Welcome Sandra! There are many Texans here in ATP. I went browsing some of the thread titles in the Texas Gardening forum, but I didn't see any that were clearly focused on handling afternoon sun.
http://garden.org/forums/view/...
Are there any native plants tall enough to give tender plants some shade?
Plant a row of tall, sun-tolerant natives along the West and maybe South edges of the bed, to give shade to shorter, more tender plants.
Someone showed a lean-to arrangement made with poles or scrap wood and slats ... the slats covered around 50% of the surface so they gave 50% shade. That might be less conspicuous than a full shade sail.
I seem to recall some photo somewhere of some poles or sticks lashed together to form a low "table" or rectangular support a few feet tall. Then they laid more poles along that top surface to give 25% or 30% shade ... and that worked even at high noon, casting shade straight down.
One nice thing about poles and slats: they don't tend to fly away in a high wind like Dorothy's house in the Wizard of Oz.
Or something like a picket fence will give dappled shade in the later afternoon.
And set out some drip lines under a few inches of mulch. Put it on an automatic timer so they never have totally dry soil.
This thread is more about prolonged drought in fast-draining glacial rock soil, but it might be interesting to to you.
The thread "Drought and Deep Soil Issues" in
All Things Gardening forum
