# Native trees for Central and North Texas: the prairies, the Cross Timbers and the Hill Country

> Which native trees suit North and Central Texas on black clay, sand or limestone, when to plant them, and how freezes, oak wilt and root rot shape the choice.

Published 2026-11-06. Tags: What to plant. By Blue Whale Trees, a native tree nursery in the United States. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-for-central-and-north-texas/

On the black clay of the Blackland Prairie, plant bur oak, Shumard oak, cedar elm and Mexican plum. On the sand of the [Cross Timbers](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/glossary/index.html.md#cross-timbers) and the Post Oak Savannah, plant post oak, blackjack oak and black hickory. On the thin soil over limestone in the Hill Country, plant plateau live oak, Texas red oak, chinquapin oak and Eve's necklace. Pecan and sugarberry suit the creek bottoms. Plant from November through early spring, and prune or wound no oak from February through June, when beetles carry oak wilt to fresh wounds.

![A huge plateau live oak whose long, twisting limbs spread low over open, sunlit ground](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/articles/native-trees-for-central-and-north-texas-1-1000.jpg?v=968a28d1 "The Rio Frio Landmark Oak, a plateau live oak in Real County, Texas, on July 3, 2024. On the Edwards Plateau such oaks stand in groves over open grassland.")
*Photo: Michaelluckey, [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ARIO_FRIO_LANDMARK_OAK.jpg))*

## The prairies, the Cross Timbers and the Hill Country

This guide covers Texas from the Red River south to San Antonio, and from the Post Oak Savannah west across the Hill Country. The Piney Woods and the coast are in [native trees for the Gulf Coast](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-for-the-gulf-coast/index.html.md), and Oklahoma's Cross Timbers in [native trees for the Ozarks](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-for-the-ozarks/index.html.md). Rain falls at 28 to 40 inches a year on the Blackland and the Post Oak Savannah and at 15 to 34 on the Edwards Plateau, where droughts recur. The region holds four kinds of ground:

- **The Blackland Prairie**, a belt more than 300 miles long from Sherman to San Antonio. Its black, alkaline clay over chalk and marl swells when wet and cracks when dry, and almost none of its tallgrass prairie is left.
- **The Cross Timbers**, two bands of post oak and blackjack oak woodland on sandstone, with the limestone of the Grand Prairie between them.
- **The Post Oak Savannah**, east of the Blackland, where patches of oak woodland stand in grassland on acid, sandy loam.
- **The Edwards Plateau**, the Hill Country, a limestone plateau of shallow soils whose southern edge rises more than 1,000 feet above the coastal plain along the Balcones Fault Zone. Without fire, Ashe juniper has spread over some of its grassy savannas.

## Zones, freezes and when to plant

On the [2023 hardiness zone map](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/what-a-hardiness-zone-tells-you/index.html.md), the region runs from zone 8a along the Red River to 9a from Temple south to San Antonio:

| Area | Zones on the 2023 map |
| --- | --- |
| The Red River, Wichita Falls to Sherman and Paris | 8a |
| The Cross Timbers west of Fort Worth | 8a to 8b |
| The Hill Country | 8a to 8b |
| Dallas, Fort Worth and Waco | 8b |
| Temple, Austin and San Antonio | 9a |

Find yours with the [ZIP code lookup](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/zone/index.html.md). In half of all years a freeze still comes after March 28 at Wichita Falls, March 26 at Fredericksburg, March 16 at Austin and March 1 at San Antonio. A freeze after a warm spell does the most harm:

> "Warm days followed by a really cold snap are a recipe for serious plant injury." (Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Travis County, *Frosts and Freezes*)

Water a young tree before a hard freeze if the soil is dry, since moist soil holds warmth. After a hard freeze such as Winter Storm Uri in February 2021, wait for spring green-up before cutting, since the damage to trees in leaf shows its true extent only then.

The best season to plant in Texas is November through early spring. Roots [set out in the cool months](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/when-to-plant-a-tree/index.html.md) keep growing while the tree is dormant, which helps it through the first summer heat. Blue Whale Trees ships live plants from February to May and in October and November, and holds an order placed outside those months for the next window.

## Clay: the Blackland Prairie and its creeks

Trees on the Blackland grew mostly in its stream bottoms, where bur oak, Shumard oak, sugarberry, elms and pecan stood.

![Tallgrass prairie of green grasses and scattered wildflowers on low hills, with small trees in a draw and woods beyond](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/articles/native-trees-for-central-and-north-texas-2-1000.jpg?v=8d36c567 "Clymer Meadow Preserve in Hunt County, Texas, on June 24, 2021. Only small remnants of the Blackland Prairie remain, and its trees grew mostly in the stream bottoms.")
*Photo: Wilafa, [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ATexas_Blackland_Prairie%2C_Clymer_Meadow_Preserve%2C_County_Road_1140%2C_Hunt_County%2C_Texas%2C_USA_%2824_June_2021%29.jpg))*

For a yard on the black clay, plant trees that take [heavy clay](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-and-shrubs-for-heavy-clay/index.html.md) and lime:

- [Bur oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/bur-oak/index.html.md), a massive oak for heavy clay that takes lime and drought better than most oaks. Zones 3 to 9, 60 to 80 feet.
- [Shumard oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/shumard-oak/index.html.md), a big red oak little troubled by the yellowing alkaline soil causes in many oaks. Zones 5 to 9, 50 to 80 feet.
- [Cedar elm](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/cedar-elm/index.html.md), the common elm of Texas, a shade tree for hot, heavy clay, dry or wet. Zones 6 to 9, 50 to 70 feet.
- [Mexican plum](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/mexican-plum/index.html.md), a single-trunked plum of Texas fencerows and well-drained prairies that flowers white in March and April. Zones 5 to 9, 10 to 35 feet.
- [Possumhaw](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/possumhaw/index.html.md), a deciduous holly for alkaline soil whose female plants hold orange-red berries until mid-March. Zones 5 to 9, 7 to 15 feet.
- [Western soapberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/western-soapberry/index.html.md), for clay or rocky limestone ground, alkaline soil and long droughts. Zones 5 to 9, 20 to 50 feet.
- [Gum bumelia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/gum-bumelia/index.html.md), a thorny small tree for clay and long droughts, with black fruit birds eat into winter. Zones 5 to 10, 15 to 45 feet.

Along the creeks and rivers:

- [Pecan](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/pecan/index.html.md), wild along rivers across the region. Ours is a northern strain from Iowa, Illinois and Missouri. Plant two for pollination. Zones 5 to 9, 70 to 100 feet.
- [Sugarberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/sugarberry/index.html.md), the hackberry of floodplains and stream banks, though very alkaline soil yellows its leaves. Zones 5 to 10, 50 to 80 feet.

[Osage-orange](https://bluewhaletrees.com/species/osage-orange/index.html.md), the bois d'arc, grows wild along the Red River and on the Blackland, and we do not grow it.

![Large, wrinkled lime-green Osage orange fruits scattered over the ground among fallen leaves and weeds](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/articles/native-trees-for-central-and-north-texas-3-1000.jpg?v=71104d12 "Osage orange fruit fallen under the tree on September 28, 2023. It grows wild in the Red River drainage and on the Blackland Prairies and Post Oak Savannas of Texas.")
*Photo: Blue Whale Trees*

## Sand: the Cross Timbers and the Post Oak Savannah

Early travelers gave the Cross Timbers their name:

> "Early travelers through north Texas coined the name "Cross Timbers" by their repeated crossings of these timbered areas that proved to be a barrier to their travel on the open prairies to the east and west." (Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, *Texas Ecoregions*)

Post oak and blackjack oak rule both bands, on sandy soil leached of its nutrients, with black hickory most often in the eastern one. In the drier western band, oaks several hundred years old may stand no taller than 20 to 30 feet. In the Post Oak Savannah, yaupon and farkleberry grow beneath the oaks. For [dry, sandy ground](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-and-shrubs-for-dry-sandy-soil/index.html.md) and sandy loam:

- [Post oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/post-oak/index.html.md), the most common oak in Texas, a drought-hardy oak of dry uplands. Zones 5 to 9, 35 to 50 feet.
- [Blackjack oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/blackjack-oak/index.html.md), a red oak of dry, poor sand that sprouts from the root crown after a fire. Zones 5 to 9, 20 to 40 feet.
- [Black hickory](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/black-hickory/index.html.md), a hickory of dry uplands for soil that drains well, from sand to clay. Zones 5 to 9, 30 to 80 feet.
- [American persimmon](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/american-persimmon/index.html.md), of the oak woods' understory and old fields, with sweet fruit after frost. Zones 4 to 9, 35 to 60 feet.
- [Yaupon](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/yaupon/index.html.md), an evergreen holly for sun or shade whose red berries hang on female trees into winter. Zones 7 to 10, 10 to 25 feet.
- [Farkleberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/farkleberry/index.html.md), a small tree of dry, sandy woods, acid to near neutral, whose leaves yellow on strongly alkaline ground. Zones 6 to 10, 10 to 25 feet.

![A tall post oak with a broad, leafy crown over a gray trunk, among smaller oaks at a woodland edge under a blue sky](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/articles/native-trees-for-central-and-north-texas-4-1000.jpg?v=097e44d9 "A post oak in Lake Mineral Wells State Park, Parker County, Texas, on October 22, 2026. In the Cross Timbers, post oak and blackjack oak hold sandy soil leached of its nutrients.")
*Photo: Larry D. Moore, [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3APost_Oak_Mineral_Wells_State_Park_Texas_2026.jpg))*

## Limestone: the Hill Country and the Edwards Plateau

### The plateau and its hills

Groves of plateau live oak, Texas red oak, Ashe juniper and cedar elm stand over the plateau's grassland. In the canyons of its southern edge, Texas red oak, Lacey oak and Texas ash have been failing to reproduce. Juniper crowds their seedlings, and livestock and deer browse them. [Cage every seedling](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md) in wire at least 3 feet across and 4 feet tall. For thin, rocky, alkaline ground:

- [Plateau live oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/plateau-live-oak/index.html.md), the evergreen live oak of central Texas, for rocky, limy soil and even caliche. Zones 5 to 10, 20 to 40 feet.
- [Texas red oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/texas-red-oak/index.html.md), a red oak of limestone ridges and creek bottoms, small enough for a yard and burgundy to scarlet in fall. Zones 5 to 10, 20 to 50 feet.
- [Chinquapin oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/chinquapin-oak/index.html.md), an oak of limestone bluffs and glades, at home at a pH of about 6.5 to 8. Zones 3 to 9, 40 to 60 feet.
- [Little walnut](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/little-walnut/index.html.md), the smallest walnut, of rocky creek beds and dry washes under limestone walls. Zones 5 to 9, 20 to 30 feet.
- [Eve's necklace](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/eve-necklace/index.html.md), a small tree of limestone hills with rose-pink flowers in spring and black pods like strings of beads. Zones 7 to 9, 15 to 30 feet.
- [Creek plum](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/creek-plum/index.html.md), which makes thorny thickets 3 to 8 feet tall on the limestone of central Texas. Zones 7 to 9, 3 to 25 feet.
- [American smoketree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/american-smoketree/index.html.md), with outlying stands on the Edwards Plateau and leaves that turn orange, scarlet and purple in October. Zones 3 to 8, 20 to 30 feet.
- [Alabama croton](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/alabama-croton/index.html.md), a shrub deer leave alone, whose Texas variety grows wild in only three central Texas counties. Zones 6 to 8, 5 to 10 feet.

[Live oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/live-oak/index.html.md), the southern live oak of the coast, grows wild west only to southeastern Texas. Inland, plateau live oak takes its place and stands more cold and drought.

### The plateau's rivers

Springs from the limestone keep the plateau's rivers clear and cool. Along them, bald cypress, sycamore and black willow stand as relicts of a moister, cooler past, stranded far from their kind in East Texas. [Bald cypress](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/bald-cypress/index.html.md) grows wild there 1,000 to 1,750 feet up beside deep hollows, yet in a limestone yard its needles turn yellow.

![The swollen, ridged base of a bald cypress at the edge of a clear, shallow river, with more cypresses on the far bank](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/articles/native-trees-for-central-and-north-texas-5-1000.jpg?v=9b96a304 "Bald cypress on the Guadalupe River in Guadalupe River State Park, Texas, on July 12, 2009. On the Edwards Plateau it grows as a relict of a moister, cooler past.")
*Photo: Larry D. Moore, [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AGuadalupe_river_state_park.jpg))*

We do not grow Ashe juniper, Lacey oak, bigtooth maple, Texas ash, Texas persimmon, sycamore or black willow.

## Oak wilt, cotton root rot and the ash borer

### Oak wilt

The Texas A&M Forest Service has confirmed oak wilt in 76 Texas counties, and it is killing oaks across Central and West Texas at epidemic proportions. Red oaks, Texas red oak and Shumard oak among them, can die within a month of infection. Live oaks are less susceptible, but their joined roots carry the fungus about 75 feet a year, which causes most of the spread and the deaths in Central Texas. Any wound lets it in:

> "Any new wound on an oak tree can be an entry point for infection including those produced by pruning, construction activities, livestock, land or cedar clearing, lawnmower, string trimmers and storms." (Texas A&M Forest Service, *Prevent the spread of oak wilt in Texas*)

So prune or wound no oak from February through June, when sap beetles carry the spores, and paint every oak wound at once in any month. [Pruning at the branch collar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/pruning-at-the-branch-collar/index.html.md) gives the cuts. Plant other kinds of tree among the oaks.

### Cotton root rot

Cotton root rot, a soil fungus of limy clay at a pH of 7.0 to 8.5, is found from the Red River to the Rio Grande. It strikes from June through September, when the soil reaches 82 degrees Fahrenheit. Plants die suddenly with their leaves still on, though trees may die more slowly, and the dead often appear in widening circles. No control has been found, so where it has killed, plant trees that resist it: live oak, pecan, cedar elm, yaupon and most junipers.

### Emerald ash borer

Emerald ash borer, first found in Texas in 2016, had reached 40 Texas counties by June 2026, most of them from the Red River south through Dallas, Fort Worth and Waco. Ash makes up more than 5 percent of the canopy in Dallas, and every native ash is at risk, so replace lost ash with a mix of other kinds.

## Where to start

- **Texas natives:** the [Texas list](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TX) shows every native we grow that is wild there.
- **A tree for the spot:** the [tree finder](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-finder/index.html.md?zone=8&size=medium-tree&sun=full&moisture=dry) is set here to zone 8, a medium tree, full sun and dry ground.
- **Distance from the house:** the [site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=texas-red-oak&zone=8&sun=full&moisture=dry&distance=25) tests a Texas red oak 25 feet from a wall.
- **The first summer:** the [watering calculator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/watering/index.html.md?stock=bare-root&soil=clay) gives the water for a bare-root sapling in clay.
- **The season:** the [planting window](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?state=TX&zone=8&stock=bare-root) gives the dates for a bare-root sapling in zone 8 of Texas.
- **The trees in the opening paragraph:** [put all thirteen on a request list](https://bluewhaletrees.com/list/#items=bur-oak:1,shumard-oak:1,cedar-elm:1,mexican-plum:1,post-oak:1,blackjack-oak:1,black-hickory:1,plateau-live-oak:1,texas-red-oak:1,chinquapin-oak:1,eve-necklace:1,pecan:2,sugarberry:1), keep the ones for your ground, and we reply with what is ready and current pricing.

## Common questions

### What are the best native trees for Central Texas?

Bur oak, Shumard oak and cedar elm suit the Blackland's clay. Plateau live oak, Texas red oak and chinquapin oak suit the Hill Country's limestone. Pecan and sugarberry suit the creek bottoms.

### What are the best native trees for North Texas?

Around Dallas, on the black clay, plant bur oak, Shumard oak, cedar elm and Mexican plum. In the sandy Cross Timbers near Dallas and Fort Worth and to the west, plant post oak, blackjack oak and black hickory.

### What trees are native to the Texas Hill Country?

Plateau live oak, Texas red oak, Ashe juniper and cedar elm form its groves. Bald cypress, sycamore and black willow grow along its rivers. Little walnut, Eve's necklace, creek plum and American smoketree grow wild there too.

### What trees grow in Blackland Prairie clay?

Bur oak, Shumard oak, cedar elm and Mexican plum take its black, alkaline clay. So do possumhaw, western soapberry and gum bumelia. Where cotton root rot has killed plants, choose pecan, cedar elm or a live oak, which resist it.

### What are the Cross Timbers?

Bands of post oak and blackjack oak woodland on sandstone that run from southern Kansas into central Texas, between the eastern forest and the prairie. Early travelers named them for the timber they had to cross between open prairies.

## Sources

- [Map Downloads](https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/pages/map-downloads): USDA Agricultural Research Service, 2023 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map: the East Texas and West Texas maps, and the zones of the Red River, the Cross Timbers, the Hill Country, Dallas, Fort Worth, Waco, Temple, Austin and San Antonio.
- [Texas Ecoregions](https://tpwd.texas.gov/education/hunter-education/online-course/wildlife-conservation/texas-ecoregions): Texas Parks and Wildlife Department: the quotation, the rain of the Blackland Prairies, the Post Oak Savannah and the Edwards Plateau, the Blackland's dark alkaline clays, the Post Oak Savannah's oak woodland in grassland on acid sandy loam, and the Edwards Plateau as the Hill Country, on shallow soils over limestone.
- [Ecoregions of Texas](https://dmap-prod-oms-edc.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/ORD/Ecoregions/tx/TXeco_Jan08_v8_Cmprsd.pdf): U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (Griffith, Bryce, Omernik and Rogers, 2007): the Blackland's belt from Sherman to San Antonio, its chalk, marl and shrink-swell clays, its lost prairie and its stream-bottom trees; the two bands of the Cross Timbers on sandstone, their oaks, black hickory and persimmon, the old, short oaks of the western band and the Grand Prairie between; the understory of the Post Oak Savanna; the Edwards Plateau's uplift along the Balcones Fault Zone, its periodic drought, spreading juniper, oak groves, clear streams and riverside relicts, and the hardwoods failing to reproduce.
- [Baldcypress](https://research.fs.usda.gov/silvics/baldcypress): USDA Forest Service, Silvics of North America (L. P. Wilhite and J. R. Toliver), with the chapter on Osage-orange (J. D. Burton): the stands of bald cypress at 1,000 to 1,750 feet beside deep hollows on the Edwards Plateau, and the native range of Osage-orange on the Red River and the Blackland Prairies.
- [Prevent the spread of oak wilt in Texas](https://tfsweb.tamu.edu/prevent-the-spread-of-oak-wilt-in-texas/): Texas A&M Forest Service (2025), with its pages Texas Oak Wilt, Put the right tree in the right place to maximize benefits to landscape, Effects of Drought on Trees, Planting, Tree Care in the Cold and Ice Damage and Emerald Ash Borer: the quotation, oak wilt in 76 counties and its epidemic in Central and West Texas, red oaks and live oaks, root spread, the months to leave oaks uncut, painting wounds and planting other kinds; planting from November through early spring and roots that grow in the cool months; the wire cage; Winter Storm Uri, watering before a freeze and waiting for green-up; and the ash borer's spread, its counties, the ash in Dallas and replanting with several kinds.
- [Frosts and Freezes](https://travis-tx.tamu.edu/about-2/horticulture/plant-problems-and-maintenance/frosts-and-freezes/): Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Travis County, with the extension's Protecting Landscapes and Horticultural Crops from Frosts and Freezes (Monte Nesbitt and Robert Richter, EHT-048, 2014), the Texas Plant Disease Handbook's Cotton Root Rot and the Bexar County article Cotton Root Rot, the Invisible Killer (Lynn Rawe, 2004): the quotation and watering before a freeze; the last spring freeze at Wichita Falls, Fredericksburg, Austin and San Antonio; and cotton root rot's soils, range, season and signs, the trees that resist it, and no control.

## Related

- Next step: [Open the tree finder](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-finder/index.html.md?zone=8&size=medium-tree&sun=full&moisture=dry)
- [Native trees and shrubs for heavy clay: which take it wet, which take it dry, and how to plant them](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-and-shrubs-for-heavy-clay/index.html.md)
- [Which oak to plant: the fastest, the first to bear, the biggest acorns, and oaks for small yards, wet ground and deer](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/which-oak-to-plant/index.html.md)
- [Native trees and shrubs for dry, sandy soil: the plants of barrens and dunes, and how to grow them](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-and-shrubs-for-dry-sandy-soil/index.html.md)
- [Drought and an established tree: where to water, how much, leaf scorch, and the year after](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/drought-and-an-established-tree/index.html.md)