“I started out wanting to grow food for my husband and I, and then I figured out I enjoy growing the food for the insects and the bees and the butterflies the most,” Lockhart gardener Donna Daniels told us last November. Gardening was new to her, though, when she and husband Len Gabay scooted out of Austin to Lockhart and a charming home built in 1888. They renovated its old carriage house into a lovely B&B, Prairie Lea Carriage House. Raised limestone beds were already in place, but they also wanted gardens in a spot that had been a concrete pad. So, they reached out to Taelor Monroe ..read more

Hey, who turned up the heat? Just in time to cool down these icky-sticky days, Caroline Riley from Mutable Earth Botanicals serves up aromatic herb infused honey and sun tea from garden harvests. “Really just working with honey brings a smile to your face. It’s kind of impossible not to smile,” she tells us. From her gardens at Whole Life Learning, a pre-K through 8 school founded with husband Michael Carberry, she harvests fresh tulsi (holy basil), mints, lemon balm, hibiscus, roses–whatever strikes your fancy that day. Once dried, she covers them with golden honey. On straining day a few ..read more

I never had luck with native coneflowers until they showed me where they wanted to be. As too much shade starts to impact their desired spot, they edge closer and closer to sunnier borders, but they still get sun breaks during the day. I love these multi-taskers since pollinators of all kinds sip nectar, birds love their seeds, and solitary bees snuggle into their stems to hibernate in winter. These are the purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), but there are many other native species, including angustifolia and pallida. Nancy Hall has gone through the same “right spot” quandary since 1985 ..read more

In 1987, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center proclaimed the first week of May as National Wildflower Week to celebrate the beauty and importance of native wildflowers across the U.S. Plants may vary, though perennial firewheel/Indian blanket (Gaillardia pulchella) carpets the country coast to coast. In an Austin front yard pocket prairie, Jennifer Orr layered it with white-flowering shrubby boneset and Mexican feather grass for on-going seasonal dimension. Engelman’s daisy, a perennial across the Southwest, blooms for weeks, attracting all kinds of pollinators. This one on my curb gets ..read more

Get set for a fun day of design inspiration, problem-solving intel, and clever ideas on the Inside Austin Gardens Tour on May 11, a tour for gardeners by gardeners. A project of the Travis County Master Gardeners, they’ll be on hand with the homeowners to answer your questions from plants to patio design and maintenance. This week, Master Gardener JoAnna Benko joins John Hart to talk details. This year, tour four gardens on May 11 from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. No cash: online payment only. $20 by Sunday May 5; $25 day of. Get your tickets here. Let’s start off with Daphne Richards’ own garden, “The ..read more

Something we hear a lot: “I killed my succulents! I thought they were so easy to grow. What did I do wrong?” You bet, succulents can be easy–but like anything else, we’ve got to treat them right. This week, Jay Arredondo from Desert to Tropics puts us on the right track to spectacular containers. So, what’s the #1 reason that succulents end up in the compost pile? Overwatering! Then, our natural response to a sad-looking plant is to give it some more love via the watering can, Jay tells host John Hart Asher. Succulents–like sedum and echeveria–and cactus plants, store water in their unique f ..read more

On Earth Day and every day, we really can make a difference—big and small—as climate challenges impact our comfort, our wildlife, and our life-essential resources like water. It can be as simple as planting a few flowers. My long-term, drought-tough spuria irises always get a crowd, but I’ve never seen so many Red Admiral butterflies, along with the usual wasps, bees, and flies. And yes, flies are great pollinators! To walk us through a few easy ways to get started from the ground up, Ted Maas of Maas Verde Landscape Restoration joins John Hart Asher this week. They break it down to a few ..read more

“A climate resilient habitat is about providing local wildlife with the right mix of native plants that will prevent the effects of climate change becoming worse, but also will cope at this moment with the effects of climate change,” Rebeca Quiñonez-Piñón tells us this week. Rebeca, Climate-Resilient Habitats Program Director at the National Wildlife Federation, joins John Hart to explain how we can help wildlife adapt to the new normal, right in our own yards. April 14 is National Gardening Day, though we plant many of our perennials and our trees in fall to get roots established before he ..read more

Spring renews friendships in my garden when native golden groundsel greets the up and at ‘em bees, skippers, and butterflies, including this lovely Bordered Patch. It can be tough to find native plants (I got my groundsel at the Wildflower Center), so I was thrilled when wildlife advocate and Texas Master Naturalist Drake White opened The Nectar Bar last year–the first all-natives plant nursery in San Antonio. And now we’re delighted that Drake launches CTG’s new spring programs with John Hart! She tells us what prompted her venture into native plants and how that led to actually opening a ..read more

It’s sure an eyeful out there right now, everything parading their new spring duds! In my backyard, here’s a drought-defiant duo: purple bearded iris going for color wheel fun against native golden groundsel. This section of my backyard’s island bed gets morning sun and a flick of late afternoon intensity. And here at Austin PBS, we’re counting down to CTG’s new spring programs starting April 6! (Check your local listings or watch online at PBS.org and the PBS app.) Coming up April 6: Create a Native Plant Garden, featuring Drake White of The Nectar Bar, San Antonio’s first all-native plant ..read more