Need some serious help with landscaping. (Pics included)

It certainly is possible to over water, and I would guess as many newly installed plants are killed by excessive watering than lack of watering, particularly in heavy clay, poorly draing soils. You said you negectled the yard for a while you dealt with health issues, but you also said you have drip irrigation - was it operating while you “neglected” the landscape?

The close up photo of the trunk of the young red oak tree kind of looks like it may have been planted to deep - I don’t see the root flare - in poorly drained soils it’s important to make sure the base of the trees/shrubs are slightly elevated, usually several inches, above soil grade. Not saying that is your issue - hard to tell from the photos. Did you install the landscape? I’d suggest moving the mulch a couple feet back from the tree trunks to expose the root flare.

Really one good heavy soaking of water of at least 1 inch plus, per week, in the absence of rain, is all that is required, maybe twice in extreme heat. Heavy watering daily is not good - shrubs and trees can be damaged from root rot (lack of oxygen to roots from excessive watering).

There are a couple posters on this board from DWF, one a landscape architect, Zappas Stache, and another a lawn specialist, ronk, that will be more familiar with the weather patterns you’ve been experiencing in DWF and can hopefully weigh in with suggestions.

Honestly, for the couple dead shrubs, it doesn’t look super bad to me, newly planted shrubs and tree will suffer some transplant shock, particularly when not planted in winter - key is to get them through the first summer while they settle in and develop a good root structure in the surrounding native soil.

As a resident of the northern DFW suburbs for a few years, the trees look like they’ll be okay with consistent, deep watering. Look for an attachment that goes on the end of your hose that is made for slow watering a tree. On Amazon I bought a bubbler that does the trick but you don’t really need anything fancy.

I would definitely advise you to wrap the trunks of the trees with some tree wrap for at least a couple of summers to prevent splitting.

All this advice is from an amateur but I’ve been able to keep trees alive in the brutal sun like in your yard (which looks pretty good FYI).

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it was running for 3 days per week for 30 or so minutes.

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That is plenty of water. And considering the rain we have gotten the last couple of months, I'm going to guess you are over watering .

Pull your mulch away from trunks of the trees I agree with first response trees could be planted too deep or the mulch is to high against the trunk

Sounds like too much water. That large tree appears to be a Shumard Oak. Those bushes are wax myrtles and sweet viburnum. These things don’t require very much water. They do well in clay soil, but don’t like sitting in water. Even magnolias can get by with very little water. 1-2 days/week for 20 minutes on drip irrigation should be enough. I say reduce watering(especially when raining a lot), and dig out a little bit around the trunks to let them get some oxygen. The mulch looks soaked. Maybe stop watering all together for a week or 2 and let your soil dry out. After the first year you can reduce watering to 1x or even 0 times per week. The grass looks like Bermuda, will still probably need 20 minutes of water 1x/week.

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Yes - it was running for 3 days per week for 30 or so minutes. I am assuming it all started to die due to underwatering and the extreme heat.

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ETA: My biggest concern about the drip irrigation is that I know the output is extremely slow. So how can one determine how much water is enough? For instance my front flower bed doesn't have any trees in it. So the front should get a shorter run time than the flower bed that has 3 trees in it. But how much longer?

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With my micro-irrigation system, I use spray heads, instead of slow drip emitters, which put out a great deal more water in a short period of time - this on the recommendation of the owner of irrigation supply company I buy supplies, he discouraged me using drip emitter heads, which as I recall are more expensive. 360 degree spray heads like these LINK

I run my system no more than 30 minutes once a week, and only in the absence of at least 1 inch of rain during the week. And I do track rainfall and only supplement water to the landscape beds with the irrigation system when needed. When first installed, like you, I watered shrubs 3 times a week, and I killed more than a few from excess watering/root rot. I learned quickly.

Better to give the landscape one good soaking once week - excess water will run off - as opposed to more frequent, shallow watering. Your issue could be more associated with the frequency of watering.

Of course my experience is with south LA - you deal with more temperature extremes, hot and cold, in DWF - so the experience and advice of those that live in your area is important.

City of Frisco Waterwise

Check to see if city offers a free irrigation checkup like Frisco does. They will check your system and give you a report about any problems. They won't fix them but they will reprogram your controller if you want.

You said you were new to your area so you may not know what your city offers.