20 Types of Texas Shrubs – Identification Guide

Texas is a big state with lots of different environments. You can find shrubs of all kinds growing across the Lone Star State – flowering bushes, evergreen shrubs, and climbing vines. In this guide, we’ll look at 20 common types of shrubs you might see in Texas yards and landscapes.

Flowering Shrubs

1. Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus)

This deciduous shrub has large, showy blooms in colors like white, pink, purple and blue. Rose of Sharon grows 8-12 feet tall and flowers in late summer. It’s a common sight in older neighborhoods across Texas.

2. Crape Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica)

The crape myrtle is hugely popular for its long bloom time and drought tolerance. It produces clusters of crinkly flowers in summer that can be red, pink, white or purple. Crape myrtles range from dwarf types only a few feet tall to small trees up to 25 feet.

3. Glossy Abelia (Abelia x grandiflora)

This semi-evergreen has arching branches with small pinkish-white tubular flowers that bloom spring through fall. Glossy abelia grows 3-6 feet tall and wide, making it perfect for hedges and borders.

4. Indian Hawthorn (Rhaphiolepis indica)

Low-growing Indian hawthorn shrubs are blanketed by clusters of pink or white flowers in spring. Their leathery green leaves often take on a purplish tone in winter. Indian hawthorns make good short hedges or groundcovers at 2-4 feet tall.

5. Red Yucca (Hesperaloe parviflora)

Though not a true yucca, red yucca puts on a brilliant display of coral-red tubular flowers on 4-6 foot stalks in spring. The evergreen leaves are sword-like and grow in a rounded clump.

Evergreen Shrubs

6. Texas Sage (Leucophyllum frutescens)

This silvery-green evergreen shrub is covered in purple or white bell-shaped blooms over a long spring to fall season. Texas sage is extremely drought-tolerant and grows 4-6 feet tall.

7. Dwarf Yaupon Holly (Ilex vomitoria ‘Nana’)

A small cultivar of the native yaupon holly, ‘Nana‘ only reaches 3-4 feet high but has the same glossy green foliage and red berries as its larger counterpart. It needs little pruning to maintain its naturally compact shape.

8. Texas Mountain Laurel (Sophora secundiflora)

With its glossy green compound leaves and showy purple flower spikes, the mountain laurel is one of Texas’ most beloved native evergreen shrubs. It grows at a moderate 10-15 feet in height.

9. Banana Shrub (Michelia figo)

This broadleaf evergreen fills the air with the sweet banana-like fragrance of its maroon-red flowers in early spring. Banana shrub reaches 8-10 feet tall and does best with afternoon shade.

10. Elaeagnus (Elaeagnus pungens)

Eleagnus shrubs have a dense, rounded shape and distinct olive-green foliage with silvery undersides. They’ll eventually reach 6-10 feet tall if not pruned into hedge forms. Tiny white-yellow flowers appear in fall.

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Vines

11. Lady Banksia Rose (Rosa banksiae)

One of the few rose vines that thrives in warm Texas, Lady Banks’ rose produces masses of small double yellow flowers in spring. Given a sturdy trellis or fence, it can climb 20-30 feet.

12. Coral Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens)

This vigorous Texas native vine is covered with clusters of tubular reddish-orange flowers from spring through fall that attract hummingbirds. It grows rapidly up trellises and fences.

13. Cross Vine (Bignonia capreolata)

With its semi-evergreen foliage and trumpet-shaped yellow-red blooms, cross vine makes a gorgeous flowering cover over arbors and trellises in spring. It’s a low-maintenance vine that’s native to Texas.

14. Passionflower Vine (Passiflora incarnata)

This half-hardy perennial vine will come back each year to produce showy fringed purple-white flowers. The unusual flowers get their name from patterns interpreted as symbols of the Passion.

15. Carolina Jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens)

Carolina jessamine is a fast-spreading evergreen vine smothered in fragrant yellow funnel-shaped blooms in very early spring. It’s happy to ramble along fences and up trellises or trees.

Other Texas Shrubs

16. Texas Barberry (Berberis trifoliolata)

A super-tough plant for sunny spots, Texas barberry has yellow flowers and bristly green leaves that turn shades of red in winter. It grows 2-6 feet tall and can naturalize into a thicket.

17. Texas Lantana (Lantana urticoides)

Butterflies love the hot orange, yellow and pink flower clusters that cover Texas lantana shrubs from spring through summer’s heat. It’s a free-blooming, carefree shrub 4-8 feet high.

18. Turkscap (Malvaviscus drummondii)

This shrub gets its name from the red, spiral-shaped flowers that bloom spring through fall. Turkscap is drought-tolerant, sending up 4-foot canes from its base each year.

19. Flame Acanthus (Anisacanthus quadrifidus)

Spikes of vivid orange tubular flowers give the flame acanthus its vibrant look from spring through fall. It tops out around 4 feet tall and is very heat- and drought-resistant.

20. Cenizo (Leucophyllum candidum)

Also called Texas sage, the cenizo shrub has a rounded, evergreen form coated in soft silvery-grey fuzz. Deep lavender blooms appear over a long season in spring and summer.