Native Plants for Cross Timbers Dry, Well-Draining Soils.

Native Plants for Cross Timbers Dry, Well-Draining Soils.

If your soil feels gritty or crumbles between your fingers rather than sticking together in a ball, and water disappears fast after a rain, you might assume your soil needs help. But Cross Timbers soils do not need help, they need the right plants growing in it. This ecoregion is a patchwork of Post Oak and Blackjack Oak woodland and open prairie that runs through much of North Texas, including Fort Worth, Denton, Weatherford, and Granbury. The soils here are often sandy or loamy, sometimes shallow or rocky over sandstone, and they drain much faster than the heavy black clay found farther east in the Blackland Prairie.

That fast drainage is a double-edged sword. It means roots get plenty of oxygen and rarely sit in standing water — but it also means the soil dries out quickly and holds onto fewer nutrients. Plants built for this ground tend to be deep-rooted, drought-tolerant, and unbothered by poor fertility.

Working with fast-draining soil

The instinct with poor, sandy or rocky soil is often to load it up with compost or topsoil. Native Cross Timbers plants are adapted to lean, quick-draining conditions, and rich amended soil can actually work against them - encouraging soft, leggy growth and root rot in species that expect to go hungry and dry between rains. A light mulch layer to moderate soil temperature and slow evaporation is usually enough. Water deeply but infrequently to encourage roots to grow down rather than staying shallow, and give new plantings a full season or two to establish before expecting them to shrug off a Texas summer unassisted.

 

Trees

Desert Willow 'Bubba' in bloom
Desert Willow 'Bubba' (Chilopsis linearis)


Shrubs

Texas Kidneywood in bloom
Texas Kidneywood (Eysenhardtia texana)


Perennials and wildflowers

Texas Lantana in bloom
Texas Lantana (Lantana urticoides)


Grasses

Little Bluestem grass clump
Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium)

Native grasses evolved right alongside these sandy, well-drained soils, and their deep, fibrous roots handle drought better than almost anything else you can plant:


Vines

Coral Honeysuckle with red tubular flowers
Coral Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens)


A note on choosing the right plant for the right spot

Not sure which ecoregion your yard falls in? Look up your address on an ecoregion map  You can also check your soil by hand — a handful of moist soil that feels gritty or crumbles apart points toward the Cross Timbers, while soil that's sticky and holds together like modeling clay points toward the Blackland Prairie farther east. Plenty of North Texas yards sit right on the boundary between the two, so it's completely fine to mix plants from both lists, depending on the conditions specific to your garden.

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— Anna Hurst
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