I’ve had a remarkable response to my giveaway of the succulent living picture kit. This Sunday, March 20, at 11 pm is the deadline for entering the drawing. To enter all you have to do is leave a comment on my post about Garden Up! (Note: you must be a U.S. resident to win.) Along with the other bloggers who are participating in Garden Up!‘s cyber book party, I’ll draw a random winner and post his or her name on Monday at 7 a.m. CT.

While you wait for the winner to be announced, here are a number of enticing garden-related events to add to your calendar this spring, both local and national. It’s an embarrassment of riches, folks!

If you live in the Houston area, you won’t want to miss the Garden Conservancy’s Houston Open Days garden tour next Saturday, March 26. Admission is only $5 per garden or $30 for all seven gardens. Open Days tours in Austin are always spectacular, and I’m sure Houston’s will be too.

Also that weekend right here in Austin, the Zilker Garden Festival will run March 26-27 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. There’s something for everyone at this event, including a flower show, live music, gardening talks, kids’ crafts, plants, and food. Tickets are $7 for adults ($5 if you purchase early) and $3 for kids; parking is $3 also. It’ll be a madhouse, so go early and take a wagon for your plant purchases.

On April 2, 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., support historic Mayfield Park by attending the Trowel and Error Garden Symposium. Austin garden bloggers Meredith O’Reilly of Great Stems and Renee Studebaker of Renee’s Roots will be speaking, so don’t miss it. You’ll see peacocks too. Admission is free, although a $5 donation is requested.

The Cactus and Succulent Society Show & Sale occurs April 2-3, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Zilker Botanical Garden. Admission is free to attend the plant sale and view the fascinating specimens in the plant show.

One of my favorite Austin garden tours occurs Saturday, May 7, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.: Gardens on Tour 2011, sponsored by the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. The gardens predominantly feature native Texas plants and are wildlife-friendly. This year the tour will include “three gardens with ponds as water features. One garden is a certified backyard wildlife habitat with elaborate stone walkways and terraces, a wonderful view of the city and a swimming pool. Another stands out for its quirky stone walls. Look for interesting outdoor seating areas.” A $25 pass will enable you to visit all 5 private gardens, plus the Wildflower Center, or you can buy individual garden tickets for $6 each; children 5 and under are free, and kids 6-12 are $3.

The following Saturday, May 14, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., you can enjoy Inside Austin Gardens Tour 2011, sponsored by the Travis County Master Gardeners Association. The theme this year is “Water-Wise Gardening,” and you’ll be able to visit Jeff Pavlat’s incredible succulent and cactus garden, pictured above, as well as 5 other private gardens plus the LCRA’s Redbud Center. Tickets will be available at each garden on the day of the tour; a single-garden entry costs $5, or visitors can buy a $10 pass.

Looking further ahead, the agenda is up for this summer’s Garden Bloggers Fling 2011, hosted this year in Seattle. The event will be held July 22-25 and includes numerous private and public garden tours, nursery visits, farmers market and community garden visits, a talk by Willi Galloway of DigginFood, and a photography workshop with David Perry. It sounds fantastic! I’ll be desperate to escape Austin’s heat in July, so that’ll be the perfect getaway. I hope all you garden bloggers out there will join me in Seattle.

All material © 2006-2011 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Dia de los Muertos, the Mexican holiday known as Day of the Dead, is embraced in Austin each year with a street festival and parade. Unlike the macabre spectacle of Halloween, Day of the Dead is traditionally about remembering and honoring departed loved ones by creating altars in their memory, holding candlelight vigil at cemeteries, and bringing food (like pan de Muerto, or bread of the dead, pictured above) for the dead to enjoy on their annual night among the living.

Dia de los Muertos is of pagan origin but was later tied to the Catholic observances of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, and occurs on November 2. Austin celebrated early last Saturday with a block party next to the Mexic-Arte Museum, paper-mache skeletons, bright orange marigolds, live music, and throngs of people in old-fashioned finery and skeleton face paint.

People’s faces are oddly compelling in skeleton disguise. You look closely at their eyes, trying to read them.

“Til death do us part,” the mural reads—but on this night, the dead are not parted from us.

Some people soften their skeletal look with the addition of flowers, dots, and hearts.

Even the dachshund is dressed for the part.

More paper-mache decor

A band of musicians has played their fingers to the bone.

Chihuahua owners bring their pets along in costume. I’m not sure this little guy was all chihuahua, but he had style.

This skinny fellow looks like he’s ready to take a siesta after partaking of the tamale and bean feast.

Our Lady was propped up in repose while spectators noshed and watched the band.

Not all the face painting was skeletal.

This 8-foot-tall calavera was a giant-sized sugar skull made of recycled material. Check out the beer-bottle teeth! And are those hubcap eyes?

Marigolds for sale

Just before dusk the paraders arrived at Congress Avenue, where we stood to watch the spectacle.

I loved this dancing Catrina, a popular Dia de los Muertos figure meant to illustrate that even the wealthy and self-important must die like everyone else.

Another chihuahua accompanies this woman. And check out the cool priest skeleton.

These skeleton women represent Mexico’s ancient Aztec culture, whose festivals of the dead evolved into today’s Dia de los Muertos.

The Aztec-costumed men wear considerably less than the women. That’s a switch, eh?

Beautifully costumed dancers were next, half their faces painted like skeletons, the other half “living.”

Huge puppets held aloft depict revolutionary heroes from Mexico’s struggle for independence.

There’s always a Frida Kahlo at Day of the Dead.

This girl is costumed like Frida. The unibrow is the giveaway.

Another skeleton woman with a chihuahua

And a lady in red

These zombie women in gory costume didn’t quite fit in with the Day of the Dead theme. Perhaps they’d participated in the Thriller zombie dance earlier in the day?

What a smile

A more pensive skeleton, with one of the revolutionaries to her left

More parade participants—even children get in on the act.

Lucha libre (Mexican wrestling) costumes

I was surprised and delighted to recognize two people in the parade. The bearded skeleton, Mark, is a teacher at my children’s school, and the tall skeleton is none other than blogging friend Lee of The Grackle.

I really enjoy this festival, especially the costumes of the participants and the joyous remembrance that the holiday celebrates.

Happy Dia de los Muertos!

For more images and information about this holiday, click on the link to my 2008 Day of the Dead post.

All material © 2006-2010 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

The dead, dressed in their finest, their hair adorned with real marigolds, led a cheerful procession down 6th Street and Congress Avenue this evening, celebrating Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead.

Dia de los Muertos is a Mexican holiday for remembering and honoring friends and family who have died. Its two main symbols are skeletons and marigolds.

The holiday crossed the border into Texas years ago, and 2008 marks the 25th anniversary of the Dia de los Muertos Procession and Celebration in Austin, sponsored by the Mexic-Arte Museum. Austin is always looking for another reason to wear costumes and throw a party, and why not?

Before the parade began, we enjoyed a mini-street-festival set up behind the museum. People dressed to the nines and wearing disconcerting skeleton face paint strolled among paper-mache skeletons, tamale vendors, a craft-a-skeleton-mask booth, and a stage on which a Tejano band played. Despite all the skeletons, the effect wasn’t spooky but family friendly and dignified.

Day of the Dead isn’t a celebration of the macabre, like Halloween, though it can seem that way to the uninitiated.

The holiday comes from a tradition of the Aztecs and other ancient peoples, which was blended with the Catholic observance of All Souls’ Day in Mexico. Household altars to departed loved ones may contain photos, offerings of bread and treats, small tokens belonging to the dead, and even humorous poems about them.

It is believed that on this day, the dead can cross over to the living and hear their prayers.

At the festival we saw a large paper-mache Frida Kahlo head. She’s everywhere these days, isn’t she?

This couple graciously posed for me.

At one booth, this woman was silk screening posters for people. You picked out the design you wanted…

…she scraped a thin layer of paint across the screen…

…and voila! A cool Dia de los Muertos souvenir.

When it was time, we walked to the corner of 6th and Congress and stood in a crowd of skeletons and other watchers.

At last the paraders appeared! A troop of Thriller zombies led the way, and I’d love to show them to you but every image was blurred due to the dim light and my unpreparedness for the sight of them shambling down the street. I don’t know if they were quite in the spirit of Day of the Dead, but they were fun to see. For a video of 881 zombies dancing to “Thriller” at the Long Center a few days ago—and setting a very weird world record for Austin in the process—check out this “Thrill the World Austin” video.

These Spanish dancers were smiling and lovely in blue flounces and ruffles.

I liked this woman’s tattered and ghostly parasol.

And just look at this cute skeleton Chihuahua.

More dancers in white

A big-headed clown might have frightened some children but for the smiling face of the man inside the costume. Look closely at the clown’s mouth.

Near the end a small float rolled by, from which a woman dangled paper skeletons made of plastic milk jugs next to a coffin inscribed RIP.

But this woman in the crowd, also pictured at the top of this post, mesmerized me more than anyone in the parade. Her blue eyes were piercing and direct as she locked her gaze on my camera across the busy sidewalk.

Happy Dia de los Muertos!

All material © 2006-2008 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.