Vegetable Gardening with a Native Twist

Chicory and Garlic Growing with Native Sunflowers, Helianthus annuus

Photo by Emmy Ulmschneider

By Emmy Ulmschneider, Master Gardener

As a member of the Texas Native Plant Society, I always enjoy reading their quarterly publication.  On page 20 of their 2025 Summer issue of Texas Native Plants, I found Martha Whitehouse’s article Where Salsa Meets Sage Edible Gardening with a Texas Twist.  See https://www.npsot.org/resources/member-magazine/. Her article confirmed something that I have long noticed in my own garden and inadvertently practiced, mostly by neglect and laziness!  Growing native plants and food plants together can increase the edible harvest.  She calls this the “Texas Buddy System” and goes on to explain:

“Many plants like to grow near each other for a variety of reasons. Science can explain some of these natural affiliations. Others seem almost magical. For example, tomatoes love being next to basil, and both like being near marigolds to help repel pests.”

You might remember learning about symbiotic relationships between species, where one or both species benefit from these close interactions.  Combining a love of food gardening and native plants, in this case, leads to a better outcome; a win-win situation.  Whitehorse lists three reasons why she companions plants in this way: 

1. Native plants use less water.  Not only do real deal natives require less water, but their root systems permeate the ground, anchoring the plant, increasing organic matter, and supporting microbial growth.  All these increase soil productivities and contribute to the overall health of both the native and the food plant.

2. Native plants create a niche.  During my first year with the Permian Basin Master Gardeners, a seasoned Master Gardener told me that native plants take a while to establish, and to remember this with the adage: First they sleep, then they creep, then they leap. As they grow, they modify their surrounding conditions, creating a small but unique niche.  In addition to what the roots provide below ground, companion natives provide shade, which lowers ground temperature, conserves water and creates better growing conditions.  Natives are better equipped to adapt and handle whatever challenges our West Texas weather throws at them.  Natives “know” how to survive!

3. Native plants attract the best and most numerous pollinators and insects.  Anyone who grows natives has found this to be true!  The adage rings true again: Plant natives and they will come!  I am always amazed by the movement of flying insects in a native garden.  In addition to the diurnal insects such as butterflies and bees, ladybugs, dragonflies, and ground beetles, there are nighttime pollinators such as moths and beetles, which pollinate our night-blooming native plants.   See https://www.fws.gov/initiative/pollinators/nocturnal-pollinators

Before you start planting natives everywhere, do your homework.  Choose natives that are not garden thugs.  Avoid natives with thorns or those that produce toxins.  Whitehorse suggests some familiar and easily obtainable natives such as Perennial Winecup, Callirhoe involucrate, Passionflower Passiflora incarnata, Fragrant Mistflower, Ageratina havanensis, and Autumn Sage, Salvia greggii.

If you have questions, call the AgriLife office in Odessa at 498-4071 or in Midland at 686-4700.   Additional information and access to past articles are available at westtexasgardening.org.  Click on “Resources.”

Tomato Growing with Native Sunflowers and Yellow Spiny Aster, Machaeranthera pinnatifida

Photo by Emmy Ulmschneider

Basil Growing with Native Sunflowers Helianthus annuus and White Mist Flower, Ageratina havanensis

Photo by Emmy Ulmschneider