Bricks.

Potted plants, shrubs, just plain ol' grass. Colored glass, black or jade pebbles, garden gnomes. A moat.

Fake turf! Interesting link.

Here is a link that might be useful: Fake turf, etc.

There are some low growing sedums/stonecrop that would be able to take the sun and heat. They do spread, but probably not any worse than mondo grass (yes it spreads too). I don't have alot of sun so haven't tried the stonecrop. Maybe others have and can advise on a good type.

One plant that I planted in full sun (with no irrigation) this year and have been quite impressed with so far is woolly stemodia. I have not yet seen how it handles a winter around here.

Dennis

In all seriousness, texasturbo, you might really consider some attractive hardscaping instead of plants. There are some really cool rocks, like rainbow rocks and rose quartz, that would add a dramatic touch. If you put down some kind of weed barrier beneath them you wouldn't even need to worry about weeds between the rocks.

The only evergreen perennials I can come up with are spreading. They are artemesia, phlox, alyssum (technically a reseeding annual), mexican petunia and purple heart. The only non-spreading annuals I know of are not evergreen, like lantana, mexican heather, cuphea, salvias and sages, berries, etc.

I'm really surprised the mondo grass didn't make it; that stuff has survived my haphazard gardening pretty well. You might keep watering it and see if it comes back in the fall.

Bulbine is an evergreen perennial here, not sure if it would be dependably evergreen in the metroplex. The "green" part of the plant is usually about a foot tall max, bloom spires (yellow or orange blooms) may get up to a foot tall, but create a nice open, airy effect that you can easily see other plants through. It blooms for me year round, except in the dead of winter. Very drought tolerant, but will also take torrential rains. Does well in both sun or shade. The clump expands out a little over time, but is easily divided. My favorite edging plant by far.

Honestly, I know of few plants that meet your criteria that will not expand or spread at all over time.

I'll add I'm also surprised the mondo grass hasn't made it for you, as mommyfox also mentioned. I know it's been a brutal yr, even for Texas, but you might want to keep it well watered (perhaps deep soak 2x/wk) and see if it maybe comes back from the roots?

On the other hand, it's been awfully hard to get some of my new plantings to really lock in this year, that's for sure. I've *just* been keeping some of them alive.

My Mondo all just about died near my pool. It was new last year and went into serous decline because of the heat "I believe". I dug it out and potted the plants till they recovered. Later those went into more shady locations.

You might consider Lorilop/Lilyturf. It's a taller thicker variety of Monkey grass. It can have issues in the direct sun, but if you can get it to grow, it really gets beefy and resists the heat well. If you do that, buy larger plants from a good nursery.

Good luck.

I have mondo grass in full sun, and it does just fine. you may have some drainage issues, more than mondo issues.

That's a good point, Rick. What's your soil like, texasturbo?

Don't do rocks. I have rock around my pool and hate it. Our trees have very small leaves and get trapped in the rocks. Dirt fines it way into the rocks and then you have to move rocks to get to the root of the weed to pull it out. Then you have grass flying in the rock when weedeating around it.
I have the small round yaupon holly bushes in one area and I like it. It is evergreen not much needs to be done once they get established.
IMO, It would be best to brick it out all the way or plant something all the way around it.

Southern wood ferns do really well but you have to water them a lot and there not evergreen.

Oh yeah, it might be a good thing to get the soil tested before planting anything else.

Texasturbo
I live in Austin 1st rule of thumb is never plant mondo
aka monkey grass in the sun it will fry even in a mild
summer even in Dallas.The liriope or lily turf is a good suggestion in fact lots of people (as you can see confuse the two). WoolyStemodia(ok in Austin not the metroplex) and Bulbine would not be reliably cold hardy in the metroplex .Low growing sedums are a good idea if you want some there year after year.Perennial color Homestead purple verbena or Blue princess Verbena (Found growing in England by Greg Grant)yes it takes the heat too.There are some annual Salvias like S. coccinea "Forrest Fire" or "Coral Nymph" others like purslane do well in the heat then Pansies or dianthus for winter. Pansies will need watering though if winter is dry.
it is a dry winter.You have some good gardening information
from Howard Garrett (Plants of the metroplex)or Neal Sperry
who has a gardening show on KRLD 1080am Saturday & Sunday from 8-11am. Have fun!!

I didn't think about dwarf shrubs. There are a lot of dwarf shrubs that may do well. Nandina, that carpet juniper stuff, dwarf boxwood (as long as you don't get the kind that smells like cat pee) ... That opens up some other possibilities.

hrmph. I *did* say shrubs, it wasn't all just a joke. *paintbrush makes a pouty face and sits by herself*

Turbo, what did you do? Did you get any good ideas?

dianthus (pinks)?

dwarf Mexican petunia?

The sun isn't killing it so to speak. Transpiration/loss of moisture faster than it can uptake from the surrounding environment is. You have to have irrigation coverage onto the concrete a foot or so if you plant dw. mondo bordering concrete because concrete etc will absorb heat drying/robbing the roots' moisture. Then you still have to water it more. This drought resistant grass can well establish even in sunny locations if it is well irrigated at the time of germination and establishment. Build a pergola over the top, run your irrigation right and replant it = hard to beat the dw. mondo look imo.

Some of the native sedges will take some sun and are good with dry. Berkely sedge is good. I can't believe someone planted mondo grass out in the sun. The native Texas sedge that grows around my house will grow in the sun too. It prefers the part shade. How about some mexican feather grass..

Impatients do so well, but you'll be replanting every year