Prickly Pair RGV

05/27/2026

And we've got a bunch of the first ranked lawn alternative in stock!

Bermuda grass and Texas summer drought were never a great match. These native plants are what actually belongs here.

05/06/2026

Frogfruit is back in stock! We offer frogfruit in quart pots that are easy to plant for your lawn replacement projects. We offer a bulk rate of $6 per plant for orders of 20 or more - email us prior to purchase so we can get you the discounted price. For larger scale orders of 100 or more plants, please get in touch with us.

05/03/2026

It's probably well past time for us to introduce this plant. White Lippia (also called Bushy Lippia) is a superstar of our native edible garden, helping form a naturalistic hedge in our front yard. It's also one of the best pollinator plants in our garden - during the City Nature Challenge, it was absolutely buzzing with leafcutter bees, alpine bees, honey bees, and a variety of small butterflies.

White Lippia is also a South Texas Specialty Species, with most of its distrubution south of us in Mexico, Central America, and into South America. It's leaves are great to use in the kitchen, making tasty teas and to flavor foods - apparently it's an ingredient in mole sauces in Oaxaca, Mexico, and a relative is used in Ethiopian cuisine.

We have this plant available in two forms: as live plants in 1-gallon pots and dried herb packets that you can make into teas or use for cooking. Visit our website to order online!

04/20/2026

One of the first things we did after moving into our home was remove about 300 square feet of lawn to grow a wildflower patch. It wasn't just because we like wildflowers for their beauty, or to reduce our landscape's water use, but also to create a habitat for wildlife.

Just from incidental observations as we spend time in the garden, we've already documented more than 70 species using the roughly 30 foot by 10 foot space so far this year. There are herbivores who eat the leaves, pollinators drinking nectar and collecting pollen, predators eating insects, detritivores helping to decompose plant materials - a whole little ecosystem right outside our door.

This sort of wildflower patch also doesn't take much work to maintain after the intial site preparation. Aside from one larger cut-back a year in late summer, it's mostly just light trimming to keep the pathway clear, a little supplemental water to get seed germination (if we don't get timely rain), and occasional weeding to keep the plant community balanced.

We love incorporating wildflowers into our designs, so if you're looking to start your own wildflower patch, just let us know! The summer months are a great time to prepare your site for fall planting.

04/05/2026

If you've driven around the RGV recently, you've likely seen a small tree with abundant white blooms in yards, along roadsides, and out in the Tamaulipan Mesquital. This is the Anacahuita (Cordia boissieri), and it is one of the most popular native trees used in landscaping due to their size, drought-resilience, and abundance of flowers. It's also a South Texas specialty tree, only found in South Texas and into Mexico.

This tree is a nectar plant for bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. It's also the host plant to one of our favorite insects - the Wild Olive Tortoise Beetle! We purposefully introduced some of these beetles to the Anacahuitas in our yard and love finding them on the trees' broad leaves.

We have Anacahuita available in 3-gallon pot size on our website:
https://prickly-pair-rgv.com/shop

02/21/2026

We just added new native plants to our inventory! They range from majestic deciduous trees to colorful wildflowers and in-between. If you're looking to diversify your yard this spring - before our typical hot RGV summer sets in - now is the time to get planting.

prickly-pair-rgv.com/shop

02/15/2026

We had lots of fun at the event today on South Padre Island! We brought a selection of native plants, mesquite beer bread, and herbal teas. It was a great community-building event, and it was really cool to see all the work the chapter is doing at the facility next door to the birding and nature center.

02/12/2026

An often-overlooked group of plants in native landscaping are the grasses, despite their prominence and importance in local ecosystems. Here in the Rio Grande Valley, there are over 140 native grass species, making the Poaceae the most speciose plant family in the region.

We think Purple Threeawn is one of our most beautiful native grasses. They grow in a variety of habitats, from sandy roadsides in the sandsheet to rocky hillsides in Starr County. No matter where you find them, they are a lovely bunchgrass that blows beautifully in our South Texas breezes. They would make a wonderful addition to a xeriscape, wildflower patch, or as standalone plants in pots.

While we couldn't find any records of this plant as a host plant for RGV butterflies, grasses in general are host plants for grass skippers and satyrs. Order your Purple Threeawn at our online store (prickly-pair-rgv.com/shop/native-plant)!

01/19/2026

If you're looking to get rid of your water-hungry and maintenance-needy lawn, then Frogfruit is the plant for you. This species is one of the best spreading groundcovers native to the RGV, thriving in both dry and wet conditions, and is attractive to a wide variety of small butterflies, native bees, and other pollinators. It also makes a wonderful container plant, able to sprawl beautifully over pot edges and easy to maintain.

We have well-established frogfruit available in pint pots, ready to be planted. Even better, if you're interested in a lawn replacement project, email or message us about potential bulk purchase rates and hiring us to silage tarp your lawn for pre-planting grass kill.

Purchase your frogfruit at: prickly-pair-rgv.com/shop

01/14/2026

Granjeno, or sometimes called Desert Hackberry, is a foundational plant of the thornforest and thornscrub habitats here in the Rio Grande Valley. Not only is it an important host plant for American Snout, Red-bordered Metalmark, and other butterflies, but it also provides fruits and shelter for many birds.

This species also produces one of our favorite native edible fruits in the RGV! They can be blended and added to orange juice, lemonade, or other drinks, or just eaten right off the plant.

We have Granjeno available in 5-gallon pots, with the plants already at 2.5 - 3 feet in height. Shop for it and other native plants at prickly-pair-rgv.com/shop