I can tell you the pH of your soil. It is 8.0 just like everyone's between San Antonio and Dallas. You live in the limestone desert. It's several hundred feet down, 200 miles across, and 500 miles long. There is nothing you can do to change the pH for an entire lawn. The solution is to grow grass that is adapted to the situation. St Augustine is THE grass if you have any shade. Let's go back to the trouble you had keeping yours alive. It should not be that hard to keep it looking excellent. How often did you water and for how long? How high do you mow? How often do you fertilize and with what? Also please be more specific about your location. Are you in an Austin suburb or to the west in the trees?

Thanks! I found the last one is Ibervillea lindheimer.

I will NEVER use cotton burr compost again. I used it as a top mulch this year in my garden, and my plants looked sick and stressed for no reason. It didn't matter how much water I gave them. Upon closer inspection I noticed that this compost has the consistency and properties of talcum powder. Wherever I put it, water would run off the top. It actually created a barrier between the water and the soil. There was no way water could reach the roots. The one plant that did NOT get mulched with this compost is thriving, And now that I know about all the potentially hidden chemicals, I'm going to throw it all in the trash. I'm going to have to remove all my garden soil this winter and start over. Not happy!

Oh Barbra and TexanJana, I would love to see what the unknown plants look like that you got from Schumachers!!! They have so many unusual plants. I got the native West Texas Velvet Pod Mimosa that I posted about last year there, but didn't see any this time. It is such a great plant I can't imagine why nurseries aren't carrying it. I did pick up the similar looking 'fairy duster bush' the other day. Last year I tried to move the one I had and it died. This is creeping violet mentioned in my first post ... The South African Hosta ... When I told the very nice lady at the check out counter I was going to post about the nursery, she laughingly said, "Tell everyone to bring gloves and pull a few weeds while they are here." When Chip took the nursery back after having sold it a lot of people did go over and help get the place back in shape. The unsung hero of Schumachers, Chip, is not in the greatest of health. He has really struggled to keep the nursery going. Cast a few prayers his way. BTW, they have the yellow yucca that someone mentioned wanting.