Books

October 04, 2017 The first wave of migrating monarch butterflies has reached North Texas and will be fluttering through Austin and other parts of Central Texas by next week. Despite their seeming fragility, these tenacious creatures migrate each fall as far as 2,800 miles from the northern U.S. and southern ...

September 20, 2017 All you succulent junkies, listen up. If you love succulents or want to learn how to grow them, two newly released books by succulent-gardening trailblazers Debra Lee Baldwin and Robin Stockwell need to be at the top of your must-read list. Let’s start with Designing with Succulents ...

August 29, 2017 In my last post I showed you the Perennial Garden and Heath and Heather Collection at Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens in Ft. Bragg, California, which I visited in early August. Today let’s continue the tour, starting with the Succulent and Mediterranean Gardens. My first thought upon seeing ...

July 10, 2017 I’m crazy for Los Angeles garden shop Potted and its colorful, modern accessories for patio and porch living and gardening. I’ve made two pilgrimages to the store (here and here) when passing through L.A., and I’ve ordered from and received gifts from their online store (yes, you ...

June 16, 2017 Today is Foliage Follow-Up, my monthly meme that encourages us to focus on often-underappreciated foliage plants, rather than spotlight-hogging flowers. That means it’s the perfect day to review a new book by two foliage-loving design experts, Karen Chapman and Christina Salwitz. Gardening with Foliage First: 127 Dazzling ...

May 15, 2017 A raft of gardening books has piled up on my desk this spring. I’m tempted to lash the whole stack into a raft and paddle to a deserted island, where I’ll have time to read them all (if only that wouldn’t make them soggily unreadable). If you’re ...

February 13, 2017 After screech owls, hummingbirds are my favorite garden visitors. Zipping around in jewel-toned splendor, these tiny birds with pugnacious personalities are a joy to watch. One of my favorite gardening moments occurred when I was watering some new salvias I’d planted, and suddenly heard a deep thrumming ...

January 30, 2017 I got behind with my self-declared Book Review Week last week, but I’m back on track today with my review of Gardenista: The Definitive Guide to Stylish Outdoor Spaces (2016, Artisan) by Michelle Slatalla. Since it was a fall release, I’d hoped I might find it under ...

January 24, 2017 Texas gardeners and shutterbugs who enjoy photographing the beautiful Texas Hill Country will appreciate today’s book picks: Texas Month-by-Month Gardening by Robert “Skip” Richter and Photographing Austin, San Antonio & the Texas Hill Country by Laurence Parent. Let’s start with Texas gardening. Author Skip Richter is a ...

January 23, 2017 I’m kicking off Book Review Week here at Digging (yes, I had time to read a few gardening books over the holidays and want to share my faves) with The Garden Bible: Designing Your Perfect Outdoor Space (2016, Images Publishing) by Barbara Ballinger and Michael Glassman. While ...

December 07, 2016 Yay, my new book has gotten a couple of great reviews just in time for holiday shopping season — and library-stocking season, apparently. Library Journal has named The Water-Saving Garden as “essential” for libraries building their collection of books about current gardening trends. Being water-wise in the ...

December 07, 2016 Yay, my new book has gotten a couple of great reviews just in time for holiday shopping season — and library-stocking season, apparently. Library Journal has named The Water-Saving Garden as “essential” for libraries building their collection of books about current gardening trends. Being water-wise in the ...

November 08, 2016 On Saturday my mom and I drove out to Brenham, Texas, for the Antique Rose Emporium‘s Fall Festival of Roses, where I was one of the day’s speakers. A gray sky spit rain on us during the 2-hour drive, but it held off as we strolled around ...

November 08, 2016 On Saturday my mom and I drove out to Brenham, Texas, for the Antique Rose Emporium‘s Fall Festival of Roses, where I was one of the day’s speakers. A gray sky spit rain on us during the 2-hour drive, but it held off as we strolled around ...

November 03, 2016Texas gardeners, come on out to The Antique Rose Emporium Fall Festival in Brenham, Texas, this weekend for entertaining and educational garden speakers, beautiful display gardens, and fun! I’ll be speaking this Saturday, November 5th, from 1:30 to 2:30 pm. My talk, with plenty of eye-candy photos, is ...

October 27, 2016 Texas is a big state, and living in the center of it means that whichever direction you travel, it’s a long drive to the state line. Last weekend, that meant a 5-hour drive to the Rio Grande Valley, where Texas shares a border with Mexico. My destination? ...