A guy named Keith Pulliam at Appealing Gardens Landscape has a company in Wylie that does native plant landscaping. He works with our master naturalist chapter on prairiie restorations. You might try him. If he can't help, maybe he can recommend someone who can.

keith@agscapes.com

Here is a link that might be useful: Appealing Gardens Landscape

Dallas County and the COD have used Bonnie Reese of Beautiful Landscapes for several of their community water-wise/xeriscape education sessions. We've not used her for design, but have found her very helpful in sharing her experience with an appealing practicality. I suspect others on the forum may be more familiar with her. Her focus is Dallas County, but may give you some pointers for getting started or know some folks working in Tarrant County who could help you out.

Getting some solid examples of what you like (or dislike) from a few of the books on Texas landscaping could speed things up with whomever you end up working with (which could help reduce the cost). I've found ones by the Wasowskis and Greg Grant helpful, but there are many others with comments and some previews that can be seen on Amazon.com. Some are likely available through your local library.

Here is a link that might be useful: Texas landscaping books on Amazon

Thanks for your responses.

I checked out Appealing Landscapes and it appears they only work in the Plano/Allen area. Beautiful Landscapes has a long waiting list, according to the site. And both are rather expensive for me.

I will definitely be looking into getting some landscaping books from the Amazon link from the library and see how that helps me at least put some ideas together, prior to consulting others.

There are also several xeriscape demonstration gardens in north Texas that could be worth a visit for ideas or contacts. I've not been there, but believe there is one in Arlington at VeteranâÂÂs Park.

Several area communities also host related no/lo-cost events once the weather cools; like the Coppell SmartScape tour on September 21st or the Plano YardWise session on Green Landscape Design on October 15th. Many are tracked by the North Central Texas Council of Governments under the event calendar of their Texas SmartScape site.

One of the Native Plant Society of Texas chapters or other local gardening clubs are other possibilities for meeting people who could recommend local landscaping folks doing the kinds of projects you're after.

Here is a link that might be useful: Texas SmartScape design layout overview

I'm in Austin and am considering artificial grass. I'm 'up in years' also, and my son comes over to cut and edge, but like myself, he's also getting older. Of course I can hire a landscaper, but with the drought that we seem to be having every summer, I want a final solution. Last year I had my complete back yard dug out, and mulched, planted trees, bushes, and a few flowers, and am adding to it, hopefully to make it a park-like environment.

Being from CA, I'm used to grass which can be nurtured with a bit of water and fertilizer, not trying to bring it back to life after a near death experience. Artificial grass is becoming more popular in Ca, and it quite possibly could become the final way with dealing with drought in Tx.