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Plant profile · Austin & Hill Country

Featherplume

Dalea formosa
native · Hill Country

Featherplume is a shrub native to the Texas Hill Country that grows 3–6 ft tall and 6 ft wide. It wants full sun and low water, and handles caliche and clay soil. Flowers are purple. Good for bees, nectar insects and small mammals.

Will it grow in your yard?

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The facts

4 sources
Type
Shrub
Sun
Full sun (6–8 hrs of direct sun)
Water
Low
Height
3–6 ft
Spread
6 ft
Bloom
Purple
Foliage
Deciduous or dies back in winter
Soil
Takes caliche and clay · recorded on caliche, dry, gravelly, limestone, rocky, well drained
Wildlife
Supports bees, browsing mammals, deer, nectar insects and small mammals

Where it grows

No Level IV record in the launch area yet. Recorded in these Texas ecoregions:

Chihuahuan DesertEdwards PlateauHigh PlainSouthern Texas PlainSouthwestern Tableland

3 occurrence records in Central Texas (GBIF).

Can you buy it?

Also grows here — hard to find. Native and recorded growing in Central Texas, but not on the grower stock lists we read. Sourcing varies: some are stocked widely, others you will have to hunt for.

also grows from seed It starts readily from seed, so a packet from a native-seed supplier, or seed collected with permission, is often the easiest way to get a plant no nursery pots.