You want your commercial property to look beautiful. But you need it to perform well, too. When it comes to commercial landscaping in Dallas, TX, low maintenance and drought-tolerant plants are a necessity. Water is both expensive and limited and with unpredictable droughts being a relatively common occurrence, you need to plan wisely.
Fortunately, you can have the best of both worlds. With the right commercial landscape design, you can incorporate drought-tolerant plants that look great without using up an excessive amount of water.
The key is to make thoughtful plant selections. This ultimately comes from extensive horticultural knowledge as well as a solid grasp on what plants look best when designed together.
At Yellowstone Landscape, our landscape designers are constantly making these choices for the various landscape projects that we’re working on. We recently connected with Torrie McDonald, one of our expert landscape designers to ask her for some of her favorite drought-tolerant plants for Dallas, TX commercial landscaping.
Here is her list of the top 12, in no particular order.
1. Gulf Muhly
This drought-tolerant perennial grass is known for its dramatic pinkish/purplish cloud of blooms. It is a Texas native and therefore highly adapted to the growing conditions in the Dallas area.
This plant is beloved for its resistance to pest and insect problems as well as to deer grazing. Combined with its drought tolerance, it’s highly low maintenance while delivering impressive aesthetics.
2. Glossy Abelia
Glossy Abelia is a lovely shrub that can thrive in dry heat, making it a great choice in Dallas, TX. This plant produces an array of small, fragrant, pink flowers that are known to attract butterflies. It is often used as a hedge shrub and makes a good foundational planting. Thanks to its solid and sturdy nature, it will stay put, even during windy conditions.
3. Dwarf Adagio Maiden Grass
This shrub has an interesting weeping growth habit and features pink plumes that fade to white. It's known to attract birds but is also deer-resistant. Reaching approximately three-feet in height (or less), it’s smaller than many other maiden grasses. But like other ornamental grasses, it offers interest and appeal even during periods of drought.
4. Autumn Sage
This popular evergreen shrub is native to most of Texas. It works well for border or mass plantings in commercial landscaping in Dallas, TX. Autumn sage is both heat and drought tolerant and requires minimal care. While historically grown with red flowers, new varieties are available in many different shades.
5. Texas Sage
Both hardy and beautiful, Texas Sage is known for its silvery foliage and its purple flowers. As the name would suggest, this plant is native to Texas. It has actually been nicknamed the “Barometer Plant” here because as soon as the humidity begins to rise after dry weather, Texas Sage begins to bloom.
This is a great choice for dry areas where it can be difficult to get aesthetic appeal.
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6. Red Yucca
Red Yucca is native to the Chihuahuan desert in southwestern Texas, making it a great fit for commercial landscaping in Dallas, TX. It has a grass-like appearance and is known for its bright red color. It’s also known for being incredibly low maintenance—which, given its desert origins, should come as no surprise.
Despite its moniker, Red Yucca is not actually yucca but is rather a member of the Century-Plant family. It is popular for its persistent blooms and evergreen color.
7. Liriope
Drought-tolerant Liriope can make an excellent ground cover thanks to its quick-spreading nature. Also known as Monkey grass, Liriope is a member of a group of flowering grasses. It’s very forgiving and can tolerate dry conditions. While it does flower with white and purple blooms, this plant is actually best known for its ribbon-like leaves which offer ongoing appeal.
8. Wavy Cloak Fern
The Wavy Cloak Fern can make a great mass planting for commercial landscaping in Dallas, TX. Native to Texas, it tolerates drought-like conditions with ease. This fern can grow to be about 12 to 18 inches tall and has starburst-like scales on the upper surface of its fronds. These coarse and scaly fronds are generally avoided by pests and wildlife. Like other ferns, it's known for its long-lasting foliage.
9. Nandina
This drought-tolerant, compact shrub is grown for its year-round foliage interest and makes a great addition to commercial landscaping in Dallas, TX. It is also commonly called “heavenly bamboo,” and is a flowering plant that is native to eastern Asia.
Despite its name, Nandina is not a bamboo but an evergreen shrub. It is widely used as an ornamental plant and has a variety of different cultivars that display bright-red fall foliage.
10. Yellow Lantana
This heat-loving, drought-tolerant perennial shrub is another Texas native. It is appreciated for its drought- and heat-tolerant nature. The round bloom clusters start off yellow and then turn orange and red.
Because Lantana is part of the verbena family of plants, it's known to attract birds and butterflies. It can add color and beauty to a Dallas landscape.
11. Dwarf Yaupon Holly
This is a special variety of holly with leaves that aren’t as prickly as other hollies. While it is called a “dwarf,” most versions of the Yaupon Holly are just slow-growing and can get large over time. This holly is definitely known for being low maintenance. It can be used as a formal hedge or foundational planting.
12. Barberry
This shrub is often used as a border plant. In addition to being listed among drought-tolerant plants, it is also generally left alone by deer and wildlife. Barberries are known for their colorful foliage ranging from rich yellow to pink and even burgundy shades. They can be a bright addition to a commercial landscape.
Making the Best Choice for Your Dallas, Texas Commercial Landscaping Project
Selecting drought-tolerant plants for your commercial landscaping project conserves water usage while still providing function and beauty to your landscape. By making these wise choices, you can use less water (which also saves you money), ensure less maintenance, and ultimately enhance the aesthetics of your landscape.
While there’s often an assumption that a drought-tolerant landscape means lots of succulents and cacti, you can see from this list that’s not the case at all. There are many drought-tolerant plants that offer an abundance of color and interest. While we’ve rounded up one of our landscape designer’s top 12 favorites, there are also many more options to choose from. It comes down to what’s going to look and function best on each individual property.
Of course, as we mentioned, it does require an extensive horticultural understanding of plant material, including which plants will perform best in specific areas of your property. Choosing the right plants for the right place is critical when it comes to the success of your commercial landscape design.
There’s obviously a lot to think about. It’s why choosing the right company for the work will make all the difference in the world.
Choosing Between the Commercial Landscape Companies in Dallas, TX
Getting the most out of your drought-tolerant landscape will ultimately come down to making a wise choice amongst commercial landscape companies to handle the design and installation. The last thing that you want is to end up with an unhealthy landscape as a result of poor plant selection. But you also don’t want to end up with a bunch of plants that were solely chosen for their drought tolerance but don’t necessarily look good when grouped together. There are important decisions with tremendous aesthetic impact for your property.
That’s why you want to choose a company that has extensive horticultural experience, along with an eye for design. Only then, can you have the best of everything.
At Yellowstone Landscape, we’re putting a tremendous amount of thought into the commercial landscape designs that we create here in Dallas, TX. We want you to feel confident that you’re getting the most out of your investment with drought-tolerant plants that not only perform well at your commercial property but look really great, too. We understand that you want guests to look at your commercial landscape design and think only how gorgeous it is. But with the right partner, you can have the beauty and a landscape designed to be water conscious, too!
The bottom line? By making a smart decision in commercial landscape companies in Dallas, TX, you can gain all of the benefits of having a drought-tolerant landscape that still looks stunning and worth every dollar of your investment.
Are you ready to feel confident in your commercial landscaping investment? Request a consultation today. We’ll meet to learn more about your property and its challenges and come up with a comprehensive plan to take care of all of the details for you.
Image Sources: Gulf Muhly, Glossy Abelia, Dwarf Adagio Maiden Grass, Autumn Sage, Texas Sage, Red Yucca, Liriope, Wavy Cloak Fern, Nandina, Yellow Lantana, Dwarf Yaupon Holly, Barberry
