You just described gardening. Try stuff until you find what you can grow. What one person might find impossible another person finds easy. Rule of thumb keep xeric plants (lantana and sages) separate from water loving hybrids/plants. Keep plants that need more water closer to the house and water.

Pj said it all. I moved here from a northern clime and I killed more than my fair share of innocent plants trying to figure out what works.

I'm down in the Austin area, but we both have similar alkaline soils for the most part, I think.

In addition to Lantana and Sage (Cenizo) which are indeed easy to grow, I've had much success with Cherry Sage, Mealy Blue Sage, Rock Rose, Flame Acanthus (careful on that-pops up everywhere), Four Nerve Daisy and Mountain Laurel. Those are a few natives off the top of my head that seem to thrive on minimal care.

Ditto on all bjb mentioned - I would also add Turk's cap sun or shade, pigeonberry mostly shade, red yucca sun, lindheimers muhley (an ornamental grass) partial sun, and not native but well adapted, Russian sage sun, to the list.

Are you in an area of Alkaline clay or Caliche and limestone? This is not a good year to decide what works to establish in a garden. Even natives are dying. Also look north to Oklahoma wildflowers.I like Maximilian sunflower, and silverleaf sunfloer, heterathecas, antelope horn milkweeds. Scutelaria drummundii,S wrightii, Pink scutelaria. Find a good nursery for natives. and the pickings will get good.I like all the no;inas, dasylirions,prickly pears, cylindropuntias, Desert mallows are knock dead gorgeous in spring and fall. Salvias of many types are great for Texas. This year has been tough on the mexican salvias but usually they are great. I also like Sedum palmyria. It is hardy to 0 and very xeric and takes shade and sun.

Check out the Texas Superstar rated plants. The site has lots of good tips on growing plants too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Texas Superstars

I've had good results with black-eyed susan and purple coneflower (Not sure the second is really native....) Zinnia and Cosmos did really well at my old house they readily reseed and truthfully the only thing we ever did was cut down the flower stalks in the winter.
Turks cap has, this year, been the only flower that has done really well in my garden. (never replanted the others). Some of the prairie grasses would probably do really well with minimal water, but as someone else said, this wasn't a good year to judge.
If you can pick up a book from the library, Neil Sperry's Complete Guide to Texas Gardening, it has a huge section on what they call 'Blue Ribbon' plants, ones that are especially adapted to heat and drought, and then more red ribbon ones that are good for the heat but need a little bit of water. I don't have a copy handy at the moment or I would list of some of the easiest ones to get established here....

I'd recommend that you go to a meeting of the Native Plant Society or at least contact them. Under contacts on this site, there's a list of emails...I'd email the president and ask about meetings and also a list of plants for your area. Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: NPSOT, Dallas

My gateway plant was a croton. I find them very hardy here in Texas, and very colorful. I definitely would start in pots to help you figure out the sun/shade patterns and needs of your plants. I recently have become fascinated by Bromeliads (and fall is a good time to keep them outside just remember to bring them in when it starts to get cold). If you are looking for a starter vegetable I would suggest green peppers in containers (California Wonder are disease resistant for the most part, but they are aphid prone). Ivy is one of the easiest and least maintenance plants for indoors just keep it in a sunny spot and water regularly. Hope this helps, and remember if at first you don't succeed try, try again!

Btw, you could try to start some veggie seedlings now and they might make it but it's a few weeks too late, if you are trying veggies start your seedlings aroung the end of Dec. (I started mine last year at the end of January and it was too late to get spring veggies... they are just now fruiting for fall).

Buster, what kind of a croton do you have that is winter hardy here in North Texas????

Pomegranates are fabulous; not only are the flowers outstanding, the fruit is delicious. Red Texas quince is another hearty shrub; ditto Apache plume. The pink and pink/white phlox do very well, but have had no luck with the other colors. Copper Canyon daisies and blackfoot daisies thrive in the heat.

I had (lost it in July because my house sitter didn't water them while I was away on business for 3 months) a Codiaeum variegatum pictum that did fabulous here. I had to bring it in year one (it was a container plant) for one month, and this past January because of the size I covered it with a black garbage bag with a few holes poked in it to trap heat and allow moisture to escape, stuffed a couple crumpled up newspapers in it and loosly tied the bag around the base of the plant. I took the bag off once a month on a sunny afternoon for circulation, changing the newspaper and a light watering. After the last frost I remove the insulation and adjust the soil if need be. Every year the leaves a lot of leaves fall off in winter, but in spring they all come back, and I pruned in height year one and from that it grew into three main stems between 3-6 inches above the base. I bought it for about $5 and after 2 years it was 3 feet tall. I should have taken it with me.

Thought about that... I'm from the great white north so finding any tropical plant that only goes completely dormant for a month or two is heaven for me, but they are more work than TX natives. Having said that they also use cold weather in the evenings to turn their leaves orange, red, and yellow so fall is their best season here and without the cold their leaves won't turn color as brightly. The mature leaves lasted from early April through mid December for me. I didn't cover the plant until the leaves began to shed but they require a south facing area that gets full sun Nov. through Feb.

You are braver than I because I have two of those and they come inside for the winter. When the tag says 10a, I take them at their word. One I have had for years and it is getting a little large to move around, but it really looks pretty in the yard all summer and the heat did not phase it.

I kill everything- set the sprinklers, fertilize & deadhead once in a blue moon & otherwise they're on their own. My best bulletproof ones so far:
*Knockout Roses get huge if I let them & it's pretty all year. Evergreen
*oleander takes extreme abuse (I moved them 3times in 3yrs & still they survived); grows fast; pretty flowers; Evergreen-FYI poisonous But who's gonna eat it?!
*rosemary & lavender
*dusty miller is evergreen (white/gray) & cheap filler sold as annuals
*Pots in full west sun with usually just weekly watering even this summer: boxwood & varigated asian jasmine, blue point juniper trees, soft tip yucca (everything else potted died)
*lantana isnt always perennial for me but it's huge & pretty

If you have an area with morning sun and PM shade the American Beauty Berry, (a Texas native, I believe) is a tough bush to kill. The berries are beautiful in fall and the birds love them.

Keep in mind that just because it is a native it does not mean you can just stick it in the ground and it will grow.
Getting it established is the key to success. In this drought I have had to water some new plantings daily to keep them alive. Also when planting I rake back some of the potting soil exposing the roots. If the roots wind around I unwind them. If you cut or break some it will only stimulate more to grow. I do not amend soil but place what ever soil is already in the bed carefully around the roots. I water in the soiI as I fill the hole to get the soil inbetween the roots. Do not water so much to make mud. Do not be afraid to pack the soil well around the roots. I actually stomp around the plant with my fist or foot on large plantings. Do not add fertilizer, especially nitrogen, when planting. Let the plant get established first.

Just found a new croton at the local supermarket, (3 letter name) for $4.00, so yay, I have a new croton. I will see how this one goes but since I bought it from the same place as the last one I'm hoping with the same treatment to get great results. Will re-pot in 2 weeks after the outdoor acclimation, same soil as before (half potting soil and half garden soil fertilizer additive with mulch for drainage and to let the fertlizer that seeps to the bottom get "happy" for a few weeks while the roots grow). Fingers are crossed.