Restructuring Underway!

Exciting stuff coming up in 2010! We will broadcast details soon...stay tuned. Y'all. Until then...we wish you and your loved ones a very Happy Holiday season. May the magic of the season fill your hearts and homes with love, peace, joy and prosperity!

Welcome to NativeDave.com. Our sustainable landscape designs are rebellious by Nature.

Thank you for your interest in our online, custom landscape design and consultation services. Our mission is to restore Texas by inspiring our clients to use native plants and some adaptable species for the purposes of conserving, preserving, restoring and celebrating Texas' natural resources. We look forward to helping you do your part to protect our precious state. Currently, we are not accepting new design or consultation clients to allow us to work on other projects.

How our online process works

Some people love that we are now offering the same customized design and consultation services at much lower prices. By moving everything online we are able to reduce our operating costs -- our past fuel bills were dizzying!!! Some people, however, are unsure how it all works. It's so simple, really. All we need is a little information, some photos, your survey or plat plan, and the fee to get started. When we have finished your project, we mail and/or email the final product, and then set an appointment to review by phone. More specifically:

1. New client questionnaire -- available as a word document on our blog near the bottom-right of the homepage. Download, complete, save and return as an attachment by email.
2. Upload photos to snapfish.com and invite us to view your photos -- send the link to nativedaveinc@gmail.com. We will need approximately 10-15 photos of the front yard or 15-20 of the back, or a combined 25-35 of the entire property. Remember, you and your camera are our 'eyes.'
3. Survey or plat plan -- scan and save as jpeg or pdf. Make sure your image is legible, especially the scale and directional information. Send by email.
4. Fee -- PayPal is best. I will send an invoice requesting funds after you decide which service suits you best. If you prefer to mail a check, use the address at the top of this page (15521 Palmira Ave Unit A Corpus Christi 78418).

Upon receipt of all of the above we will get started. Turnaround times vary according to season (spring is super busy, naturally), but on average we can get your design back to you within 7-10 days. Sketches take about 4-7 days. As mentioned above, we will send your finished product by mail and email. Next, we will request a meeting by phone. (We are also toying with the idea of video calls via Skype, so let us know if you prefer to 'see' us while discussing your product.) During the meeting David will take you through all of the elements of your design or sketch. He will direct you to photos of the plants, either ours or another website. This will help to bring your plan to life! Of course, he will also allow plenty of time for you to ask questions.

It's super simple. Still not sure? Feel free to drop us an email with your questions, etc. We are always happy to help!

Seeding a Healthy Community

Please join us for the City of Allen's first-annual "Seeding a Healthy Community: A Festival for Healthy Living." The event, which is hosted by Watters Creek, will take place on Saturday, April 4th, 8am to 3pm, at Montgomery Farm located at the SW corner of Highway 75 and Bethany Road, Allen. We will have a booth there and will speak at 10:30 at The Lofts at Watters Creek.

"Spend a Saturday enjoying the great outdoors and a healthy way of life! Bring the family for nature walks, bird watching, kayaking, canoeing, cooking demonstrations, and more! Meet "Seedfolks" author Paul Fleischman at Borders. Shop at a Farmers Market. Take part in garden presentations. Let the children roll up their sleeves and explore their passion for the outdoors through hands-on activities!

This event is a collaboration between Allen Reads, Alliance for a Healthier Allen (Market Street, Presbyterian Hospital of Allen, City of Allen Parks and Recreation and Allen ISD), and a community based EE Consortium (Keep Allen Beautiful, Allen Garden Club, Ecoliteracy Project, Montgomery Farm and Connemara Conservancy.)"

Recap: NPSOT Garland meeting

Our program at Rohde's on Sunday went beyond the allotted time (ha) but everyone seemed to enjoy the experience. David brought Sage in at the end. We have spoken to this group several times and we wanted to introduce Sage to 'the family.' Neat, isn't it, when you love what you do and get to know so many wonderful people? We are always so grateful to be surrounded by incredibly intelligent, supportive or at least open-minded folks who truly want to join our cause to conserve, preserve, restore and celebrate Texas' natural beauty. Thanks to Derrell, May, Susan and the rest of the NPSOT-Garland family. Looking forward to many more years of continued friendship! :-)

It's still dark out as I write this. David is driving, Sage and Folsom the Dog are quietly sleeping. Radio Margaritaville plays softly in the background as we chug along I-35, south toward Austin and beyond to Corpus Christi. (I want to personally thank the inventor of mobile broadband technology!) It's back to the beach to finish up some designs and sketches, then back to North Central Texas in a few weeks. I'll make a separate announcement for the City of Allen event. Hope to see you there.

Meet us at Rohde's tomorrow!

We will be speaking tomorrow, Sunday, March 15th, at 1pm at Rohde's Nursery in Garland. Our audience is the Garland chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas. Meeting is free and open to the public. After, browse the many fine native plants available at Rohde's!

Spread the Word March for Babies - March of Dimes

Spread the Word March for Babies - March of Dimes

Help me reach my goal!Sponsor Me at March for Babies!

Meet us in Garland!

We will be speaking to the Native Plant Society of Texas-Garland on Sunday, March 15th, at 2pm, at Rohde's Nursery in Garland. Free meeting and open to the public. Hope you can attend!

Temp Stop

I promise, I promise. I'm working on the 'real' website and should have it up soon. Meanwhile, please feel free to peruse the blog and learn more about us, our mission and our penchant for native plants. Leave a comment, too, if you like!

Don't Miss Our Sustainable Landscape Program!

Saturday, February 28th (that's this weekend!)
10am - noon Ron Gentry Center, 310 Century Pkwy, Allen, Texas
Topics: needs assessment and creating a plan
Reservations: Andrea Smith, 214-509-4553, asmith@cityofallen.org.
Cost is $5 for one seminar, $10 for the entire series. Please contact Andrea Smith for details.

Hope to see you all there!

Presentation: Sustainable Landscape Design, Feb 28, 10a-noon and Mar 15, 2pm

We will be speaking about sustainable landscape design -- what it is, why it's important, and how you can do it, too. Two dates: Saturday, February 28th, 10am to noon, at the Ron Gentry center in Allen; and Sunday, March 15th, 2pm, at Rohde's Nursery in Garland.

Making Sense of This Nonsensical World

Several years ago when I was employed by Collin County Community College, my supervisor gave me Kent M. Keith's Anyway: The Paradoxical Commandments. I thumbed through it but was consumed at that time with reading classic novels. Only recently did I pick it up again...and was amazed by its relevance on all levels: personally, professionally, emotionally and spiritually. Don't you love it when you are presented with a message that you really needed to hear? "Serendipity, baby", as I'm fond of saying.

I devoured the book in a couple of days and have recommended it to others. MANY others. (Thank you, Kathrine Swanson.) So here they are, the ten Paradoxical Commandments. Check out the book for more thorough explanations. It's a great read, and probably serendipitous for you, too.

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered...Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives...Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies...Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow...Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable...Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds...Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs...Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight...Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them...Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth...Give the world the best you have anyway.

Ringing in 2009

David, Sage, Folsom the Dog and I would like to wish you all a very happy new year. We hope your holiday season has been bright and earth-conscious. Bright green! Speaking of green...after much planning and hand-wringing and kink-working-out, NativeDave.com is once again harvesting our seeds of sustainability and replanting with a new crop of ideas. (In some cases, literally.) As you may remember, a couple of years ago we began phasing out certain services: installation and maintenance. Although we miss digging our fingers in the dirt, we feel gratified that by sharing our ideas via designs, consultations, writing projects and speaking engagements, we inch closer toward making a difference in this crazy world.

This year we are minimizing our "onsite" or in-person meetings to focus on online design and consultation services. For as little as $75 we will share with you suggestions to make your landscape more ecologically, and economically, sustainable. Please contact us by email at nativedaveinc@gmail.com or by phone at 972.596.3889 for details. For installation and maintenance servicesm, including hardscape elements, please contact Keith Pulliam of Appealing Gardens Landscape at 469.569.8049. For irrigation services, call Tony Rizo of Organic Option at 817.903.1786.

We have several pending requests for speaking engagements and will announce those dates and other pertinent information soon.

Last fall we mentioned we are expanding to other markets. Our online design and consultation services now extend to anywhere in Texas. However, we will be limiting our availability for speaking engagements to Dallas/Ft Worth/Denton and Corpus Christi, for now. Soon we will also be available for dates in Austin and San Antonio; at some point, we will add Houston to our list of service areas.