Who I am

October 23, 2022 Our very good boy Cosmo crossed over the rainbow bridge on Tuesday. I miss him so much. From age 3, when we brought him home from a rescue group, to age 14, he brought joy and amusement and comfort to our lives. Cosmo was a sweet, excitable, ...

December 11, 2021 Our first house back in 1992 This essay first appeared at Digging in May of 2008. I came across it yesterday and decided to republish, with a few small alterations, for newer readers. If it resonates with you, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments ...

August 31, 2020 First Tamara’s husband, David, guest-posted about his favorite flowers on his wife’s blog Chickadee Gardens. Then Loree at Danger Garden interviewed her non-gardening husband, Andrew, about his top ten favorite plants (not limited to flowers since her garden is foliage-centric), and included his haiku-like descriptions of each ...

May 06, 2019 My garden is featured in a national gardening magazine, and I’m pretty excited about it! Grab the summer 2019 issue of Country Gardens (not just country gardens, y’all), turn to page 66, and you’ll find my article “Plant for Drought, Plan for Rain.” It’s about how I ...

August 24, 2018 Detail of Dixie Friend Gay’s mosaic Wild Wonderland in Houston’s Midtown Park Speeding away from the sleepy South Carolina town I grew up in, I rolled into megatropolis Houston at the nadir of the mid-1980s oil crash. Local shops were shuttered, regional banks were going out of ...

February 11, 2018 I was in my 30s when I started blogging in February 2006. Now I am 50, a milestone year. Twelve years is kind of a long time to publicly document one’s life, even if it’s mainly the gardening side of my life that I share. I sometimes ...

May 02, 2016 New Jersey gardener and author Mike “The Gardener” Podlesny interviewed me recently for his popular Vegetable Gardening Podcast, and you can listen to it here (scroll to bottom). Despite the veggie-centric podcast title, Mike interviews all kinds of gardeners about any gardening topic you might imagine. I’m ...

February 14, 2016 Today marks a decade of blogging here at Digging — a decade! I was a young stay-at-home mother (a former editor who left the workforce to raise her kids) obsessively making my second garden when I started this blog to connect with other passionate gardeners and record ...

August 10, 2015 Only one plant in my garden has earned a name. You know who I’m talking about, right? Moby, my beloved Whale’s Tongue agave (A. ovatifolia), just turned 10 years old. That is to say, I’ve had him for 10 years — 7 years in my current garden, ...

February 11, 2015 Anole on agave, one of my favorite garden photosThis Valentine’s Day will mark Digging’s 9th blogiversary, the day I first clicked Publish with an enthusiasm that hasn’t dimmed in nearly a decade of regular postings. That day in February 2006 I joined a small but fast-growing community ...

June 14, 2014 To celebrate her daughter’s graduation from high school last week, my dear friend Shelley threw a casual garden party. I enjoyed her garden so much that I popped back over yesterday afternoon to take a few pictures to share with you. Shelley and Isabel call this their ...

March 19, 2014 Water feature with streams, pond, rocks, and grotto in the new children’s garden Some of you already know this story. In early 2000, while visiting the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center with my baby daughter and 3-year-old son, I unexpectedly met Lady Bird and her daughter Luci ...

March 19, 2014 Water feature with streams, pond, rocks, and grotto in the new children’s garden Some of you already know this story. In early 2000, while visiting the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center with my baby daughter and 3-year-old son, I unexpectedly met Lady Bird and her daughter Luci ...

October 21, 2012 A few short years ago I didn’t think of myself as a garden writer. I was a garden blogger, plain and simple. But then I started getting offered, and learned to pursue, paid writing assignments, and now I have a book coming out, a fact that still ...

February 19, 2012 When I started blogging in February 2006, I had no idea I’d still be so passionate about it 6 years, or even a couple of years, later. But blogging has introduced me to so many friends (online and offline), helped me build my garden design business, spurred ...

September 11, 2011 Construction at the site of the former World Trade Center, July 2008 Les at A Tidewater Gardener asks where we were 10 years ago on 9/11. I remember clearly. I had gotten my son off to kindergarten and was back at home with my 18-month-old. In a ...