Prairie front yard, New Braunfels

Priya S. lost most of her St. Augustine in the 2023 drought. What survived was thin and full of weeds, and two downspouts dumped onto the lawn and ran across the front walk after every storm. Resodding would have cost about $9,000 and needed a watering variance; she wanted to stop paying to grow grass.

Her HOA required a planted front yard, some green year-round and a plan approved by its architectural committee.

Jen Alvarez designed a front yard that reads as a small prairie: masses of Lindheimer muhly, little bluestem and autumn sage, with evergreen dwarf yaupon along the house for winter structure and a 400-square-foot panel of buffalo grass where the kids play. A 46-foot dry creek bed of river rock and boulders carries both downspouts across the yard to the street, where it ends in a rock apron.

Hannah Pruitt converted the old spray zones to three drip zones and a single rotor zone for the buffalo grass, with a weather-based controller set to New Braunfels Utilities' stage rules. The beds were amended with compost on top of the clay, not tilled in deep, to avoid creating a bathtub that holds water.