April 25, 2009 “I rose,” responds ‘Dortmund.’ “Still rising,” answers ‘Macho Mocha’ mangave’s flower spike, which now stands at about six feet. All material © 2006-2009 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited …

April 23, 2009 Hymenoxys, or four-nerve daisy (Tetraneuris scaposa ) When I started gardening in Austin, which was really when I started gardening, period, I nearly became a native-plant snob. I’d been converted, you see, by the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, which opened my eyes to the native beauty …

April 21, 2009 Before the roller derby, we spent part of a beautiful, sunny Sunday afternoon at Living Desert, a cactus nursery and gift shop out on Highway 71 West in Bee Cave. Living Desert is known for piles of colorful slag glass for sale in the back yard and …

April 21, 2009 Last weekend we celebrated my dad’s 70th birthday with a sushi dinner at uber-chic Uchi and tickets to—get this—a Lonestar Rollergirls roller derby bout. My dad, who lives in North Carolina, had been wanting to see the roller derby since watching the A&E series “Rollergirls,” and by …

April 20, 2009What are the six plants you can’t live without? The Grumpy Gardener—aka Steve Bender, Southern Living‘s senior garden writer and blogger—posed this question to the writers of ten garden blogs across the U.S., including me, inviting us to join him in a “blogathon” about our favorite plants. As …

April 20, 2009What are the six plants you can’t live without? The Grumpy Gardener—aka Steve Bender, Southern Living‘s senior garden writer and blogger—posed this question to the writers of ten garden blogs across the U.S., including me, inviting us to join him in a “blogathon” about our favorite plants. As …

April 17, 2009 Steve Bender, Southern Living‘s senior garden writer and blogger, asked nine other garden bloggers, including me, to post on Monday about the six plants they can’t live without. It’s a crazy exercise because, let’s be real, gardeners are unstoppable and can adjust to a new climate or …

April 17, 2009 Steve Bender, Southern Living‘s senior garden writer and blogger, asked nine other garden bloggers, including me, to post on Monday about the six plants they can’t live without. It’s a crazy exercise because, let’s be real, gardeners are unstoppable and can adjust to a new climate or …

April 15, 2009 Winecup with Texas bluebonnets A riot of color threads through my new-baby garden this Bloom Day…if you crouch down and look closely. Many of my new plants and transplants are still small, but with recent rain (nearly half an inch last week), warm (but not hot) temperatures, …

April 14, 2009 “Get your desert eyes on,” Scott Calhoun urges in his new book The Hot Garden. In other words, see and appreciate the natural beauty of a country that is not lush, leafy, or green and that relies on rock and open space as much as plants for …

April 11, 2009 Happy Easter, happy spring, everyone! No cute pictures of bunnies or colored eggs here, but I do have Easter egg-colored flowers to share, if that works. Pictured above is my first winecup bud (Callirhoe involucrata ) amid the Texas bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis ). A white rainlily, one …

April 08, 2009 As spring temperatures bounce up and down, the mercury is going steadily up, up, up on the hot color bursting forth in my new garden. Here’s a look around, starting with the ‘Totally Tempted’ cuphea I’m trialing from Proven Winners. I’m foregoing my favorite bat-face cuphea to …

April 07, 2009 ‘Whale’s Tongue’ alert! At noon today, I spotted five 3-gallon pots of the hard-to-find Agave ovatifolia for sale at Barton Springs Nursery, priced at $39.99. The leaves look curlier than the ‘Whale’s Tongue’ agaves I’m growing and have seen in gardens around town. But when I asked …

April 07, 2009 ‘Whale’s Tongue’ alert! At noon today, I spotted five 3-gallon pots of the hard-to-find Agave ovatifolia for sale at Barton Springs Nursery, priced at $39.99. The leaves look curlier than the ‘Whale’s Tongue’ agaves I’m growing and have seen in gardens around town. But when I asked …