April 27, 2017 After Moby, my beloved whale’s tongue agave (pictured here at his 10th birthday party — yes, really), bloomed and died last fall, I harvested and potted up more than 100 bulbils from its bloom stalk. I watched over them for a couple of months as they grew …

April 24, 2017 I’ve known many people who are afraid to plant any kind of bamboo, even a clumping type, for fear it will take over their yard — and with good reason. Here in Austin, many a back yard is clogged with running bamboo, which is often planted for …

April 22, 2017 Diane and Tom Peace of Lockhart, 30 miles south of Austin, live and garden in two very different regions: south-central Texas from winter through early spring, and Denver, Colorado, from late spring through fall. Tom, a grower and nurseryman, owns Texas Mountain Flora in Lockhart, operates a …

April 18, 2017 A few years ago I toured Colleen Jamison’s beautiful garden in central-west Austin, and a few days ago I had the pleasure of a revisit. It is still wonderful! But here’s what wowed me before I even stepped foot in her garden: a median strip down the …

April 16, 2017 I’m imagining my blog feed filling up with pictures of pastel Easter eggs and white lilies. But here at Digging, in spite of a flurry of kitchen activity (I’m making Tex-Mex deviled eggs and a lemon cake), it’s still Foliage Follow-Up. Let’s start with the stock-tank pond …

April 13, 2017 The weird and wonderful, from plants to garden art, can be found at Living Desert Ranch in Spicewood, Texas, about 30 miles northwest of Austin. Part cactus and succulent nursery and part art gallery, Living Desert is the creation of Darrell Dunten, who ran the business for …

April 10, 2017 Live oak leaf and pollen season is finally over, and the patios are clean again, hallelujah! This calls for a spring garden stroll, so let’s go. I’ve been playing with a squid theme on one wall of the upper patio. A couple of tentacle pots from Tentacle …

April 08, 2017 Seven years after the shuttering of Gardens, a boutique nursery and home-and-garden shop on W. 35th Street, Central Austin has a new contender for the high-end gardening market: Thompson+Hanson, an Austin branch of the longtime T+H in Houston’s River Oaks. Austin’s Thompson+Hanson is located just off W …

April 01, 2017After hosting two other speakers this spring (Scott Ogden and James David), I’ve decided to offer a talk of my own for my fledgling Garden Spark series. On May 18, I’ll present “Water-Saving Gardens That Wow,” which will also include a signed copy of The Water-Saving Garden and …

March 27, 2017 As buds began to swell last week, I’ve been eagerly awaiting the flowering of my pond iris. And this morning, three burgundy, yellow-throated flowers unfurled. They look especially picturesque as viewed against the turquoise shed doors. Several more buds mean more flowers to come. Jenny/Rock Rose gave …

March 24, 2017 A wildflower photo safari is my springtime ritual, and I especially like to drive out to the Texas Hill Country to photograph wildflowers against the rugged hills, rocks, and prickly pear. This spring, thanks to a mild winter, Texas bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis) are carpeting roadsides a few …

March 21, 2017 Happy Texas spring, y’all! I welcome your comments; please scroll to the end of this post to leave one. If you’re reading this in a subscription email, click here to visit Digging and find the comment box at the end of each post. _______________________ Digging Deeper: News …

March 20, 2017 Hello! As I turned to page 107 while reading the current issue of Country Gardens (Spring 2017), I saw a screenshot of my blog. What’s this? It turns out Digging is one of Tucson garden designer and author Scott Calhoun‘s favorite blogs for the Southwest. Thanks so …

March 19, 2017 Happy Sunday morning! After a week of family illness at Chez Penick, I finally got in some gardening time this weekend. Here are my refreshed containers on the back porch steps. The purple oxalis (Oxalis triangularis) in the turquoise pot gets all the oohs, and no wonder …