BLE trees and fast growing trees for Houston

[Chester B]

My new place has a large south facing yard in Houston. that is a blank canvas  I'm looking for suggestions for two different types of trees:

 

1) Broad leaf evergreens other than Live Oaks or Southern Magnolia.

2) Fast growing tropical looking trees

 

[ShadyDan]

Another PNW member bites the dust, although I dont blame you for moving! Its been grey and rainy (although mild) for a while here without seeing the sun.

Will you be trying any Eucs down there? Obviously they will be super fast and evergreen, and there should be some species more suited to Texas heat than the ones we are used to growing. E. camaldulensis and E. nicholii come to mind.

Loquats do well with heat / humidity I think too and grow reasonably fast for a fruit tree. Definitely have a tropical look to them too with those large, dark leaves.

[Chester B]

2 hours ago, ShadyDan said:

Another PNW member bites the dust, although I dont blame you for moving! Its been grey and rainy (although mild) for a while here without seeing the sun.

Will you be trying any Eucs down there? Obviously they will be super fast and evergreen, and there should be some species more suited to Texas heat than the ones we are used to growing. E. camaldulensis and E. nicholii come to mind.

Loquats do well with heat / humidity I think too and grow reasonably fast for a fruit tree. Definitely have a tropical look to them too with those large, dark leaves.

Well to be honest, I didn’t really have a choice on moving if that matters. This is a move of necessity. I will miss Oregon, I hope not too much. 
 

Loquat is a must have and is readily available. 
 

As far as Eucs, the combo of heat and humidity doesn’t suit them. I could only find one reference to Eucalyptus species in Houston. And I haven’t seen a single one down here. Lots of BLE trees I don’t recognize though. Visited a nursery today and saw so many new things that I’ll have to learn about. My new place has 5 live oaks and a whole whack of crepe Myrtle’s. I guess I’ll have to wait until next summer to see what type. 

[Xenon]

1 hour ago, Chester B said:

 

As far as Eucs, the combo of heat and humidity doesn’t suit them. I could only find one reference to Eucalyptus species in Houston. And I haven’t seen a single one down here. Lots of BLE trees I don’t recognize though. Visited a nursery today and saw so many new things that I’ll have to learn about. My new place has 5 live oaks and a whole whack of crepe Myrtle’s. I guess I’ll have to wait until next summer to see what type. 

The Beltway 8/Gulf Freeway exchange used to be lined with super tall E. camaldulensis hybrids until the 2021 freeze did them in. TXDOT installed them in the mid 2000s. 

I promise they looked more impressive in person 😄

 

 

Edited December 20, 2023 by Xenon

[thyerr01]

I like some of the other less ornamental Magnolias like M. virginiana or M. tamaulipana. Also Texas Olive (Cordia boissieri) is one of my favourite native trees.

As for Eucs, they're something that needs further experimenting in Houston. I don't know if any of the ones @Xenon linked still survive, but there are several around the interchange from the toll road into the airport that survived the freezes by resprouting from the base and are still there today. I don't think this one or any other large Eucs that will die back during freezes and drop limbs are good choices for Houston, especially in suburban yards. I have several Corymbia ptychocarpa and 1 possible hybrid of this species doing well for me and although they froze back to the roots last winter, they are all well above my head now. This species doesn't get large enough to be a problem and others have grown it successfully in Houston. I have some others started off from seed but its too early to tell how they will fare.

Eucs are very easy to start from seed and can grow quickly under good conditions. If you want to try some, I'd stick to species that meet the following criteria: stays under 5 m, has a lignotuber, and doesn't come from Western Australia. 

 

Edited December 20, 2023 by thyerr01

[thyerr01]

Streetview taken earlier this year. Looking back through the last few images gives you an idea of their impressive growth between the freezes.

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.9579712,-95.3786787,3a,75y,227.45h,87.63t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sNW_WZb_ZDg_iRQulWJ7Vlw!2e0!5s20230301T000000!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu

[Chester B]

@thyerr01 thanks for the suggestion, I have not heard of the Texas Olive or The Corymbia but will be on the look out for them.  

I found this website, it looks like an old format but they have the Texas olive among other interesting plants for reasonable prices.  They only sell/deliver in Houston.

https://nativeenhancements.com/

Out here in Oregon we grow many of the Eucs from higher elevations, mostly from SE Australia.  I still have seed of various species so may try to germinate some and see if I can get any to survive the humidity.

[thyerr01]

@Chester B I got in touch with that company when I first moved here. They responded and told me nothing was in stock...and the website hasn't changed.

Cordia boissieri can be found in several local nurseries, Buchanan's had some large ones recently. 

I'm interested to see if you have success with any of your Euc seed. I need to find some space for my next batch.

[Chester B]

19 hours ago, thyerr01 said:

@Chester B I got in touch with that company when I first moved here. They responded and told me nothing was in stock...and the website hasn't changed.

Cordia boissieri can be found in several local nurseries, Buchanan's had some large ones recently. 

I'm interested to see if you have success with any of your Euc seed. I need to find some space for my next batch.

That's too bad, they had quite a few good things.

I'll have to visit Buchanan's thanks for the recommendation.

[Xenon]

58 minutes ago, Chester B said:

That's too bad, they had quite a few good things.

I'll have to visit Buchanan's thanks for the recommendation.

Buchanan's is great, bit pricey. It's on the other side of town for you, but Caldwell Nursery is definitely worth a trip in the spring. Enchanted Gardens is also nearby.

Asian nurseries have some of the best tropical stock imo, some to check out are: JRN Nursery, Fairbanks Garden Center, Tran Nursery.

Any interest in dieback or occasional dieback perennials? Many Ficus work well like this...F. religiosa, F. racemosa, F. elastica, and F. auriculata are some that I've grown or personally witnessed that do well here. F. lyrata and F. umbellata are not quite vigorous enough for me to be frozen back too often. IIRC, you had an interest in edible gardening too? Many tropical fruits can be grown as occasional dieback perennials i.e guava, starfruit, june plum, rose apple, etc. They will fruit the second year if frozen all the way to the ground (not that often). Cattley aka strawberry/lemon guava, cherry of the Rio Grande, Mexican race avocados and jaboticaba (standard sabara type) are all mostly hardy (into the low 20s). Mango can fruit with some luck and a protected spot, better if you're willing to do a tiny bit of protection. Longan and lychee too.

Edited December 22, 2023 by Xenon

[thyerr01]

There was a recentish thread which discussed a lot of nurseries in Houston thats worth a read.

https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/72272-favorite-nurseries-in-texas-for-landscape-trees-palms-and-etc/

Buchanan's is certainly on the more expensive end but they often have some larger/unusual native plants which are hard to find elsewhere. Caldwell is also great and worth going to see some of the larger palms, although the large Bismarckia finally died. I also heard that they grew all of their Arenga from seed which I found interesting. I think their selection of really weird plants, which was always what I enjoyed there, has dropped off since one of the owners sadly passed away. I find the lack of pricing at JRN frustrating. I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun visiting all these places in the spring.

Edited December 22, 2023 by thyerr01

[hinovak]

Loquats are a pretty cool evergreen/tropical looking tree. 

[BeyondTheGarden]

Nothing to add except that we are looking forward to seeing your new place, growing.