By Brad Wier. You may already be getting a little help from the bounty already in fruit all around us. Summer has a bad rep when it comes to transplanting in South-Central Texas, since a single week of hot sunny days can quickly dry out new plantings. But with the last month’s rain, some plants are ready to plant themselves, if you want to toss them into the mix. Literally.
We’re talking about weeds of course, but not the bad kind. Rather, here are few very desirable plants whose seeds and fruits are traffic-stopping red right now — and they can easily be planted by the handful if you take the time to collect them.
Just clean off the fruit, let the seed dry (not in full sun) and scatter the seed. (Oftentimes mockingbirds will do this for you.) Seed-to-soil contact is always best.
Chile pequín. Technically Capsicum annuum, the Texas state pepper Chile pequín/Chiltepín is the wild ancestor of both bell peppers and jalapenos — and it’s the pepper you’re most likely to find volunteering in a San Antonio alley or landscape. Too long neglected as a landscape plant (it’s one of our WaterSaver Landscape Coupon plants this year), it’s an edible that requires no special effort to grow or even plant. Even birds will clean the seeds and plant it for you. Yes, it’s edible, it’s hot and spicy, and it’s fruiting in abundance after summer rain.Grab a handful, toss into any partly-shaded garden border that needs a little filler, and repeat. (Just try not to weed them when they’re coming up next spring.) In a season or two you’ll have a full-grown bush. Considered an annual, chile pequín will normally return after freezes and grow bigger each year. In the meantime, it might be adopted by a local mockingbird family who will assist you in planting it everywhere.
Passionflower. With garlands of juicy fruits climbing and dangling over the summer landscape, Passiflora foetida can project lush abundance without any effort whatsoever from you. Often passionflowers get weeded or mowed or just ignored. But when allowed to climb and do their thing, the intricate flowers will be a delight in the warm season — and the dangling red or green fruits bring a touch of the vineyard to any home landscape.Full disclosure: the native Texas variety has green fruits, while the scarlet varieties are considered a variant introduction from South America. Passionflower is easily managed, but it’s also a contender: choose a trellis or spot where you want it to grow (and be prepared to pull it from anywhere you don’t). It’s one of the easiest garden tasks of the summer. Bonus benefit: Passionflower is also the larval plant host for gulf fritillary butterflies. So, you may enjoy the swirling clouds of butterflies so much that you’ll be tempted to let it grow everywhere. That’s not a bad thing considering passionflower is pretty, tough and takes care of itself. (It’s not evergreen, though, so it will freeze back to the ground in winter.)
Texas Mountain Laurel is slow-growing, making it one of the more expensive container-grown plants. And it should be: It’s evergreen, extremely drought resilient, and the spring flowers are a sensation. As an experiment I bought a 3-gallon Texas mountain laurel from the nursery and planted it in one landscape bed. In the other, I threw in a handful of the signature red beans to see what they would do on their own. A few years later, the beanstalks are now taller than the container-grown transplant, with no help from me (other than recognizing them and trying not to pull, weed or mow them).Not that you shouldn’t buy a nursery specimen, but if you want to hedge your bets, try Johnny Apple-seeding a few of the beans yourself into adjacent landscape beds. They’re easy to grow, even in full sun!
Most of these native plants will start growing on their own wherever they land — a good reminder that even in drought, nature finds a way.
Brad Wier is a SAWS conservation planner. Years in South Texas landscaping and public horticulture gave him a lasting enthusiasm for native plants that don’t die when sprinklers — and gardeners — break down. He’d rather save time and water for kayaking and tubing. He is a former kilt model, and hears hummingbirds.
