PLACE · NATIVE PALETTES
Working native palettes.
The practical reference companion to the other six Place pages. Plant lists sorted by ecoregion — Blackland, Cross Timbers, transition-zone — with Latin binomials so nursery sourcing is unambiguous. These are working lists, not exhaustive catalogs; they reflect what the practice currently specifies after post-Uri performance review, alkaline-clay screening, and drought-cycle vetting.
Blackland-Prairie-appropriate palette.
Tuned for calcareous clay substrate — Houston Black, Heiden, and Austin silty clay series predominantly — with pH in the 7.4 to 8.5 range, 20–30% shrink-swell behavior, and slow permeability through the top foot. Every species on this list tolerates full-sun DFW summer exposure, performs on alkaline substrate without chronic iron chlorosis, and carries a demonstrable record on the other side of the February 2021 freeze event.
| Common name | Latin binomial | DFW performance note |
|---|---|---|
| Escarpment live oak | Quercus fusiformis | The primary native canopy on drier Blackland-side sites; hybridizes freely with Q. virginiana through the metro; demonstrable recovery from Uri. |
| Southern live oak | Q. virginiana | Native canopy on moister Blackland sites; slightly faster growth rate than Q. fusiformis; same Uri-hardened performance profile. |
| Cedar elm | Ulmus crassifolia | Native to alkaline Blackland substrates; tolerant of shrink-swell clay; reliable drought performance after establishment. |
| Eastern red cedar | Juniperus virginiana | DFW-native juniper; reliable evergreen structure across both ecoregions; freeze-hardy through Uri. Note: not to be confused with Hill Country J. ashei. |
| Mexican plum | Prunus mexicana | Native understory tree; early spring bloom; alkaline-clay tolerant; widely performant across Blackland residential sites. |
| Texas redbud | Cercis canadensis var. texensis | Native subspecies adapted to calcareous soils; early-season bloom; small-tree scale for entry courtyards and tight urban lots. |
| Sideoats grama | Bouteloua curtipendula | Texas state grass; native to Blackland tallgrass matrix; alkaline-clay tolerant; warm-season grass with fall color. |
| Little bluestem | Schizachyrium scoparium | Native warm-season grass; drought-tolerant after establishment; bronze-rust fall color; structural for meadow plantings. |
| Gulf muhly | Muhlenbergia capillaris | Native to Gulf Coast but widely performant on Blackland substrates; pink-cloud fall bloom; drought-tolerant. |
| Texas sage | Leucophyllum frutescens | Adapted Trans-Pecos native; alkaline-clay tolerant; silver foliage; performs across Blackland and Cross Timbers. |
| Blackfoot daisy | Melampodium leucanthum | Native perennial; long-season bloom; drought-tolerant; fits rockery and gravel-garden margins. |
| Autumn sage | Salvia greggii | Native to central and western Texas; adapted to alkaline substrates; long bloom season; deer-resistant. |
Cross-Timbers-appropriate palette.
Tuned for sandy loam substrate — Crosstell, Gasil, Aubrey series predominantly — with neutral to slightly acid pH, sharper drainage than Blackland clay, and a canopy structure that historically assembled around post oak savannah. Several species on this list (notably flowering dogwood) become possible on Cross Timbers sites specifically because the acid tendency opens the range; those species fail on the Blackland clay a few miles east.
| Common name | Latin binomial | DFW performance note |
|---|---|---|
| Post oak | Quercus stellata | The Cross Timbers namesake; dominant canopy on sandy loam; Uri-hardy at mature size; intolerant of grade change within the root zone. |
| Blackjack oak | Q. marilandica | Companion to post oak on the driest and rockiest Cross Timbers sites. |
| Texas hickory | Carya texana | Native mid-size canopy on Cross Timbers sandy loam; slower growth than the oaks; strong fall color. |
| Shumard red oak | Q. shumardii | Native to moister Cross Timbers pockets; faster canopy development than post oak; reliable red fall color. |
| Bur oak | Q. macrocarpa | Native to stream-bottom and transitional sites; performs well across both ecoregions where soil depth allows. |
| Flowering dogwood | Cornus florida | Possible on protected Eastern Cross Timbers sites with neutral-acid sandy loam; fails on alkaline Blackland clay. |
| Eastern redbud | Cercis canadensis | The nominate species where the slightly more acid-tolerant range suits Cross Timbers sites; Texas redbud variety performs on Blackland instead. |
| Switchgrass | Panicum virgatum | Native warm-season grass from the pre-settlement tallgrass matrix; performs across sandy loam and transition sites. |
| Indiangrass | Sorghastrum nutans | Tallgrass native; upright structural grass; performs well on Cross Timbers substrates with more organic matter. |
| Big bluestem | Andropogon gerardii | The tallest of the pre-settlement matrix grasses; suited to moister Cross Timbers edges; structural at shoulder height. |
| Coralberry | Symphoricarpos orbiculatus | Native understory shrub on Cross Timbers sites; tolerates partial shade; pink berry cluster in fall. |
Transition-zone palette — species that work across both substrates.
For sites on the Blackland-to-Cross-Timbers contact — western Prosper, western Frisco, western McKinney, the Denton-Collin boundary, and the Preston Hollow edge where the ecoregion is an open question until the soil probe settles it. The species on this list cooperate with both substrates and carry a consistent performance record across the contact.
| Common name | Latin binomial | DFW performance note |
|---|---|---|
| Eastern red cedar | Juniperus virginiana | DFW-native juniper; works across both Blackland and Cross Timbers substrates; reliable Uri-hardy evergreen. |
| Sideoats grama | Bouteloua curtipendula | Performs across both substrates; the Texas state grass. |
| Little bluestem | Schizachyrium scoparium | Performs across both substrates; drought-tolerant after establishment; fall color structural through dormancy. |
| Live oak (hybrid zone) | Q. fusiformis × Q. virginiana | The hybrid intermediate zone extends through the metro; both parent species and their intermediates work across the transition. |
| Cedar elm | Ulmus crassifolia | Native across both ecoregions; reliable mid-size canopy; alkaline and neutral soil tolerant. |
| Mexican feathergrass | Nassella tenuissima | Ornamental grass widely performant across DFW substrates; drought-tolerant after establishment; fine-texture structural. |
| Blackfoot daisy | Melampodium leucanthum | Performs across both substrates; native perennial with long bloom season. |
| Autumn sage | Salvia greggii | Performs across both substrates; drought-tolerant; deer-resistant; long bloom season. |
POST-URI · DELISTED
Species removed from the working lists.
The February 2021 Uri event produced five consecutive days of sub-freezing soil temperatures and killed specimens that had been routine on DFW residential plantings for two decades. The removals below are the subset of species that had been regularly specified on Alterra work before Uri and are no longer specified after it. The removal process was observational — first-freeze-window site visits in February and March 2021 across prior project sites, followed by twelve-month and twenty-four-month follow-up walks to confirm whether damaged specimens would recover or not. The list below captures what did not recover.
Queen palm (Syagrus romanzoffiana) — borderline zone 9a at best, widely sold as zone 8 under the pre-Uri mild-winter average; failed universally. Removed. Tender Pittosporum cultivars — the Japanese pittosporum selections that had been common as foundation evergreens failed at the cambium layer; the species is off the working list. Certain Podocarpus cultivars in the borderline-hardy range — damaged irreparably on exposed sites. Off the working list on any exposure where full winter sun and wind are possible. Star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides) on unprotected exposures — killed on multiple sites; retained only on sheltered microclimates where the exposure is demonstrably zone 8b-plus. Certain cultivars of Japanese boxwood that showed extensive cambial damage — a case-by-case removal, with the Korean boxwood alternatives retained.
A note on Juniperus ashei (Ashe juniper): this species is not on the delisted list because it was never on the working list. Ashe juniper is a Hill Country and Edwards Plateau species, not a DFW native. The DFW-native juniper is Juniperus virginiana (eastern red cedar), which has always been the working evergreen-structure native for the region and has a demonstrable post-Uri performance record.
Read alongside: the Blackland Prairie ecology, the Cross Timbers ecology, the landscape-design practice, and the planting installation practice.