort)
Yucca elata (soap tree)
Zephyranthes citrina (rain lily)
Zephyranthes drummondii (rain lily; giant prairie lily)
Zephyranthes sp. from Tamaulipas (rain lily)

Currently growing in the left fence nursery area - zone A

Gladiolus flanaganii (suicide lily)
Hibiscus coccineus (scarlet rose mallow)
Unidentified (unknown)

Currently growing in the left fence nursery area - zone B

Asclepias subverticillata (horsetail milkweed)
Bigelowia nuttallii (Nuttall's rayless goldenrod)
Centaurea montana (mountain bluet)
Convolvulus boissieri
Crocosmia masoniorum (giant montbretia)
Dianthus superbus (fringed pink)
Digitalis obscura (willow-leaf foxglove)
Eryngium planum (flat sea holly)
Freesia fucata
Gazania linearis (treasure flower)
Hormathophylla spinosa (spiny alyssum; madwort)
Kniphofia caulescens (red hot poker, torch lily)
Penstemon palmeri (Palmer penstemon; balloon flower)
Zephyranthes brachyandra (rain lily)

Currently growing in the left fence nursery area - zone C

Albuca shawii
Albuca spiralis (corkscrew albuca)
Allium stellatum (prairie onion)
Alyssoides utriculata (Greek bladderpod)
Crocosmia masoniorum (giant montbretia)
Dichelostemma capitatum (blue dicks)
Eryngium planum (flat sea holly)
Habranthus gracilifolius (rain lily)
Habranthus robustus (Argentine rain lily)
Kniphofia caulescens (red hot poker, torch lily)
Liatris pycnostachya (button snakeroot; prairie blazing star)
Penstemon cobaea (showy beard-tongue)
Petunia patagonica
Psilostrophe cooperi (yellow paper daisy)
Ranunculus hispidus (bristly buttercup)
Rhodophiala montana
Scutellaria rupestris (skullcap)
Teucrium hyrcanicum (Caucasian germander)
Zephyranthes brachyandra (rain lily)
Zephyranthes lindleyana (rain lily; zephyr lily)
Zephyranthes minima (rain lily)

Currently growing in the left fence nursery area - zone D

Agave americana ssp. protamericana (century plant; American aloe)
Agave loferox 'Stairway to Heaven' (century plant)
Agave parviflora (small-flower century plant)
Agave toumeyana var. bella (fairy ring agave; century plant)
Agave x pseudoferox 'Bellville'
Albuca suaveolens
Aloe cooperi (grass aloe)
Bukiniczia cabulica
Dasylirion leiophyllum 'Guadalupe' (smooth-leaved sotol, desert candle)
Dasylirion wheeleri (sotol; desert spoon)
Delosperma lavisiae (ice plant)
Eryngium leavenworthii (Leavenworth eryngo)
Habranthus tubispathus (copper lily)
Penstemon cobaea (showy beard-tongue)
Talinum calycinum (large fameflower)
Yucca angustissima (narrowleaf yucca; Kanab soapwort)
Yucca pallida (pale-leaf yucca)
Zephyranthes morrisclintii (rain lily)

Currently growing in the front fence nursery area - zone A

Currently growing in the front fence nursery area - zone B

Agapanthus 'Headbourne Hybrids' and other hybrids (lily of the Nile)
Agapanthus campanulatus ssp. patens
Amelanchier utahensis (Utah serviceberry)
Babiana nervosa (baboonflower)
Clematis pitcheri
Cyclamen mirabile (hardy cyclamen)
Dipcadi marlothii
Gladiolus flanaganii (suicide lily)
Hibiscus cameronii (Cameron's hibiscus)
Hibiscus coccineus (scarlet rose mallow)
Ledebouria zebrina (striped giant ledebouria)
Pavonia missionum (red mallow)
Roscoea scillifolia
Sinningia 'Bananas Foster'
Tricyrtis latifolia (toad lily)
Verbascum wiedemannianum (indigo mullein)

Currently growing in the front fence nursery area - zone C

Azorina vidalii (Madeiran bellflower)
Babiana angustifolia
Cyclamen africanum (African cyclamen)
Cypella herbertii (goblet flower)
Digitalis obscura (willow-leaf foxglove)
Gelasine elongata (dimpled iris)
Gladiolus priorii
Moraea comptonii (Cape tulip)
Oenothera serrulata (shrubby evening primrose; toothed yellow sundrops)
Pelargonium aridum
Phygelius capensis (Cape fuchsia)
Prospero autumnale (autumn squill)
Verbascum pyramidatum

Some older photos of this area

The photos below were taken in November 2017, shortly after digging the new border and installing its first plant citizens.

Houston left fence border Nov 2017 Houston left fence border Nov 2017

home garden plants wildlife seed plant sale topics guestbook journal plantlinks

Last modified: April 17, 2022
Contact me