• Multi-week summer drought windows are lengthening on the western edge of the ecoregion; the woodland-grassland transition line is projected to advance eastward.
• Post oak + blackjack oak are drought-tolerant by selection but face cumulative heat-stress days; eastern red cedar (juniper) encroachment is accelerating in the absence of fire.
• Garden-relevant: Cross Timbers natives (Texas redbud, possumhaw, Eve's necklace, native salvias) outperform garden-center stock for the Texas + Oklahoma metro corridor as summer rainfall becomes more episodic.