I would suggest that this forum could maybe suggest a couple of general principles from which you could develop your own plan, but it's true that you need to be willing to get yourself up a learning curve about both gardening and landscaping to make this work. To tell the truth though, if you don't do the learning curve pretty much all the plants you buy and even professional advice will be a bit if a waste of money, because plants need to be maintained to be of any aesthetic use. The safest thing to do if you don't want to get too involved is just to have all grass!! I think, first, I would put nothing that the dog walkers can destroy by the street. A lot of novices are inclined to cling to the perimeter of the lawn when planting, and that is usually a mistake - by the driveway, plants interfere with getting in and out, and by the street, plants are subject to dog abuse and road salt. Grass is the best plant for those areas. You don't have to have beds anywhere, not even at the house, but if you want some, then I would suggest nice deep beds at the house and maybe another bed within the lawn somewhere. If you outline the bed with a row of flat bricks, it will be easy to mow around, although the edge will always require some maintenance. A key question is always "what do you want to accomplish?" If it is just to fill those beds, ask yourself whether you really want those beds. It is no crime to just seed them over with grass. Some sample objectives might be to block or enhance sightlines, to make the house look connected to the lot, to have flowers to watch and nurture, or just to fit in with the neighbours. Let us know how some of our comments strike you, and we may have more advice. I'd definitely start with a visit to the library for some general gardening and basic landscaping books. Just to clarify, in my mind gardening is the process of caring for the living things that plants are, while landscaping is the whole process of creating the external environment in which the plants will grow - but which may or may not actually include plants! Some landscapes are just gravel and boulders, for instance, or fishponds... KarinL

If they also sport blue berries, then they're probably invasive Privets. Should probably be eradicated to help halt their spread and replaced with something else nicer. There are TONS of better options here! :) Here is a link that might be useful: Privet

Butterfly bush? Buddleia.

I live next to Cedar Park and the bottle brush I planted a few years ago died. Cedar Park is not in Austin, but is about 25 miles north. I figure that it was a little too cold in winter for the bottle brush. The nursery suggested (although a great source) is in Louisiana where they have soil and water. Here we have rocks with little soil (totally alkaline), HEAT and little water. The time to plant bushes or shrubs here is November or so. If he plants anything in his yard now, he will have to really water it often (like leave a hose dripping on it) and hope for the best. My .02. Carla in Leander