April 25, 2024 We were both brand-new authors at Ten Speed Press when I met Leslie Bennett during the 2013 Fling tour, a connection that immediately felt like a sisterly bond. Leslie was highly regarded as a designer, and I was intrigued by her background. A graduate of Harvard, Columbia Law School, and the University College London, she’d joined a law firm but then pivoted, following her heart to become a farmer and eventually a designer with a focus on edible gardening and environmental justice. Author Leslie Bennett. Photo: Rachel Weill Today Leslie is the owner and founding principal of P ..read more

April 24, 2024 I’ve been running around visiting gardens in Austin and beyond this spring, but every day I stop and breathe deep in my own garden, taking in the green freshness of the season. The Circle Garden view from the deck makes me particularly happy right now. Its graphic design shows up well from above. Six ‘Winter Gem’ boxwoods (survivors, somehow, of last year’s ice storm) bop around the sunburst stone path. A froth of woolly stemodia is submerging the stock-tank planter in the center, creating the effect of a silvery green mound. A trio of ‘Color Guard’ yuccas add their own spiky c ..read more

April 23, 2024 A young couple who’ve attended my Garden Spark talks told me they’d drawn inspiration for their garden from two speakers, prairie-garden advocate John Hart Asher and crevice gardener Coleson Bruce. Intrigued, I suggested a garden visit (i.e., invited myself over), and they graciously agreed. So last week, I met up with Chris Vincent and Nicolas Webster in their bursting-with-wildflowers backyard prairie garden. The garden has zero lawn except for a small circle where they’re establishing Habiturf for a grassy lounging spot. Paths curve invitingly around raised beds filled with ..read more

April 22, 2024 Faux bois palapa at Landa Library Last week I roadtripped to San Antonio to explore the city’s faux bois tradition, or trabajo rústico as it’s known locally. These functional works of art — mostly garden furniture but also planters, shade structures, bridges, and even bus stops — are made of concrete reinforced with steel and handcrafted to resemble living trees, branches, or sawn wood. They so convincingly mimic the texture, growth habit, and imperfections of real wood that they often fool the eye. A closer look and a touch turns uncertainty into delight. What magic, this manma ..read more

April 18, 2024 While driving through the tony Tarrytown neighborhood in West Austin, I spotted two moments of happy color that had me hitting the brakes for a photo. Exhibit A: this sunny charmer of a bungalow with a curvy stone path, pruned-up prickly pear shrub, and smattering of pink evening primrose. Adorable! Wouldn’t you like to come home to this? I would. Exhibit B: This playfully painted palm trunk, which I shared here a couple months ago. It’s still making me smile. Yellow and red roses add more happy color. My takeaway? Do what you love with your garden, and color is good for the s ..read more

April 14, 2024 After Texas mountain laurels and plums have dropped their fragrant blossoms, after bluebonnets and other early wildflowers have gone to messy seed, but before heat-loving salvias and skullcap and Turk’s cap get going, we enter what I call middle spring in Central Texas. It’s lush and flowery, still fresh and bright green, and abundant with roses, irises, and yucca flowers. Case in point, the ‘Peggy Martin’ climbing rose is awash in hot-pink blossoms dangling from the coyote fence along the back garden. Fragrance may be lacking, but color and quantity are not. It’s a great rose ..read more

April 12, 2024 Next time you’re in the checkout line at the grocery store or browsing magazines at your favorite newsstand, look for Outdoor Living magazine and my article “Jump Right In,” featuring Lorie and Michael Kinler‘s relaxing Fort Worth garden. Outdoor Living is a special publication by Better Homes & Gardens, and they’ve picked up and expanded my article about the Kinler garden that originally appeared in BHG last summer. I’m so happy for Lorie and Michael to see their garden getting more press! Their garden will appear in my forthcoming book about Texas gardens too. Outdoor Li ..read more

April 06, 2024 Yellow sulphur butterflies flitted among zexmenia (Wedelia hispida) flowers last evening in this curbside garden in Austin’s Tarrytown neighborhood. Yellow on yellow! Honeybees joined the pollinator party too. Behind all the activity, an architectural whale’s tongue agave (Agave ovatifolia) made a powder-blue backdrop. What a beauty of a whale! And wow, isn’t that zexmenia blooming early? Another sulphur And then there’s this: starbursts of big blue nolinas (Nolina nelsonii). How did these bad boys survive our past few winters, which melted mine to mush? I’m so jealous. T ..read more

April 04, 2024 While on a neighborhood stroll last week, I spotted a bodacious bevy of bluebonnets at a Bevo-loving neighbor’s house. Ka-pow! A few pink bluebonnets mingled with the standard blues. A glorious sight — thanks, neighbor! I welcome your comments. Please scroll to the end of this post to leave one. If you’re reading in an email, click here to visit Digging and find the comment box at the end of each post. And hey, did someone forward this email to you, and you want to subscribe? Click here to get Digging delivered directly to your inbox! ________________ ..read more

April 03, 2024 What a great time of year this is in a Central Texas garden. The days have been comfortable but not hot. The humidity is low. We’ve had a little rain but also plenty of sun. And the plants are racing with new growth and flowers. They’re feeling the pressure, like the gardener, to do it all now before the plunge into summer. ‘Rooguchi’ clematis has scrambled up the pleated pot of squid agave and tangled itself among the squid’s arms. After a strong breeze yesterday broke one of the vine’s stems, I lightly tied it to the agave to help it hold on. This bell-shaped flower looks l ..read more