January 04, 2017

What is Garden Spark?

Inspired by the idea of house concerts -- performances in private homes, which support musicians and give a small audience an up-close and personal musical experience -- in 2017 I began hosting a series of garden talks by top-notch design speakers out of my home. I called it Garden Spark.

Garden Spark talks are for anyone with an interest in gardening, garden design, and learning from design experts. You won't find anything else like this in Austin! I know because I'm always looking for garden presentations geared to avid and experienced gardeners, by well-known designers and authors, and they just don't come around that often.

To attract excellent speakers and design experts, I'm paying them a fair speaker fee, raised through ticket sales. For the cost of a movie, drink, and popcorn, you can hear entertaining and thoughtful speakers sharing their design ideas. I organize 3 to 5 talks per season, held at Barton Springs Nursery's outdoor classroom on Thursday evenings.

Get info about the 2023-24 schedule here!

How to Attend

Talks are limited-attendance events and generally sell out within just a few days -- or even a few hours. I open ticket sales to subscribers first, so please join the Garden Spark email list in order to receive these early notifications. Simply click this link and ask to be added. I'll never share or sell your email address.

When I launched the Garden Spark talk series, I was sure there was an unmet need in Austin for engaging and thought-provoking talks about garden design. The response has been greater than I hoped. My thanks to all who have attended a talk and to the speakers who've shared their ideas and knowledge with us. Your participation is helping to broaden the conversation about garden design in our community!

Past Lineups

2023-24 Garden Spark Schedule

2022-23 Garden Spark Schedule

2021-22 Garden Spark Schedule

2020 Garden Spark Schedule

2019 Garden Spark Schedule

2018 Garden Spark Schedule

2017 Garden Spark Schedule

Read more about Garden Spark

Read more about Garden Spark

You’re invited to a gardening talk by Coleson Bruce

Join me on Thursday, January 18th, for an in-person Garden Spark talk by Coleson Bruce, an Austin crevice gardener extraordinaire! ...

Come learn how to boost wildlife habitat with a hedge

Come to the Dec. 7 Garden Spark talk with landscape architect Shaney Clemmons, who'll tell us why biodiverse hedges are better than fences ...

John Hart Asher kicks off Garden Spark’s Season 7 with prairie garden presentation

Prairie and native-plant advocate John Hart Asher spoke at Garden Spark last week about why and how to make a pocket prairie garden ...

Come hear a talk about making a pocket prairie

Garden Spark's first speaker of Season 7 is John Hart Asher, a prairie-garden evangelist who'll tell us why and how to make a pocket prairie ...

Garden Spark kicks off Season 7 next month

Garden Spark returns for its 7th season on August 24, 2023, kicking off a series of in-person talks by three of Austin's best garden thinkers ...