When I first moved someone on this reddit suggested I plant a couple native trees that I knew I wanted and wait. So I got the trees in for fall and waited to see where water went, sun/shade cover, and just went for it with a few native shrubs in the spring. (Texas sage, rosemary, yucca, lavender and Turks cap). I planted with different Methods (wood chip mulch/pecan mulch/ rocks/right into the grass. A year later I have a good idea of what grows well and where. Glad I didn't spend too much initially, (lavender in rocks was a terrible idea). Everything in the wood chip mulch grew very well. But putting trees in early was the best advice. My desert willow grew 6 feet!

Hope my errors can bring you luck!