Hi Leona, Being a new rock gardener myself, my suggestion would be to join the North American Rock Garden Society--NARGS. They will send you a beginner's handbook along with other things and its quite helpful. There is also a person you can ask questions of on their website . The web site is www.nargs.org. The beginner's handbook lists 100 plants that are good for a beginner. I'm really excited about all I'm learning.

First off Leona, I am going to make an assumption here that may be erroneous. Since there are FAR fewer people that have alpine rock gardens then you think, I believe your definition is much more lax, and includes a large variety of plant materials, strategically positioned among a large number of rocks that are as much of the garden composition as the plants themselves.

Rock gardens mean different things to different people. To the purist, it is emulating the alpine environment,high in the mountains and above the tree line. THAT would be very difficult for you, as in north Texas I imagine it gets quite hot in the summer. Even here in Minnesota, I have lost an alpine or two due to heat.

But there are lots of good dwarf and/or xeric plants that will grow nicely for you, along with some "not so picky" alpines. They can easily produce the garden I think you envision.

I would first find out the big picture. Do you want to go for an alpine garden, or just an alpine look? The latter is much easier and doesn't require such rigid soil specifications, but the former has more interesting plants, IMO, although they won't produce the large splashes of color that a perennial garden will. There is in-between room at any increment you desire. I suppose this forum is technically for the purists. But many of us are not. And there is a perennial forum if that is what you desire. Beginner type books can be found at books stores or libraries to help you get an idea.

Now that I may or may not have made a fool of myself, I will close with one more bit of "advice".

For easy perennials that do not require the alpine regime, but have the look, you could grow sedums, sempervivums(hen & chicks), Jovibarbas, cactus, dwarf balloon flowers like Sentimental Blue or Astrids, Phlox stolinifera, perennial alyssums, small Campanula species (Bellflowers), miniature iris, Antennaria species(Pussytoes), low growing gentians like Gentiana septemfida, small grasses like June grass and Little bluestem, etc. Plus there is a plethora of plants that I would not be familiar with living far up north. Shoot for things with differing heights, textures and widths, but under, say, about a foot or foot and a half. The shorter you go, the more alpine it will look.

Rick