Q&A – Ask Neil: January 1, 2026
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QUESTION 1
COMMENT ABOUT CROSSVINES
Question: Not a question, but a comment about your recommendation of crossvine as an alternative to Hall’s honeysuckle (last week’s e-gardens). I have found them to be very invasive, popping up everywhere. Wayne M., Denton.
Crossvine (Images clickable for larger view.)
Trumpetvine (trumpetcreeper)
Answer: Thanks for taking time to write. I understand your concern about any plant that keeps sending up reincarnations of itself. I must admit that I have only grown one crossvine, and that one only for a few years, but I have been in and out of gardens that featured crossvines scores of times and I have never had the feeling that there were problems with invasive behavior. I’ve never seen that going on, nor has anyone complained to me about it before you. In that regard, it doesn’t compare to trumpetcreeper, the plant with which it is often confused. That one certainly does send up sprouts all over the neighborhood. That’s with the exception of the hybrid selection Madame Galen. It is very orderly. The photo you sent from your landscape, of course, definitely is of crossvine. Again, I appreciate your note. I will remember your caution, and I will be paying close attention.
QUESTION 2
ARE POINSETTIAS WORTH PLANTING INTO THE LANDSCAPE?
Question: Are poinsettias worth planting into the ground come spring? Sharon R., Flower Mound, Denton County.
Answer: Poinsettias are ambitious growers. If you were to plant this year’s Christmas plant into a spot with morning sun and a little protection from the hot afternoon sun, if you prepared the soil well with generous amounts of organic matter, and if you took good care of it, it could be expected to grow to the eaves (8-10 ft. tall) by October.
Unfortunately, that’s when it would begin to change over into the reproductive mode with the colorful floral bracts starting to develop. They would be full-sized by Thanksgiving.
There are only two problems in all that:
• The average date of the first killing freeze in Denton County where you live is mid-November, so you really wouldn’t get to enjoy the show. Covering it would be difficult because of its great size. Plus, there would likely be some near-miss temperatures in late October and early November. It would likely be scorched and browned.
• Second, the larger the plant, the more floral bracts it would have and the smaller the individual bracts would be.
My vote would be to enjoy the color as long as you can this current season, then let it go. That’s not just because greenhouse growers are my friends. My readers are my friends, too, and I’m trying to save you a lot of frustration.
QUESTION 3
IF I CUT DOWN MY ONE MALE PISTACHIO TREE, WILL MY FEMALE TREES STILL HAVE FRUIT?
Question: We bought 4 Chinese pistachio trees many years ago. I was told they were male. Unfortunately, 3 are female. The berries are about to turn my 6 acres into a tree farm. If I cut down the male, will the berries still produce trees? Tressa D., Levelland.
Answer: The fruit will have a fairly high germination rate if given ideal conditions. Seeing that you’re in normally arid Levelland, I would doubt that you would have many seeds that would germinate in the first place, or, if they do, they would be easily removed with a sharpened hoe scraped across dry soil. Any that sprouted in turf or otherwise irrigated areas could easily be dealt with using a mower or a broadleafed herbicide spray containing 2,4-D. On a scale of 1-10 of angst over whether these would be a problem for you on your 6 acres, my concern would be only 1 or 2. Don’t cut the male tree yet! If you want to test it first, use a long-handled pole pruner one spring to clip off all its flower clusters before they could pollinate the other 3 trees. That would tell you whether pollen was coming from another source.
Relative to the original advice from the nursery, if they promised you male trees, they either would have had to observe the flowers and tagged the trees as being “male” or “female” or they would have had to have been selling the ‘Keith Davey’ cultivar. It’s the only one I ever hear of being sold as a male fruitless tree through to the nursery industry. It doesn’t sound like they did either.
QUESTION 4
WHAT TREES AND SHRUBS WOULD YOU RECOMMEND FOR OUR NEW HOUSE?
Question: New house, new yard. The house faces west. We are having two 10-in. trees gifted to us for the landscape. Which would you suggest? Also, what shrubs would you recommend for the front of the house? Wally C., Lindsay, Cooke County.
Answer: I’m not a guy who insists that people stick with native plants at all costs. However, when it comes to shade trees, native species have certainly proven their durability to soils and climate in their local areas. That said, the trees native in and around Cooke County include live oak, Shumard red oak, Chinquapin oak, bur oak, cedar elm, and pecan. Chinese pistachios are not native, but they are a good source of fall color. Southern magnolias are grand large shade trees. There are also more compact selections available. Eastern redcedar junipers are another excellent choice if you want an evergreen that looks natural to your setting.
It’s with shrubs, vines, and groundcover, not to mention annuals and perennials that it takes a lot longer to make my lists. I’m a big fan of the many hollies, certain nandinas, some abelias, oakleaf hydrangeas, crape myrtles, and a dozen other plants. I spent a month writing the Shrubs chapter of my book Lone Star Gardening, so it’s difficult to recreate my comments here in a short-form reply. If you don’t have the book, consider buying it from my website. I self-published it, so it’s not in bookstores or Amazon. Look especially at the chart comparing all the various shrubs, where they’re adapted, their sizes, and my comparative rankings. I guarantee your satisfaction with the book or full refund, so you can’t lose. I also discuss how you might start planning the design for how you will arrange them. You will want to have one.