better pics of the weird space

Do you know what kind of soil do you have?, acidic or alkaline?, clay, sand?, water availability?. irrigation system?, what kind of plants and trees do your neighbors have?, could you post pictures of particular gardens you love?, how much time are you willing to dedicate to your garden? Your answers will help this phenomenal people to help you.

Omar

Thanks! I will do my best with descriptions and look for some photo inspirations to post.

I don't know soil type exactly but this house is only 3 lots down from my previous one so I am going to assume it is similar. Which is fairly clayey. My old lot was somewhat acidic but we had a lot of pine trees.

Pines and oaks are natural growers around here, but not exclusively.

Even though the house is a typical ranch style, I want to incorporate a little tropical style into the landscaping, but more so in the back to accompany the fu

ture pool. My vision does take some inspiration of tropical landscapes from places I've visited though- Jamaica, Roatan, East Africa.

Not necessarily just a bunch of palm trees though.

I think I can figure out perennials and such to fill in the spaces, I mostly am having trouble getting started with tree and bed locations.

Here are a couple front yard pics of my previous house, but it had a lot of shade. I'll look for insp pics. Over the years, we spent a lot of time working on it and aren't opposed to that. I like a more free-form look versus traditional/boxwood look.

This might be of some interest:

http://texassuperstar.com/plants/

Thanks! I’ve actually had many of those in my previous yard. I’ll check out a couple of the trees listed.

Thanks! That looks great! Are those two trees flanking the house crape myrtles or just any kind?

I would create long flowerbeds at the front and sides of the property. Similar to the ones you had in your previous house. If you don’t want to use oaks and/or pines (I would, they look great in your former house), I would use jacarandas, Mexican olive tree, crape myrtles, palo verde and anacua trees. The perennial bushes will change as the trees provide shade but I would make sure to use some lantanas, thryallis, passifloras, esperanzas, coralbeans, roses, mandonas, coral honeysuckles, American beauty berries and variegated eleagnus. I know some of the mentioned plants are considered aggressive, so make sure you know them before planting them. It’s a beautiful space. Have fun!

Omar

"Are those two trees flanking the house crape myrtles or just any kind?" Any kind that are pretty, of good habit, around that size and grow where you live."

I would pass on Jacaranda (invasive), Palo Verde (long thorns), Eleagnus (nonnative and often invasive), and Lantana camara (invasive). And Crape Myrtles are also nonnative, extremely overused and their wood is heavy (from water), yet weak.

Anacua does sound like a cool native with edible berries, though.

Otherwise, I would suggest:

[Trees[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/favorite-underused-trees-dsvw-vd~1735953):

American Persimmon

Texas Persimmon

Oriental Persimmon
Desert Willow 'Lucretia Hamilton'

'Little Girl' Magnolias

Western Soapberry

Fig

Pomegranate

Goldenball Leadtree

Kieffer Pear

Oriental Raisin Tree

Mexican Plum
Pineapple Guava
Red Mulberry

Paw Paw

Loquat
Jujube

Rusty Blackhaw

Texas Mountain Laurel
Eve's Necklace

Bushes:

Texas Sage

Rosemary

Hardy Hibiscus & Rose of Sharon

(Thornless) Blackberry
St. John's Wort

Elderberry

Flowers:

Iris
[Compass Plant[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/what-are-you-choices-for-foliage-interest-in-both-sun-and-shade-dsvw-vd~5357531)
White Rosinweed

Pitcher Sage
Standing Cypress
Texas Bluebell
Texas Bluebonnet

Wine Cup
Lemon Beebalm

[Allium canadense[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/is-this-wild-onion-and-how-to-propagate-dsvw-vd~5231628)

Echinacea

Yarrow
Maypop

Black-eyed Susan

Clematis 'Madame Julia Correvon'

If you see folks in your area with gardenias, hydrangeas and azaleas then grab those types. I wish could grow those here in San Antonio

I love gardenias. I had a small variety at my old house and definitely want some new ones. Hydrangeas don't grow well here, at least for me, and I'm not a big fan of azaleas. I know everyone loves them but, they only bloom for 2 weeks. Although my neighbor had some small ones that supposedly were long bloomers. But they froze last year.

I'm going to look at (& pick out) some trees tomorrow and just start getting whatever other plants I like and am familiar with. I'll start there and see how it evolves. It's the big trees and their best location that I'm having trouble committing to.

Azaleas and whte indian hawthorn shrubs did very well for us in Baytown, We had them along a curved walk way very similar to yours . Very pretty and low maintenance. I wish I had photos but it was long ago, Iwould be happy to send you some plummiie stalks in tthe Fall...... whwn we cut tmem back,