Hi Steff,

Welcome to the Texas forum, unfortunately some of the plants you are wanting do not live in this area but there are some that are very close to what your wanting in both looks and in plant family.
Some palms will make it here as well as some cactus or cacti. You'll just need to find out which ones you'd like.
Bougainvillea's don't live through our winters but many of us do have them but store them inside our garage or inside the home.

Our weather goes from one extreme to another, some winters are very mild while others can be very cold. Springs can be very wet, summers very dry, fall is in-between sometimes wet some time dry.

The first thing you'd need to know is about the soil, we have a mix of soil one area can be loam but most is hard clay so hard that trying to dig into it you'd be lucky to dig 1 inch. Soil amendment might need to be done. Also you'll need to have a test done on the soil, see link below.

Barb

Here is a link that might be useful: soil testing

You might post over on the cactus and succulent forum. I am sure you would learn alot about growing the plants you like in the Dallas area there.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cactus forum

Also, as Barb mentioned the soil and climate can vary quite a bit in the Dallas area.

If you haven't purchased a home yet, and don't have to be in a certain part of the Dallas area because of your job, you might consider looking on the west side of the Metroplex (Fort Worth and on West) if you want an area that likes dry plants and lean soils.

Welcome to the Texas forum, Steff! What a big move - how exciting! I second what everyone's said above, it's all good advice. When compiling a list of plants you'd like to use, look at their zone - Dallas is zone 8a or 7b, depending on where you are. And definitely, definitely try for a place with sandy soil instead of hard clay, it's soooooo much easier to work with!

You may want to get a book called Gardening Success with difficult soils by Scott Ogden. It will get you started.

Like others say, try and find a place with sandy soil but it isn't widely available. Clay soil is more common and there are some areas where you may have to deal with caliche (soft limestone or chalky soil).

So far, the best area for the soil seems to be from south area of Ft Worth through Mansfield into Arlington area. I don't know just how widespread this sandy loamy soil is.

Does anyone know of a website that shows type of soil in DFW area?

Hi Steff,
Welcome to Texas! I'm in Tyler- 100 miles East of Dallas.
The soil here is mostly sandy loam.....roses, azalias and fruit (peaches, blueberries, etc) grow very well here. In winter we get the same weather that Dallas gets, but ususally not as bad - the worst usually goes just North of us.
I plant lots of tropicals here....most I keep in pots and bring indoors for overwintering, but the Cannas, Elephant Ears, and other bulbs can stay inground all year.
You may want to run an internet search for 'zone 8 hardy plants' to get a better idea of what you can grow outdoors year rund here.
Be prepared for hot temperatures in summer! We have high humidity here in East Texas (great for tropical plants!)so it always feels warmer than the actual temperature...farther West beyond Dallas the air is a bit drier (great for cacti & succulents!).
Keep us posted when you find a place and are ready to move to Texas and let us know what plants you'd like so we can try to gather seeds/plants for your new home.

Here is a link for zones
http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/hzm-sm1.html

This site is for soil orders but it does give you the idea where the good soil is.

http://soildata.tamu.edu/

You can plant many of the tree Yuccas like Yucca rostrata, Yucca faxoniana(that is the big one in your picture on the left.) Yucca treculeana and others. There are many Agaves that will work here like Agave havardiana, Agave neomexicana and Agave parryi. The best palms for the area are Washingtonia filifera, Sabal mexicana and Chamerops humilis. There are a number of cactus you can use as well.
Best wishes, David

Thank you a lot for all the responses so far. This will already help me a lot.

I know Dallas and it´s temperatures throughout the year already, I keep visiting my friends in Dallas since 20 years and now I will make the final step and move there.
I already know where I will live, it´s in Dallas, right next (southeast) of downtown, the Cedars (you know the bar Lee Harvey´s?).
Unfortunately I still don´t have a fixed date to move, it all depends on the job...

I know that I´ve seen lots of palm trees and cactus in Dallas already (2 weeks ago, when I was there last, kind of the last visit before moving there), you start looking at front yards differently when you know you will have to (or better: really want to) work on your own yard.

I´ve already looked up my zone, found 2 different ones for my future zip code, one gives me a 7 and one gives me a 8a. Of course I will ask my future neighbours if they already know about the soil.

Don´t know if you are familiar with the word "mediterranean" plants. We use it in Europe for the ones growing around the adriatic sea, especially in Italy and Spain. The link in my first post shows photos that I took in Gran Canaria, one of the Canarian irelands, and I just love the plants there.

How about Agapantus, Oleander (? don´t really know all english words) and all kinds of succulents?

Still, I am very thankful for your advice.

Steff

Hi Stef & welcome. A great book that has saved me from a lot of mistakes is TEXAS GARDENING BY NEIL SPERRY. hE IS ON THE RADIO EVERY sAT & sUN am (1080 AM IN Dallas) I subscribe to his magazine which is Texas only. Before you move you could go to his website & sign up for the free newsletter www.neilsperry.com
sue

Welcome to our neighborhood Stef,
I live in Collin County just north of Dallas. I'm almost 100% sure you will have clay soil just like we do here - and we have great gardens as long as we use plants that like our challenging weather and soil. I would suggest you check the Collin County Master Gardener's website which has much of the information you will need to successfully garden here.
Jim

Here is a link that might be useful: Collin County Master Gardeners

Hi,

I hope you know just what you're letting yourself in for. I'll spare you the details, but would recommend that you lay your hands on 'Gardening Success With Difficult Soils' by Scott Ogden. You can read the important part (first 15 pages) on the flight over.

Come July next year, the rest will be obvious.

Best of luck and welcome aboard!!

;-)

Don´t worry... I know Texas very well, in fact I just got back from visiting friends in Dallas, I was there for 4 weeks in July and August.
So I know what you´re talking about.

I will ask my future neighbours if they know what soil we have there and then start reading what kind of plants would fit there.

But still, I would really like "mediterranean" Style, Palm trees and some cactus...

Steff, you will have heavy "black gumbo" type clay soils, unless you basically remove them and replace with a good composted topsoil.

Most of the things you mention, are still pot plants, that you must drag inside and overwinter, but there are some alternative options.

While some people insist on putting palms here, they really don't fit very well into this landscape, and always tend to look more "out of place" in this environment.

The growing season is so long here, that many annuals simply exhaust themselves before summer ends.

This is challenging gardening, for almost anyone, so be prepared to work hard, to have some of the things you would like. Texas is a relatively inhospitable place for much of any kind of living thing.