Owen Yost

You can’t change the climate, so why fight it when you landscape? Down deep, you know Mother Nature’s going to win in the end. It’s just a matter of how much money you’ll spend before you and our climate cooperate.

The vast majority of the Lone Star State gets very little rainfall — always has, especially North Texas. Some areas may even be desert, according to textbook definitions. To make things worse, water rates are going through the roof — and will keep ballooning well into the future.

An increasing number of Texans are learning to landscape in cooperation with our environment, where the soil is poor, the rainfall is meager and the heat can be lethal. Green lawns are the most obvious water guzzlers, and they are rapidly going out of favor. They’re inefficient, expensive and serve no purpose whatsoever.

A few folks (you know who you are) have landscaped with gravel, rocks and artificial grass (which usually looks as fake as a bad toupee). However, there’s a whole lot more you can do with your yard if you flex your imagination.

Cacti are fine in a landscape, as long as they don’t dominate it. The majority of yards in this area get too much rain, however. My two favorite cacti for North Texas are both in the Opuntia genus: cholla and prickly pear. There are several other native cacti, but they can’t take our climate, growing naturally only in southern and western parts of the state.

Instead of relying heavily on cacti, a truly cooperative landscape is based on the water efficiency of native plants. Native plants, especially the ones in this region of Texas, cooperate well with our climate. They prefer our nutrition-poor soils and have grown accustomed to our scant rainfall during their many centuries here. My favorites are Texas sage (sometimes called cenizo), Mexican plum, coralberry, beautyberry, mistflower, Texas lantana, cutleaf daisy and Turk’s cap. Dozens of native prairie grasses (with heights generally over 2 feet) cooperate with our climate too, unlike lawns, which are totally unnatural in our climate.

Some extremely water-efficient plants that add character to a dry landscape are agaita, sotol, red yucca, nolina, hog plum and ocotillo. These seem to look better when coupled with a grouping of rocks (each larger than a basketball).

One clue: Almost any plant with “Mexican” in its name grows well in areas of minimal rainfall. After all, much of this state used to be part of Mexico. Look for Mexican buckeye, Mexican plum and Mexican hat. Also, avoid any plants that include the names of exotic, distant lands such as “chinensis” or “japonica.” They won’t cooperate at all with our climate, but they will run up your water bill.

If you have questions about a plant’s origin, a good nursery worker should know. Or you can check the Web site of the Native Plant Society of Texas, www.npsot.org . Our local organization is the Trinity Forks Chapter. The suggestions should help you cooperate with our climate and “go with the flow.”

OWEN YOST is a Landscape Architect Emeritus and co-owner of Denton’s Wild Bird Center store. He is a member of several gardening-related organizations. E-mail him at Yost87@charter.net .