By Bill Ward
Published in The Boerne Star on February 2, 2007
Lindheimer silktassel (Garrya ovata subsp. lindheimeri) is the Operation NICE! (Natives Instead of the Common Exotics!) choice for February. Silktassel has so many virtues as a landscape plant that I often wonder why is not one of the favorites of the nursery trade. One reason is that few wholesale nurseries regularly supply this shrub to our local nurseries. Besides that, most nursery customers probably are unaware of the existence of Lindheimer silktassel (also called Mexican silktassel). Even though it is one of the most common Hill Country understory plants, silktassel goes mostly unnoticed in the natural landscape, as well as in the wholesale-nursery trade.
Silktassel is an ideal shrub for Hill Country yards because it is evergreen, tolerant of drought, grows in almost any setting, thrives in calcareous soil, and is rarely browsed by deer. I suppose that the only drawback is that this plant usually grows only at a moderate rate.
Jill Nokes (“How to Grow Native Plants of Texas and the Southwest”) writes, “Like many Hill Country plants, silktassel spends the first 2-3 years establishing a root system in order to survive rocky sites. Once established, stem and top growth increase fairly quickly.” Even with initially slower growth, it is a good alternative to Burford holly and also to Japanese privet (ligustrum), one of the most invasive exotic plants vexing the Texas landscape. Silktassel is not susceptible to the disease that is destroying red-tipped photinia, another evergreen shrub commonly used in Central Texas yards.
Lindheimer silktassel has tough leathery leaves up to four inches long, shiny dark-green on top and dull gray-green on the bottom. Each leaf has a tiny sharp-pointed tip. The bushes usually grow in thick clumps a few feet high. Some may grow into small trees up to about 14 feet tall. Male and female flowers are on separate plants. In early spring the male plant has light-green drooping flower stems, which supposedly resemble tassels of corn silk. This is the source of the common name. The inconspicuous female flowers produce clusters of small purple-black fruit. Lindheimer silktassel is endemic to the Hill Country, occurring from the Georgetown-Austin area down to northern Bexar County and westward to near Del Rio. The other subspecies of Garrya ovata grows in far west Texas, from the Big Bend area to El Paso.
In Kendall County, Lindheimer silktassel is common on wooded rocky terrains, canyon slopes, and sunny fencelines. Now is a good time to notice where it grows, because in the dead of winter most of the green shrubs in non-cultivated areas are either silktassel or evergreen sumac.
Lindheimer silktassel tolerates a wide range of growing conditions, from shade to sun. This plant prefers well-drained calcareous soils, and it survives well even in very thin rocky soil. The Boerne Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas provides free planting and care instructions for silktassel at nurseries participating in Operation NICE! (Hill Country African Violets and Nursery, Barkley’s Nursery Center, and Maldonado Landscape and Nursery). We have six or seven silktassels planted in our yard. Most of these we bought at the Cibolo Nature Center spring plant sale. Chuck Janzow of the wholesale Green Cloud Nursery commonly offers Lindheimer silktassel for sale at this event. Occasionally local retail nurseries also are able to sell silktassel.
Most of our silktassels are never browsed by deer. This past year, however, during the heat of August-September and also during the cold of January, two of the plants were badly nibbled. The other silktassels in our yard weren’t touched. I think it is safe to say that unless the deer pressure is unusually high, Lindheimer silktassel is a deer-resistant evergreen native shrub perfect for Hill Country yards.
