Yard of the Month
Are You Ready to Win?
With Soils Alive, your HOA community wins $3000 with 36 prizes each year, and everyone gets free delivery and a free landscape review to always pick the right plants for the right places.
Free Plant Delivery
Soils Alive offers free delivery of plants to your home, in spring and fall. Homeowners within an HOA in Richardson, Plano, Frisco, McKinney, and Allen who win Yard of the Month will get their plants delivered at the best time to put them in the ground, either in fall (September 1 - November 1) or spring (April 1 - June 1).
As water restrictions continue with hotter and drier summers, and 60+ day droughts put stress on landscaping, Soils Alive delivers WaterWise plants directly to your home to help cut back on water use, improve curb appeal, and help you avoid HOA landscaping violations. Soils Alive is investing in your community, to help increase property values with landscaping tips that build drought resilience, no matter how hot and dry it gets.
** Program Details subject to final revision by June 1 **
Yard of the Month
Yard of the Month winners save $150 on 40 plants. If 40 plants is too many for you, save $100 on 20 plants instead. We love these smaller plants that can help fill in areas in existing garden beds. Claim your prize by shopping all of our plants using the link below. Or use promo code YOTM at checkout (we can confirm your award after checkout).
- American Beautyberry (shade, morning sun).
Two Neighbors Save $50
Yard of the Month winners: how did you get your landscape looking so nice? Share your best gardening tips with your two closest neighbors and we'll give them both $50 off 20 plants. Share your gardening secrets and invite your neighbors, on your left and right, to claim $50 savings by shopping with the link below (or with promo code Neighbor at checkout with minimum order of 20 plants). 12 annual winners is great. Another 24 winners adds even more beauty to the neighborhood.
- Texas Betony (shade, morning sun)
Landscape Advice
Want to know what plants will grow well in your landscape? Text us a photo of your yard to Soils Alive at 972-889-9850. We’ll take a look at your photos and recommend the right plants for your site. We also offer advice on keeping your entire landscape looking nice, to avoid HOA concerns. Common concerns include using plants that deviate from approved HOA guidelines, weeds growing in garden beds or in lawn areas, bushes that need to be trimmed, dead vegetation that's time to replace, or having brown/dead grass in summer (when not in drought restrictions). To avoid HOA concerns, we offer many of the plants recommended for North Texas by Texas A&M AgriLife's Water University on their Top 100 list. Shop all of our plants that thrive in morning sun, afternoon sun, full sun, or shade.
- Fragrant Mistflower (full sun, afternoon sun)
4 for $16
Have a small space in the garden that gets 5+ hours of sun daily? Need just a few plants? Order our 4 Plants for $16 and we'll deliver four of our favorite WaterWise plants that stay neat and tidy, perfect for a front yard landscape. They'll help to capture sunlight before it reaches the soil, keeping weeds out of garden beds (and helping avoid an HOA violation). With free delivery in October, you'll receive your plants just in time to celebrate the fall Monarch migration.
- Pink Skullcap (full sun, afternoon sun)
Garden Design
Want to put in a 200 - 500 square foot garden? Not sure if you need to hire a designer, or you can create a design yourself? There's an app for that. Stephen Janacek created the Pollinator Patch Garden app when he realized he didn’t have anyone to help him design his garden. It took him two years to build the app, and it's free to use. Upgrade to PRO for less than $10. Create your garden design that's ready to submit for HOA review.
Before You Begin
Before you start your design, there's just two things to do: first, take 20 minutes and review your HOA's landscaping guidelines and CC&Rs. Login to your online HOA portal, or ask your property manager to send you a copy of these documents.
Second, flag off the perimeter of the area where you'll be putting your new garden, then contact Texas 811 to make sure there's no underground utilities. 20 flags on Amazon, or 50-100. You won't want to start your garden design before completing these two simple steps first.
- Henry Duelberg Salvia (full sun)
HOA Approval
Before you break ground on your new garden, you'll need to submit your plan for HOA approval. Your HOA will review your plan and provide their decision, normally within 30 days (you'll probably pay a fee of about $50).
As Stephen writes over at the Pollinator Patch blog, "Most HOA landscaping issues are about appearance and structure, not the plants themselves. Clean edges, defined bed shapes, and height control signal intentional care to HOA reviewers."
Even with a great design, your HOA may have feedback for you with changes they'd like you to make. Ask your HOA review committee to let you know what they are looking for so they can say yes. Most importantly, your proposal needs to add curb appeal, look great from the street, and conform to a few community guidelines to avoid a messy garden bed.
- Autumn Sage (full sun)
Under $2500 Budget
If you design your own garden, with a budget of under $2500 you can create a 500 square foot garden (80-100 plants). Here's a few budget-friendly tips to get the most bang for your buck with smart project logistics. Texas Pure Products can deliver soil and mulch to your site for $50. Their minimum is 3 cubic yards per product type. That's about $200 all-in for 2" of soil + 2" of mulch for a 500 square foot area (or two garden beds of 250 sq. ft).
Metal edging will create a clean, attractive garden bed at about $3.50 per linear foot (in 8' sections). A rock border is another option to consider, requiring a bit more labor for installation. Two garden beds of 250 square feet would each need a 100' drip line ($80 for both beds). Watering needs are most important for the first summer. If selecting drought-tolerant WaterWise plants, they can survive a hot dry summer without extra supplemental watering, though they may look nicer and bloom more with a little extra water.
- Inland Sea Oats (shade, morning sun)
Project Timeline
DFW's first frost date is generally in mid-November, so plants need to be in the ground and watered in by then. That's why we only deliver plants until November 1st at the latest.
You’ll want to obtain HOA approval by October 1 at the latest, if you'll need a few weeks to prepare your new garden site before we deliver your plants to your home. Your HOA needs at least 30 days to review, so for a very simple garden design, you'll want to submit your design to your HOA by September 1. Complex designs that may require revisions, with input from your HOA, should be submitted by August 1.
- Frogfruit (full sun, living mulch groundcover)
David Petty's East Plano landscape design incorporates native and adapted plants including Russian Sage, Four Nerve Daisy, Artemisia Powis Castle, Autumn Sage, Pink Skullcap, Wood Fern, Creeping Rosemary, American Beautyberry, and Turks Cap.
$2500+ Budget
If you have a $2500+ budget, you may want to hire a professional landscape designer to help you with design, plant selection, and installation. Plan on spending about $5-10+ per square foot, $5000-$10,000+ for a 1000 square foot full-service project. Some designers also install, with a minimum project (which may be $5000 or $10,000). Plan on paying a design fee minimum that can range from $500 to $1000, or more.
For landscape designers who specialize in WaterWise plants, Soils Alive recommends David Petty with TX Natives based out of Frisco, Native Gardeners in Arlington, Nativo Gardens in Fort Worth, Shades of Green in Celina, RootedIn in Pilot Point, and Dubberley Landscaping. These are all excellent designers who can help bring your curb appeal to the next level.
- Flame Acanthus (full sun)
Birds and Butterflies
Want more birds in your yard? Give them more earthworms and caterpillars to eat. Cut back on lawn chemicals, which can harm worms and caterpillars. Spot treat weeds instead of spraying herbicide everywhere.
Use organic fertilizers to improve soil health, reduce compaction, and increase water absorption. Soils Alive offers full-service support for a healthy lawn, shrubs, and trees (up to 15' tall). No annual contract required.
- Gregg's Mistflower (full sun, afternoon sun)
Protecting North Texas Wildlife
Start your ecofriendly lawn care today. No annual contract required. We earn your business each and every day, not just when you sign up. We're proud to help our homeowners protect all of the beautiful wildlife here in North Texas. Many lawn care companies blend herbicide into their liquid fertilizer, spraying it across 100% of your landscape, even if it's unnecessary. If every American lawn used 80% less herbicide, just by switching to spot-treatment for weeds (only if their lawn has weeds), over 20 million fewer pounds of chemicals would be released into the environment each year, supporting birds, bees, and butterflies and avoiding contact for young children and small pets.