The 7 Best Low Maintenance Plants for Houston Heat & Humidity
In the greater Houston area, we are in zone 9a and 9b. That means only certain plants can handle our high heat and humid summers, and certain trees won’t produce fruit because of our mild winters (not enough “chill hours”).
In this article, we’ll be sharing some of the RCI team’s favorite plants that we’ve come across during our 35+ years in the Houston home improvement industry!
Cedar Sage - Texas Native Shrub/Bush
Cedar Sage is a Texas Native that attracts local pollinators, including hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees. We’ve seen these plants thriving in prime Houston heat, middle of July. They even function as a pretty-neat cut-flower to replace non-native fillers like baby’s breath!
Maypop Passionflower - Texas Native Vine
Coming in hundreds of variations, the Texas native Passionflower is commonly known as “Maypop”. This plant is a vine that thrives in Texas heat. If you’re savvy enough, you might even see some overgrowing on a nearby trail. We’ve seen some just outside our Spring, Tx office on the side of Louetta Rd!
We highly recommend growing this in pots, as Passionflower roots can shoot underground and spread, taking over your garden in the future. Passionflower is the host to a common butterfly that looks similar to Monarchs!
Texas Mountain Laurel - Native Shrub/Tree
Our favorite native Texas tree. It’s commonly known said that “tuberose” is the most fragrant flower in the world, but we have found that one Texas Mountain Laurel in bloom can fill an entire backyard, sometimes even a street, with an intense floral fragrance similar to grapes/bubblegum! Texas Mountain Laurels must be planted in well draining soil and won’t do well planted directly into our clay soil without improvements to drainage (perlite). We recommend planting them in a raised garden bed.
Zinnias
Zinnias will thrive in your garden during the Houston’s highest heats of the summer. There are many variations of Zinnias, and we recommend taking your time to pick out the perfect size and colors that you’d like!
Tuberose
Sold as bulbs, tuberose thrives in our high summer heat and can be planted as late as April and still bloom. These are incredibly fragrant, but the flower itself will most likely require a stake to stay up. Hard to miss when we enter a customer’s backyard due to its fragrance, similar to the next plant!
Gardenia - Shrub/Bush
Gardenias are a bush that thrives in Houston! The flowers are highly fragrant and will bloom twice a year!
Texas Sage - Barometer Bush
This bush flowers before/after a rain, every time. They call it a “barometer bush”, they’re always blooming after a storm when we’re out helping customers.
