Good landscaping plants for North Texas (Dallas, Center: bank owned, house, live)

[mSooner]

We inherited a pile of weeds and some rose bushes in the beds in front of the house we bought last summer. The house was bank owned and on our second showing, we noticed they had put in a bed (there wasn't one before and thought, "Crap. Bet they did a half a** job and we will have to redo it." Sure enough, we think they spread woodchips over existing grass with no weed block and we have quite a mess to rip out.

But anyway...any recommendations for some good native Texan or just drought/heat tolerant plants? The area is full sun and we don't have a sprinkler system so while I'll have to water, I'd prefer to keep things as drought tolerant as possible after the last 2 summers!

Lantana is on my list. I need a couple more things to work around the rose bushes in the larger bed. The roses were an awful mess, but the blooms were so pretty that I decided to keep them pruned them heaving last fall. I'd really like an evergreen or two--a large bush or tree.

Any favorites or advice? I'm not a complete novice, but my thumb is more yellow than green!

[jekutz]

We did some new landscaping around our pool and backyard this fall with a guy who helped us pick some drought tolerant plants. So much of what was planted just died off back there from the heat. I'm anxious to see what it will all look like in the spring with more drought tolerant plants. Some things we've had good luck with in the past is definitely the Lantana, moss rose, purslane, vincas (all good low growing and drought tolerant), verbena, salvia and blue daze have all worked well in our sunny spots. The landscaper also picked some tall grasses to fill in the areas that needed height. Also some herbs work well. Our knock out roses did great and landscaper picked drift roses which is their smaller cousin that stays low to the ground. Back when I was looking into drought tolerant things last year I came across this PDF file that has some good info in it and a huge list of drought tolerant plants for our area. Might give you some more ideas. http://savedallaswater.com/pdf/NaturalBeauties_ENG.pdf

[Oreo's Mom]

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center has a great database where you can look up information based on the type of plant, flowers, tress you are looking for http://http://www.wildflower.org/. Also it may not be a bad idea to get your soil tested to determine if you need to add any amendments, I had mine done through the Texas a&m Agrilifeextention http://http://soiltesting.tamu.edu/. I would stay away from adding the plastic weedblock barrier, as it is a hassle if you need to till the area and weeds will find their way over and under it regardless. Don't forget to add compost and and good layer of mulch to keep your plants growing and conserve water. Please post some before and after pictures, I am curious to see how your re-landscaping project turns out!

[ChristieP]

Neil Sperry's GARDENS - The Definitive Word in Texas Horticulture

This guy is the authority on Texas gardening and landscaping!

Personally, I love yaupon holly!

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

Just be carefull what bush or tree you plant near your foundation. On the advice of the structural engineer, I ripped out 5 evergreens in the front bed as they were too close to the foundation. Some plants have roots that grow more out and they can cause foundation problems.

[mSooner]

Great advice all around! Thanks!

[PlanoGirl]

Neil Sperry is great, though I am more of a Howard Garrett fan.

Couple other great links:

Horticulture and Gardening - Dallas County Master Gardener Association

Texas Superstar®

Plants For Texas® Texas Born, Texas Tested For Texas Gardens™

Find a nursery near you that specializes in (and has a staff knowledgable about) native plants. They can be a great resource. Also, many DFW cities offer a local gardening class through their parks and rec departments or waste managements in order to help reduce resident water consumption (i.e. landscaping with native and drought tolerant plants that do well in our climate).

[PlanoGirl]

Some of the full sun plants in my garden that I love (and that are native/native-adaptive/drought tolerant):

SMALL/MEDIUM TREES:
Desert Willow
Redbud (Oklahoma variety)
Vitex
Crape Myrtle

EVERGREEN BUSHES:
Dwarf Wax Myrtle
Cotoneaster
Rose Creek Abelia (Semi-evergreen)
Rosemary

PERENNIALS/DECIDUOUS BUSHES:
Salvias (Henry Dhuleburg is my absolute fav!)
Mexican Petunia
Texas Rock Rose
American Beautyberry
Artemesia
Blackfoot Daisy
Autumn Sage
Mexican Bush Sage
Pincushion Flower
Four Nerve Daisy
Angel Trumpet (actually an annual, but re-seeds)
Ice Plant
Texas Senna

GRASSES:
Mexican Feather grass
Gulf Muhly Grass (Pink Cloud)
Purple Fountain grass

[mSooner]

We are finally done! I'll post pictures soon.

I went crazy for a few weeks raking out grass/weeds and dousing the beds with round up (luckily not too many existing plants to worry about) before we put down soil conditioner and weed block. We also had to rip up the edging and reinstall, new mulch, etc. That was A LOT of work, especially with a toddler on my back in a carrier 50% of the time. My husband is tired of digging holes.

In one bed we went with boxwood, holly, azaleas, Italian cypress, dianthus, and lantana.

The other bed had existing groundcover and rosebushes. We trimmed the roses and moved around some landscaping rocks that were already there, but hidden. I planted Mexican feather grass to accent the rocks and I plant to fill in with more lantana and another similar white flowered plant (cant remember the name) I found at Calloway's. I got a larger Leyland Cypress to anchor the right bed. It's pretty far from the house, though I know we are going to have to trim it. I'm excited to have a tree to decorate out front in December.

It still looks sparse now, but I'm looking forward to when the plants start to fill in more!!

And most importantly, since we don't have a sprinkler system, I did a DIY job with a timer and some drip hoses. Hopefully that will help keep things alive this summer! Almost everything we got was a full-sun, drought tolerant perennial, so hopefully that will help.