This past Saturday I attended a seminar on "Responsible Gardening"; the first two speakers, Rick Darke and Doug Tallamy, were inspiring as they discussed not only the impact of the typical "sterile" lanscape on insects, birds and other wildlife, but the wealth of beautiful native plant material we have available to us. I'm sure either of them would have thought your photo a great "before" shot, and thanked you for seeking to make changes! Since you say you would like a more natural look, which would certainly have to be civilized somewhat to suit the style of your house, I would strongly recommend you check to see if there is a native plant society in your area and what plant lists they might provide. Also check for public gardens in your area, a university garden (Texas A&M?), and visit for inspiration; ask the staff questions. You could drive around and see what neighbors have that is doing well for them ... but then you'll just have what they have. The plants with which I am familiar here on the east coast, along the shore of NJ, may well be totally unsuitable for your environment, so I hesitate to make any specific suggestions. Rick Darke, whose work is focused on landscape ethics, photography and contextual design, blends art, ecology and cultural geography in the creation and conservation of livable landscapes. He has worked across N. America, Canada, England, Ireland, Japan, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Chile. (I summarized that from Saturday's program.) Somehow, I think he might have a few ideas suitable to the U.S. Southwest. You might want to check your library for his book "The American Woodland Garden." (I looked at and longed for it Saturday, but didn't buy it and have him sign it ... and now I'm sorry.) Lovely house, by the way; much happiness to you in your new home! Please keep us posted as your plan progresses.

Parafly, I rented the Mataway last year to overseed my 8,000 square foot lawn, and I will tell you that it absolutely whooped my butt. I'm 6'1", about 190 pounds and consider myself to be in pretty good shape. It is self-propelled, but that's only when you're going in straight lines. If you're going to have a bunch of turns, good luck. At every turn you have to turn the seed control off, raise the reels, turn down the throttle, and then lug the thing around to get ready for your next pass. Plus, the seed tubes on mine continually got plugged up and hence created some serious corn-rows in my lawn, even though I made two passes at 45 degrees. I plan on doing another overseed this fall, mainly because of my bad experience with the Mataway. There is a machine here at the Home Depot's in Louisville, KY for rent called the Turf Revitalizer. This overseeder was actually developed here in Louisville, so I was able to go to their plant and demo it. This thing weighs about half as much (literally) as the Mataway and is significantly easier to maneuver on turns. I don't know if these are readily available yet in the rest of the country, but it's what I'll be using this year. In terms of being able to get the Mataway in an SUV or van, I seriously doubt it. Even two people could not lift this thing out of the back of an SUV. You'll need either a trailer or a pickup with a ramp off the back. Good luck to ya!

Insist that he finish (including cleaning) before you close. Construction clean up can be expensive! If you still need another coat of paint after Wednesday, getting that done (without getting paint on stained woodwork) can also be pretty expensive. For the big jobs that can't be done until spring (landscaping, final A/C testing, etc.) maybe having title company hold 1.5 times the bid price will work. But, make SURE you ask what happens if the builder DOESN'T come back and finish in a reasonably timely manner and that "timely manner" is defined. Will the title company release the funds to you if you wind up having to hire someone else to do the job? Or does the language say that, once the big jobs are complete, Title company will release the funds to the builder? If so, builder just has to wait for you to finally get fed up and pay someone else to do the job then he can waltz into title company and say "job's finished, pay me." And you get stuck paying twice! Make sure that after a certain date, you have the option of hiring someone else to do the jobs and then the money will released to YOU to pay them - including an additional 20% to pay you for doing builder's job of hiring and overseeing the work! And, for the little jobs, is title company going to want to bother policing builder's performance? For smaller jobs, the only alternative I would agree to would be if builder was willing, in writing, to allow me (not bank or mortgage company) to hold back least 2 to 3 times as much money as I thought it would cost to hire other people to come in and do the jobs AND he agreed that after a limited period of time (say 6 weeks maximum) any jobs that were not competed, I had the right to hire anyone I wanted to finish them and, when all work was done, then builder got paid whatever was left over, if any, after I deducted all costs for finishing the work plus an additional 20% to pay for my trouble. And, all I had to provide to builder was a copy of receipts for materials and labor paid out to justify what I deducted. I don't think you're being at all picky expecting that your new house won't have cracked shingles or cracked tiles or gouges in the bench of your mudroom. The house should be as near to perfect when you move in as it will ever be. Maybe your builder needs to postpone his trip out of town???

I would add: This list presumes you checked the structural elements of the room before the kitchen went in....but make sure they all remained in good working order following the kitchen installation...windows open and close, doors open and shut (back stops installed), light switches still turn the lights turn on and off, all molding still properly installed and intact. On the cabinet doors I would add to check that they open and close properly and stay fully closed. On the countertops, I would add to check for gashes, dings, cracks and chips and to particularly check where the countertop meets the sink. If intended to be "child proof" check that all locks etc are installed and working. Floor molding properly installed? Where is your fire extinguisher? Have you added its expiration date to your calendar? If installing a range make sure it was anchored so that it cannot flip forward. Are all appliances properly leveled? Save all of your manuals, warranty and any required proof of purchase into a location where you can find them, such as hole punched and put in a three ring binder...look at the warranties to make sure that there is not something unexpected in them that you should be aware of....like required cleaning or maintenance. If there is any, put it on your calendar NOW. Also put in the name and phone numbers of the subs so you know who to call.