Plants for Wildlife

Choose native or adapted plants shown to benefit wildlife.

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 The Keystone to a Wildscape

Invite wildlife into your yard with a garden designed just for them. As cities expand, homeowners can support wildlife by recreating habitat.

Choose native or adapted plants shown to benefit wildlife. Homeowners often pick non-native plants because they are widely promoted, but they may offer minimal benefits for wildlife. Native plants evolved here with wildlife, supporting their needs for food and shelter.

Your garden has limited space, so choose plants wisely. Include a diversity of plants that will provide food and shelter at different times of the year and grow to different heights. Planting layers allow many kinds of wildlife to meet their different needs.

caterpillar worm bright green with black and yellow markings

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Do you see holes in your plants and think bad bugs? Remember, that’s lunch for a caterpillar that may soon transform into a gorgeous butterfly. Nesting birds also need those insect “pests” to feed their quickly growing babies.

Insects are an important source of food for birds and other animals who also call our yard home. It helps wildlife to look at your yard from a different perspective!

Plants for a San Antonio Wildscape

Here is a short list. There are many more that will meet your landscape design goals.

  • Trees– Hackberry, live oak, mesquite, bur oak, Texas persimmon, Ashe juniper, Texas mountain laurel, Mexican buckeye
  • Shrubs– Possomhaw holly, loquat, Indian hawthorn, butterfly bush, red yucca, American beautyberry, cenizo
  • Perennials– Butterfly weed, salvia, indigo spires, Turk’s cap, shrimp plant, firebush, fall aster, columbine
  • Re-seeding Annuals –  Sunflowers, larkspur, coreopsis, cosmos
  • Creeping and Filler Plants– French thyme, lamb’s ear, wild strawberry, herbs of all kinds
  • Vines– Coral honeysuckle, crossvine, Virginia creeper, hyacinth bean
  • Ornamental Grasses – Little bluestem, Muhly grass, side-oats grama

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Painted bunting at edge of birdbath.