Going batty at Bracken Cave, where 20 million bats take flight
September 14, 2021 Austin is justifiably proud of the 1.5-million-strong bat colony that roosts under downtown’s Congress Avenue Bridge. I’ve watched the nightly emergence from the bridge as the bats take flight many times over the years. But when I heard that nearby Bracken Cave contains 15 to 20 million ...
Yalamurra, a “garden of survivors” in South Australia offers Texas inspiration
January 14, 2021 Yalamurra garden, the creation of Australian gardener Kurt Wilkinson. Photo by Kurt Wilkinson. Want to know what’s inspiring me this week? It’s the South Australian garden of Kurt Wilkinson, a professional gardener and topiarist in the Adelaide area. Kurt’s work came to my attention via a Danger ...
Snow day in Austin, Texas!
January 12, 2021 The biggest snowfall in a decade turned Austin into a floofy white wonderland on Sunday, January 10. All day long, fat snowflakes floated down from the sky, as if the clouds were having a pillow fight. Sure, this may not look like much to you northerners, but ...
Watch Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf
April 25, 2020 My heart broke open with happiness, while streaming a film about celebrated garden designer Piet Oudolf, when the Dutch designer was suddenly cruising down a Texas highway, exclaiming over azure bluebonnets, coral-red Indian paintbrush, and crepe-petaled white prickly poppies splashed along the roadside like spilled paint. “This ...
The buzz at Kew: The Hive and its pollinator-attracting meadow
July 11, 2018 At London’s Kew Gardens last month, I explored the buzzed-about interactive art installation The Hive. Airily constructed of aluminum and towering nearly 56 feet high (which seems even higher atop a small hill), The Hive was created by artist Wolfgang Buttress for the 2015 Milan Expo. It ...
Bloggers soaked up Austin at Garden Bloggers Fling
May 11, 2018 For 11 years I’ve traveled to cities around North America to attend Garden Bloggers Fling, and I’ve helped organize two Flings held in Austin — in and again last weekend. Normally I take hundreds of pictures of the gardens I visit. (Go to Categories in my sidebar ...
Willowsford Farm market stand & Fling wrap-up: Capital Region Garden Bloggers Fling
July 20, 2017 I’m not a food gardener myself, but I enjoyed the Capital Region Garden Bloggers Fling welcome-event visit to Willowsford Farm, a 300-acre farm surprisingly located within a recently developed planned community in Ashburn, Virginia, about an hour’s drive northwest of Washington, D.C. After a lovely outdoor reception, ...
Wishing you a merry and bright Christmas!
December 24, 2016 The Christmas tree is aglow. Festive ornaments add cheer. Family gathers close, and memories of past Christmases are retold. Lights shine across the city… …and we’ve spun under the Zilker Christmas Tree on its 50th anniversary. Neighbors’ houses glow like magical fairylands of light. And troubles are ...
Catch me on CTG, at Wildflower Center book-signing & more!
October 13, 2016 It’s back-to-the-garden time in Texas, and it’s also garden-talk season! I’m making a few appearances around Texas this fall (see below), and you can also catch me this weekend on Austin’s own Central Texas Gardener TV show. Last fall, right before my garden was on tour, CTG ...
Catch me on CTG, at Wildflower Center book-signing & more!
October 13, 2016 It’s back-to-the-garden time in Texas, and it’s also garden-talk season! I’m making a few appearances around Texas this fall (see below), and you can also catch me this weekend on Austin’s own Central Texas Gardener TV show. Last fall, right before my garden was on tour, CTG ...
Time-lapse flowering of my whale’s tongue agave
September 05, 2016 https://www.penick.net/digging/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Agave-ovatifolia-aka-Moby-Flowering-April-to-September-2016.mp4 Want to watch my super-professional video of Moby flowering? Of course you do! And here it is, only 28 seconds long. My beloved whale’s tongue agave (Agave ovatifolia) bloomed this year, as regular readers know. I long ago dubbed it Moby, and I’ve watched it grow ...
The public side of writing a book
March 03, 2016 This may be stating the obvious, but to write a book you have to be able to sit in a quiet room for hours a day, for months and months, and be alone with your thoughts, and write. Words may flow like honey, or they may ooze, ...
I’m on Central Texas Gardener talking about water-saving gardens
February 05, 2016 I’m on Central Texas Gardener this week! Huge thanks to producer Linda Lehmusvirta and host Tom Spencer for having me on to talk about my new book. The show airs on KLRU, Austin’s PBS station, this Saturday at noon and 4 pm and again on Sunday at ...
Come see me at The Great Outdoors, plus Lawn Gone! in other hot spots
April 06, 2013 I’ll be speaking and signing books on April 20thI rolled a shopping cart into The Great Outdoors on South Congress Avenue the other day and saw my own face looking back at me. Check it out—I’m on an upcoming-speakers sign (along with my friend and fellow new ...
Whimsical Westview Road garden on Austin’s Funky Chicken Coop Tour
March 31, 2013 No, I’m not looking for a Mildred or Louise to eat bugs and lay eggs in my garden. But I couldn’t resist buying a ticket to Austin’s 5th annual Funky Chicken Coop Tour after watching a recent Central Texas Gardener episode (below) about Dani and Gary Moss’s ...
Book trailer for Lawn Gone!
February 04, 2013 Even books get trailers now, not just movies. So to help publicize my upcoming book, I made this trailer for Lawn Gone! over the weekend and uploaded it to YouTube. I hope you like it! If you do, please feel free to share it with your friends ...
