Does this look like Texas to you? More specifically, does it look like Austin? I hope so. I posted two days ago about The Landscaping Revolution, which proposes, among other things, that homeowners make their landscaping look less homogenous and more regionally diverse—and therefore more interesting—by using native plants. Not exclusively, necessarily, but by using them alongside non-natives with similar water (or lack of water) needs.
A decade ago, when I moved 1,000 miles to Austin from the hardwood forests and more moderate climate of the southeast, I thought I’d have a hard time adjusting to the scrubbier landscape of my new hometown. Trees here seldom grow as tall as they do in the Carolinas, and they tend to have twisted, gnarly trunks and small leaves—nothing like the straight, broad-leaved giants of my youth. Likewise, many of the native perennials here have adapted to the heat and summer droughts with small, often hairy, leaves; others have spines or thorns.
But I fell in love with Austin’s rugged terrain and scrubbier look right away, especially after visiting the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, a native-plant demonstration garden in SW Austin. I was, and still am, inspired by their native gardens.
So when we moved into our current house six and a half years ago, I began remaking my conventional landscape—St. Augustine lawn, “mustache” hedge across the foundation, and solitary sapling oak in the center of the lawn—into a native- and adapted-plant cottage garden. Where before few birds visited and I never saw a butterfly, now I have wildlife to watch and a succession of perennial flowers to enjoy. I don’t tell you this to brag that I’ve done anything unusual or difficult. Just the opposite, in fact.
If I can do it, you can too.
As I learned yesterday, when I asked my lurkers to introduce themselves (thanks, everyone!), quite a few visitors at Digging are locals looking for native-plant information or general gardening tips. I’m no expert, but I’m enthusiastic about native plants, and I know where to go for inspiration and information: the Wildflower Center, other Austin garden blogs, the City of Austin’s free Grow Green Guide, to name a few.
If you live in Austin and have a conventional landscape but you want it to look like Texas, check them out. Soon your yard will say “Howdy!” too.

Mexican feathergrass along the curb

Purple coneflower

Non-native but well-adapted Bulbine frutescens with agave and Mexican oregano in the background

Kidneywood tree in flower