A guide to Texas' prettiest small trees

Landscape additions provide beauty while serving as a habitat for birds

January is a good time to plant shade trees. If you plant now, the tree will have time to develop some roots before it is challenged by our summer temperatures. Good options include Texas red oak, live oak, Mexican white oak (or Monterrey oak), cedar elm, Mexican sycamore, bur oak and Chinquapin oak.

Planting a well-adapted shade tree will improve a yard’s appearance, and it also likely will reduce the home’s air-conditioning cost.

But you may also want to consider planting small- to medium-size trees that complement the shade trees in your yard. These can make your landscape more attractive and provide a habitat for birds.

Some selections should be planted as specimens in the open to show off their foliage and blooms. Some make wonderful thickets for bird habitat and as hedges to block or improve a view.

Here are some to try in the Houston area. These trees can take the Texas summers with less water:

Mexican plum

This tree will grow to about 15 feet on most sites and work well as a specimen plant with its disciplined shape and fragrant blooms. The trees are attractive even when their leaves have fallen, and the compact arrangement of stems is visible in the winter.

They can tolerate some shade, so they work well when planted as a drift or thicket of three to five plants on the lot line at the edge of shade trees. Mexican plum fruit is edible, and Mexican plum is already blooming in some spots.

If you grow one of the drought-tolerant Texas or Mexican redbud varieties, the will bloom in early spring. These trees pair well with the Mexican plum. Add a naturalized planting of paperwhites under the canopy, and the overall effect makes a great introduction to the new gardening year.

Texas and Mexican redbuds have shiny leaves that are smaller than that of the East Texas version of redbud, and they prosper in the local landscape. Plant one or more on the edge of your shade tree border or amid the taller trees.

Redbuds do not provide as much cover or food for birds as the Mexican plum, but they are drought-tolerant, and the early blooms are welcome.

Desert willow

Do you have a small lot and prefer a landscape dominated by a lawn without irrigation? Then the best choice for a specimen tree may be the desert willow.

Desert willows have blooms that resemble orchids, with rich colors such as burgundy, pink and white. The ‘Bubba’ variety, my favorite, is purple.

The desert willow requires dry, well-drained soil. It will grow to 25 feet tall and needs to be in full sun with minimal water to survive and produce its exceptional blooms in a Texas summer. Desert willow is a favorite hummingbird nectar plant.

Mexican olive

Mexican olive blooms are also exceptionally attractive, but their main limitation is cold winter temperatures. Over a mild winter, it will be evergreen. But if there is a serious cold spell, individual plants can freeze to the ground. The Mexican olive may be one of the few plants to benefit from increasing temperatures in our climate-changing environment.

Plant this attractive bloomer in full sun but close enough to a fence or building to provide some shelter.

The white blooms are produced on a 25-foot plant over a long season. In addition to being attractive, the flowers are a favorite nectar source of butterflies and hummingbirds.

Other small and medium-size trees to consider are vitex, loquat ( Japanese plum) and Texas persimmon.

Joseph A. Marcus Mexican plum

Treesearch Farms Mexican olive should be planted in full sun but close enough to a fence or building to provide some shelter.

Courtesy photo Desert willows are more shrubs than they are shade trees. They also tend to be a bit unpredictable in their growth habits.

Treesearch Farms Texas redbud is among the first trees to flower in early spring.