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Several years ago, we built on a wooded lot in an established neighborhood in Tyler. Some of the native plants or wildflowers that have come up on their own in our yard are American beauty bush, jack-in-the-pulpit, spiderwort, trumpet vine, Virginia creeper, wood fern, and probably others that I am not aware of.
My personal favorite is the meadow pink (Sabatia campestris). It has a small smooth, pink star-shaped flower about one inch in diameter with a bright yellow center and vivid green foliage. It is an annual which reseeds, and in my yard, the plants never seem to come up in the same place twice.
The first time I saw this lovely pink flower, I picked it and brought it inside to look at in my kitchen window. Now I leave them alone, and the one plant grows into a bushy clump about 9-12 inches high and wide, and it will be covered with the pink star-shaped flowers. Only then do I pick a small branch to bring inside for closer inspection. I leave the rest to reseed. The books all say that meadow pinks tend to form large colonies. I keep hoping for that, but as yet, they just keep turning up in new locations, and I enjoy seeking them out. It's like looking for Easter eggs.
Carolyn Bonifay, Smith County Master Gardener
Texas AgriLife Extension Service