Compact Texas sage in this garden I created last year is an excellent evergreen shrub choice. Scroll down to see more.

Agarita blooms early with yellow flowers and is a super butterfly plant. The red berries come later and they are absolutely delicious! Spiny and good at keeping people and critters out of an area.

Deer proof, shade tolerant, and extremely Hardy, Worth Palmetto is a wonderful Evergreen option

Dwarf Palmetto

Shade tolerant in the berries are an important food source for birds

Leatherleaf Mahonia isn’t native but it’s well adapted here and for most of the year it’s quite beautiful as the red flower stems produce blue berries.

Mountain laurel is slow growing so it qualifies as a shrub for a number of years before eventually becoming a tree. The purple flowers in early spring smell like grape Kool-Aid. Seeds in pods are toxic to pets and children. Center shade, wet or dry, completely deer resistant and thrives in poor soil.

Texas Green Sage; evergreen, deer resistant, with lovely pink flowers after it rains.

Texas green sage: some varieties have silver leaves, others are green

Texas green sage, the green cloud variety gets really big!

Text Screen Sage requires very little water, grows in poor soil but likes good drainage

Wax Myrtle behind Dwarf Yaupon with "Poodle" cut (not a recommended practice)

Dwarf Yaupon is the most widely successful evergreen shrub in Central Texas, highly recommended, deer-proof!