I’m off to Memphis for the Garden Fling, an annual meetup of people who “garden” on social media! I’ve attended every Fling since it began in Austin in 2008, and I’m excited to see Memphis Fling gardens and meet the other attendees from all over the U.S. — plus one from Australia this year.

Before I go, a last walk around the garden to admire the succulents that shine in the hot summer months. Like ‘Quadricolor’ agave, growing (and spreading) in a steel-ring container. I adore those snazzy lemon-lime stripes.

This little mammillaria cactus has been blooming its head off, each orange flower perched on top like a race-day hat.

The orange flowers look especially pretty against a backdrop of deep-purple oxalis in a charcoal pot.

The wall of potted mangaves is a happy sight too. They soaked up all the rain last week and are enjoying their part-sun location. Last summer I kind of fried some of them in more sun (Texas! plus a hot masonry wall), so I’m hoping I’ve found the right spot for them this year.

See you after Memphis!

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Digging Deeper

My new book, Gardens of Texas: Visions of Resilience from the Lone Star State, is available for pre-order at Amazon and other online book sellers. It’ll be released on October 14th, and while that’s several months away, pre-orders are tremendously helpful in getting my book noticed by readers and reviewers. Please consider pre-ordering if you’d like to read it this fall; more info here. Thank you for your support!

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