“Special Plants Being Tested for South Texas”

San Antonio has reduced per capita water use by 40% over the last two decades. The result is that we use less water per person than any other city in Texas. Gardeners are using less water than they did in the eighties, but gardening is still just as much fun and our landscapes are just as colorful. Part of the reason that we have not had to deprive ourselves of plant variety or color is that Dr. Jerry Parsons, of the Texas Cooperative Extension and his team of Gardening Volunteers of South Texas have been testing and introducing new plants every year that grow well and often require very little water. Here is a partial list of the plants in the testing inventory. All of them were offered for sale at bargain prices at the Festival of Flowers in 2007. Watch for them at other gardening events and at some area nurseries.

1. Grandma’s Yellow Rose; this is a shrub rose with deep yellow blooms. The blooms are florist quality with 17-25 petals per flower. This plant is unique in its toughness. It is in the same league as Belinda’s Dream. You can spray it and baby it like a hybrid tea rose, but it will perform well even if it is not sprayed on a regular basis. Grandma’s is grown on its own root system so if it ever freezes back it would grow back true to type. The shrub reaches five ft. tall and three ft. wide.

2. Geraniums are a favorite spring flower in South Texas, but they rarely survive the summer. That is until the testing revealed that two selections of the Fantasia series, ‘Strawberry Sizzle and ‘Violet’ not only survived, but even bloomed through the summer if they were grown in morning sun. The ‘Strawberry Sizzle’ is a bi color bloom of strawberry pink and white. ‘Violet’ has a pink violet bloom and an exceptional vigorous plant.

3. Grapes are a favorite arbor plant in the San Antonio area. They grow fast and can tolerate droughty weather. The test crew has resurrected an old Munsen red grape called ‘Valhalla’ to the palette of tough grapes suitable for fitting a trellis in South Texas. Along with Black Spanish and Champanel it will product lots of foliage and enough fruit to make it fun to grow and to attract neighborhood birds to share the beauty.

4. Deer resistant Galphimia glauca – Thryallis
http://www.plantanzwers.com/thyrallis.htm

5. ‘Ecuador Pink’ deer resistant Angel Trumpet
http://www.plantanswers.com/angel trumpet.htm

6. Dwarf Yellow ‘Dr. Seuss’ deer resistant Angel Trumpet
http://www.plantanswers.com/angel trumpet.htm

7. ‘Super Nova’ deer resistant Angel Trumpet – the largest-bloomed White
http://www.plantanswers.com/angel trumpet.htm

8. Deer resistant Buddleia lindleyana – Butterfly Plant
http://www.plantanswers.com/butterfly plant.htm

9. Natal Plum – Carissa macrocarpa ‘Boxwood Beauty’
http://www.plantanswers.com/natal plum.htm

10. Red-berried, Champanel-like, ‘Valhalla’seeded grape
http://www.plantanswers.com/grapes in texas.htm

11. Blue ‘Henry Duelberg’ Salvia farinacea (Mealy Sage)
http://www.plantanswers.com/salvia.htm

12. White ‘Augusta Duelberg’ Salvia farinacea (Mealy Sage)
http://www.plantanswers.com/salvia.htm

13. Yellow-Blooming Perennial Hibiscus calyphyllus

14. Chocolate Mint – Mentha piperita cv.

15. Mexican Shrimp Plant – Justicia brandegeeana

16. ‘Daily BM’ Bush Morning Glory
http://www.plantanswers.com/bush morning glory.htm

17. Mexican Beauty Berry –
Callicarpa acuminata ‘Texas Maroon’

18. Barazilian Snap Dragon – Otacanthus azureus
This is a compact shrublet with mint scented foliage. It can be used as a potted houseplant or may be used in outside container planting as it tolerates the hot summer temperatures. The one-inch snapdragons like flowers are of the brightest blue and make good cut flowers.

19. Packages of Crawford Lettuce Seed
http//www.plantanswers.com/onions garlic lettuce.htm