We just had to have two trees cut down on our backyard this past week and it got us thinking about what we might want to replace them with - new trees, shrubs, flower gardens..... then we started pondering the heat & what would work in those spots in the yard where the summer sun just blazes down. We did a little research on the internet- began googling things and were pleasantly surprised to find lots of help.

Going green is surely the topic du jour - maybe the topic of the year, decade, or century. In our search, we came upon The North Central Texas Smartscape web site which is set up to guide you how to save money on water bills, buy less fertilizers and pesticides, eliminate plant replacements from drought or watering restrictions and even shows you how to help prevent future water pollution.

They have landscaping design tools, plenty of information on native Texas plants, what works best where, what will survive the Texas summers with little water & efforts, photo galleries showing what other folks have done - and it's all for free!

I'm sure everybody could use a little more cash in their pockets from a smaller water bill and what's it going to hurt to make your home look more attractive at the same time!

Check it out at: http://www.txsmartscape.com/NorthCentralTX/main.asp

Other web sites offerings tons of info on Xeriscaping~

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/xeriscape/xeriscape.html

http://www.landscapetexas.org/irrigation.html

http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/assistance/compost/Xeriscaping.html