Free Tool · Texas Hill Country

Is your yard alive?

Check what your property offers wildlife — native plants, water, cover, pollinator plants, no pesticides — and get a 0–100 habitat score plus the moves that matter most. Free, instant, tuned for the Texas Hill Country.

Open the Habitat Health Score

A yard is alive when it offers wildlife four things: native plants, water, cover, and a place to raise young — managed without synthetics. The tool checks eight of those features and scores them 0 to 100. Most clean-cut lawns land in the 20s and 30s.

The biggest single jump is native plants: cross 50% native and you've turned a pollinator desert into a food web. The next is dropping synthetic pesticides and herbicides — that's what lets the insects, and everything that eats them, come back.

§ 1 · How it works

Check the boxes, read the score.

Step 1
Check what you have
Tick each feature: native plants, water source, brush piles, pollinator plants, and more.
Step 2
Mark your inputs
Synthetic pesticides or not, mowing frequency, how much of the lot is lawn.
Step 3
Read your live score
A 0–100 tally updates as you check — from emerging to thriving habitat.
Step 4
Start with what's missing
The tool lists the highest-value moves you haven't made yet.
§ 2 · What makes a yard alive

Layers, water, no synthetics.

Habitat is built in layers — canopy, understory, ground, and leaf litter — each one feeding different animals. Native plants anchor it, because native insects evolved to eat native leaves, and those insects are what birds and lizards eat. Add a water source and a little cover — a brush pile, dead wood, an unraked corner — and the property starts holding life year-round.

The fastest way to undo all of it is a bag of synthetic pesticide or weed-and-feed. Drop the synthetics and the food web rebuilds itself. We never invent a number we can't stand behind — the score is just the fundamentals, weighted by what they actually do.

Service
Native Landscape Design
We design in layers with Texas natives — the backbone of a living yard.
Service
Organic Fire Ant Control
Handle pests without the synthetics that gut the habitat score.
Instrument
Read Your Land
A real reading of your property's water, soil, and slope — free.
§ 3 · FAQ

Common questions.

How do I make my yard better for wildlife and pollinators?
Start with native plants, water, and cover. Get above 50% Texas-native or adapted plants, add a water source (even a shallow saucer), leave a brush or log pile, and plant pollinator natives — milkweed, mistflower, salvia, frostweed. Then stop using synthetic pesticides and herbicides. Those moves carry the most weight on the score.
What are good native plants for Hill Country habitat?
For pollinators: native milkweed, Gregg's mistflower, salvias, and frostweed are reliable here. The score rewards getting your property above 50% Texas-native or adapted plants overall — natives feed local insects, which feed everything up the chain. Exotic ornamentals look fine but support little.
Why do pesticides hurt habitat?
Synthetic pesticides and herbicides — including weed-and-feed — kill the insects at the base of the food web, not just the pests. No insects means no birds, lizards, or pollinators. Removing synthetics is worth 15 points on the score because it lets the whole system recover.
How do I get a certified wildlife habitat?
Certification programs look for food, water, cover, and places to raise young, managed sustainably. This tool scores the same fundamentals — native and pollinator plants, a water source, brush and log piles, dead wood and leaf litter, reduced mowing, no synthetics. Score well here and you're most of the way there.
Start here

Score your yard.

Free, instant, no signup. Then book a Site Read and we'll sequence the 12-month plan to bring it alive.

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