Watering frequently is only done when you are establishing new sod or new seed. Once the roots are knit into the soil, then you back off to infrequent watering. If you revert to frequent watering, then you will have all the weed seeds germinating. Which to get, St Aug or Zoysia? Look around your neighborhood for the successful lawns and go with the flow. I can almost guarantee you they are either bermuda (in full sun) or St Aug (full sun or shady). If you can find any successful zoysia lawns, ask the owner how long they have had it and would they do it again? Ask how often they water, mow and fertilize. I think you'll have trouble finding successful zoysia in Central to South Texas. I have a patch of zoysia but I am always in fear of it. Every week I expect it to go dormant...FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON. That's a funny thing about it. Once it goes dormant for any reason, it remains dormant no matter how much water or fertilizer you apply. I find it to be a fickle grass. But then in the spring it awakens like new. Last year my zoysia was dormant from about June 2011 through February. Since I only have a small patch it doesn't get the same care as the large part of the lawn. I've seen several zoysia lawns installed in upper middle class homes. All but one of those has converted to St Augustine before the end of the first season. The other one is going on 3 years now. Last year's drought, heat, and arid winds hit them hard, and they have a lot of weeds this year. We'll see what they do. In any case I don't consider it a pretty lawn and never have. So I'm obviously trying to persuade you to go with the grass that 99% of the non-bermuda lawns use.

Krissie, I highly recommend Matt Oliver at Oliver Custom Homes in North Austin. We just finished building a house with him and he is incredible. He also does a lot of remodels. We couldn't have been happier. His number is 845-0208. I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have about him. Trudy Here is a link that might be useful: Oliver Custom Homes

Generally do this for bermuda: Deep water once every 2 weeks until the temps get consistently in the 90s. Then move to once per week. Deep means a full inch as measured by cat food or tuna cans in the yard. Allowing the soil to dry completely before watering again prevents weed seeds from germinating. Mulch mow at the mower's lowest setting. This is for bermuda, so other readers can tune this out. Mow it 2x per week or 3-4x per week during the spring flush of new growth. You should be well over that if it happened for you. Bermuda grows the most densely when it is mowed low. Dense grass keeps weeds out. If your mower scalps thee grass, then it is markng the places where you need to level the soil. When the mower wheel falls into a hole, it scalps the lawn. Find the low spots and carefully fill the holes with sand or topsoil. Don't create new high spots. Fertilize with a high N fertilizer every month of the growing season. Again, tune this out if you don't have bermuda. Monthly N feedings will kill most lawns by July but not bermuda. If you want to use organic, the best and easiest thing to find is Medina's dry lawn fertilizer. Ignore all the other Medina products, but the lawn fert is really organic and really good. It should be everywhere but it will always be at John Dromgoole's nursery (don't know the name). NEVER add bermuda seed to a Tif 419 lawn. The common bermuda seed will look weedy mixed in with the hybrid Tif. If you are fertilizing monthly mowing low and still have thin spots, the reason is always too much shade. No amount of seed will help and it will always escape out into the sunny areas of the Tif. Here is a pic of a bermuda nut's lawn mowed at 5/8 inch using a reel type mower... He described it as standing on the grass, not in the grass.

I have three Princes on their own roots--the oldest one, one year old, was planted last summer. It getting tallish and is rather problem-free so far this summer, but I have noticed the weird small roses in hot weather mentioned above, but it's not the only one that does that and it was freakishly hot here, in the mid-90s in June (not normal for us). I have put two photos here with its companion plants to give it some perspective in terms of size and color. It is perhaps not as vigorous as something like Olivia or R. Dahl, which are grafted in my garden, but it really not far behind, especially given that it's own root, and started puny. And it has been been flowering more than those two did in their first years. Lots of blooms. So far it is not super tall, but in its habit, it reminds me a bit of my Louis XIV, and is it possible they are related? Louis XIV is grafted, and stays even smaller, but like the Prince, it has regular fragrant dark red blooms on sort of spindly legs, and the blooms are much bigger and more interesting than the plant itself. In the pictures, my one-year-old Prince is intermeshed a bit with Somme 2016, which is not blooming right now, but has the one large bud towering above The Prince that looks bit lighter. Somme 2016 is actually is in a similar color scheme as the Prince and Munstead Wood, and the color also fluctuates based on the weather. It can get a lovely sort of deep magenta-violent and could be an option for people who like rich colors in roses, as the Prince and Munstead Wood are essentially out of circulation, other than the occasional small vendor or in the case of Munstead Wood, I recently got one from a vendor who was getting rid of the rest of their stock from last year. Louis XIV could be an option as well for dark rose lovers, as it is still on the market, if not always easy to find. It does stay a small plant but it good for the front of a border and does smell lovely once it gets going. So far, Somme 2016 does not have much fragrance but it's only a few months old, wants to bloom all the time, and it may surprise me yet. The rose Centenaire de l'Hay les Roses is peeking out in the background, as are Jubilee Celebration (1 month in garden--also possibly about to go out of circulation, so I have heard, so one to snap up if you like strong fragrance as it has to have one of the best) and Bluebell (one year old) in at least one of the photos. Bluebell, for dark rose lovers, is an excellent, small vibrant, violent/magenta pot rose and I totally recommend it for that. I am starting to favor own-root roses (when can find them). I think they bloom more? And you don't have to worry about growth from the rootstock, and when the roots are established, apparently they can live almost forever? Or so I have heard? But I am new to gardening at this level. I live in a temperate, humid climate and this Prince gets afternoon sun, and this what it looks like after weeks of rain and wind. It has been fed but is not sprayed with anything. It bloomed into autumn when planted last year, so I think maybe it deals well, even thrives, in cool and partial shade. But last summer, it was planted right before a heatwave/drought of 40 celsius and survived that. I have a younger own-root Prince in a Southwest exposure as well, almost full sun and it's doing okay in one of the worst spots in the garden, better than many of its predessors that are in the compost heap in the sky, or had to be moved. It's too soon to tell if the Prince will completely thrive in the SW spot. It has bloomed constantly there, though, so here's hoping. I think a lot does depend on where a rose is positioned in the garden. I have had ones that do not do well in one spot that totally perk up in another. But I am still learning so it's really hit and miss sometimes!