Creating a Sense of Place in Your Landscape
Welcome to Jean Robinson Design. I am Jean Robinson, I live in San Antonio, Texas, and operate a landscape architectural design business for San Antonio and environs. I meet with you on site at no charge, to discuss your project and provide an estimate for my services.
My love of design sprung from a passion for native Texas plants-plants from here. Our chances of a successful landscape greatly increase when we take advantage of the plants that already know how to survive here without our intervention!
My love of design sprung from a passion for native Texas plants-plants from here. Our chances of a successful landscape greatly increase when we take advantage of the plants that already know how to survive here without our intervention!
I provide both residential and commercial design as well as consulting services. I am interested in, and driven by the concept of sustainability and care for our local ecosystem. By incorporating native plants and sustainable practices such as low water use into my designs, I help you contribute to the health and balance of our environment. Your payback is a lower water bill and less work! The more we work with nature instead of against it, the easier the task!
My range of services include residential landscape design (front yard design, backyard design or both), commercial landscape design, informal design sketches, illustrative site plans, horticultural consultation and related services. Drawing from my design education and knowledge of Texas native plants, I create outdoor rooms that are both inviting and easy to maintain. With good design and an effective plant palette, I create a "sense of place" in your landscape.
PLANT OF THE MONTH
July, 2026
Here is my beautiful, lush lawn. This is what I did to get it: absolutely nothing, except discontinue any attempt whatsoever to irrigate the lawn area. It had become almost completely bare soil and I was planning to seed it with a short prairie grass, Blue Grama. Before all the rain started, literally my only intervention was to spend a couple of hours trying to take out a few sparse specimens of this plant in preparation for the Blue Grama. Then it rained a lot and this is what happened.
Here is a perfect example of survival of the fittest. After several long years of very, very little rainfall, this is what survived, and when it got some rain, it totally took over. (What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and I see this in plants all the time.) This is a mono culture (single species) at this point, and that's how we like our lawns!
This plant is called Three Lobed False Mallow ( Malvastrum coromandelianum) and is native to here as far as I can ascertain. It is, or has been known as a "weed", but that is just a plant you don't want, and I want this. It's up to us to see the beauty and utility in plants, and that's not hard with this one. It's soft under foot (bare feet), it's a carpet of small, pretty yellow flowers, as well as a living lawn with the constant flow of butterflies it attracts, and it is very extreme in its drought tolerance and vigor. I like the woodsy texture and it is particularly tidy looking mowed- a great foil to my wildscape yard. It could be considered a negative that it does need to be mowed as a lawn, since the plants would otherwise grow too high, but it seems to thrive with mowing, and grows ever thicker. I haven't had to remove many of these from planting beds (maybe because I mulch those at 2"). They have invaded path areas, and I couldn't have designed it better myself! It looks so inviting and attractive as a walkway!
Here is a perfect example of survival of the fittest. After several long years of very, very little rainfall, this is what survived, and when it got some rain, it totally took over. (What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and I see this in plants all the time.) This is a mono culture (single species) at this point, and that's how we like our lawns!
This plant is called Three Lobed False Mallow ( Malvastrum coromandelianum) and is native to here as far as I can ascertain. It is, or has been known as a "weed", but that is just a plant you don't want, and I want this. It's up to us to see the beauty and utility in plants, and that's not hard with this one. It's soft under foot (bare feet), it's a carpet of small, pretty yellow flowers, as well as a living lawn with the constant flow of butterflies it attracts, and it is very extreme in its drought tolerance and vigor. I like the woodsy texture and it is particularly tidy looking mowed- a great foil to my wildscape yard. It could be considered a negative that it does need to be mowed as a lawn, since the plants would otherwise grow too high, but it seems to thrive with mowing, and grows ever thicker. I haven't had to remove many of these from planting beds (maybe because I mulch those at 2"). They have invaded path areas, and I couldn't have designed it better myself! It looks so inviting and attractive as a walkway!
I don't know what to expect this winter and beyond, because although I have certainly seen this plant around my yard, I have never been paying attention, so I don't know what its habits are. According to AI, its giant taproot keeps it alive in winter and even if the top freezes, it may keep a low green growth going until Spring, when it will re sprout aggressively as well as spread by its own seed. Those were also my instincts about it, based on its leaf and stem texture, impressive root and constant flowering. Time will tell.
This lawn adventure completely supports my credo, which I follow to a fault, that lazy gardening is good gardening. This means that you are working with nature instead of against it. Appreciating what nature wants and gives us and not forcing things it definitely doesn't want, such as a St. Augustine lawn in the sun. I don't know how this ground cover will fare in the long term, but for now I'm living it up.
This lawn adventure completely supports my credo, which I follow to a fault, that lazy gardening is good gardening. This means that you are working with nature instead of against it. Appreciating what nature wants and gives us and not forcing things it definitely doesn't want, such as a St. Augustine lawn in the sun. I don't know how this ground cover will fare in the long term, but for now I'm living it up.
DESIGN TIP OF THE MONTH
March, 2026
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I'd like to showcase some stunning examples of rocks as mulch - a trend that just won't go away! First and foremost, as a designer, I see this as an aesthetic disaster. Rocks aren't found under trees, leaves and other organic debris are. This makes the rocks look unnatural and weird. Also uninviting and hard to walk on, which I can attest to, having taken this photo! |
Nice touch adding some organic material (mulch) under the trees. Rocks heat up the soil and air, making it harder for plants to survive high temperatures and drought. They also supply no organic matter (as mulch or leaves do) to the soil, which feed the plants as they decompose. It's a lose-lose!
Maintenance is greater, since falling leaves need to be removed often to retain the "clean", inorganic look of a rockscape. Weeds are more conspicuous among rocks than in soil or mulch and more difficult to remove.
In this photo, for less than the cost of the rocks, a low prairie grass seed (Blue Grama, for example) could provide a lush, beautiful, no mow, extremely drought tolerant, quick and maintenance free carpet. Perhaps some Texas Sages could be thrown in for interest, height and color.
Maintenance is greater, since falling leaves need to be removed often to retain the "clean", inorganic look of a rockscape. Weeds are more conspicuous among rocks than in soil or mulch and more difficult to remove.
In this photo, for less than the cost of the rocks, a low prairie grass seed (Blue Grama, for example) could provide a lush, beautiful, no mow, extremely drought tolerant, quick and maintenance free carpet. Perhaps some Texas Sages could be thrown in for interest, height and color.
Yikes!! I can't explain the thinking behind this installation. Rocks are often used to control soil erosion on a slope (although grass and other plant root structures do it better) but that is clearly not the case here. Extra rocks to use?? Mulch too much work ???
With little effort and cost, this very high visibility planter could be full of pink and red Turk's Caps, perhaps a Dwarf Palmetto, and some evergreen Webberville Sedge. This planting would be virtually maintenance free, woodsy, self-sustaining and inviting.
unusual sight of the month
April, 2026
I came upon several large groves of Retamas in full bloom along the Salado Creek Trail. Maybe because of their adaptability to disturbed soils, they've made a home along the greenway, where land may have been altered to make room for the trail. I had never noticed them before but they're hard to miss now!
Note the green bark, which allows them to perform photosynthesis with their trunks, when times are hard and insufficient rainfall has prompted them to shed their leaves. This is a very handy survival mechanism and makes them an exceptional choice for a drought resistant garden. The bright yellow flowers, which bloom intermittently throughout the growing season, will make your day.
Note the green bark, which allows them to perform photosynthesis with their trunks, when times are hard and insufficient rainfall has prompted them to shed their leaves. This is a very handy survival mechanism and makes them an exceptional choice for a drought resistant garden. The bright yellow flowers, which bloom intermittently throughout the growing season, will make your day.
