Awards

February 23, 2016 After two years in the making, my new book is released today! To celebrate, I offer you a big bouquet of Texas mountain laurel (Sophora secundiflora) blossoms. Just sprinkle a little grape Kool-Aid powder on your screen, and breathe in — that’s what it really smells like ...

July 02, 2015 I’m really excited to announce that I’ve received two Silver Awards of Achievement for garden writing in the 2015 Garden Writers Association Media Awards Program (GWA is now GardenComm). One award is for the category Blog-Writing. The judges, in making their decision, specifically considered three of my ...

June 12, 2015 It’s all thanks to you! I opened the new issue (July 2015) of Better Homes and Gardens magazine yesterday to find Digging listed on page 8 along with the other 2015 Blogger Awards winners. There I am — woot! I found out in March that Digging had ...

March 30, 2015 Here’s a living bouquet for you, dear readers. I just learned that Digging won the Readers’ Choice award in the gardening category of the Better Homes and Gardens 2015 Blogger Awards! Wow! Thank you so much for voting for me! You are my motivators, and in 9 ...

February 20, 2015 Better Homes and Gardens magazine has named Digging a top 10 finalist in the Gardening category of its 2015 Blogger Awards, and wow, I’m honored! Thank you to those who nominated my blog, and to BHG’s editors for the recognition! I love how Better Homes and Gardens ...

February 03, 2015 Two really nice things happened yesterday. First I learned that Southern Living, a magazine I’ve been reading since I was a teenager, named me one of 30 Bloggers To Follow in 2015. “From food to home and everything in between, we share the list of bloggers that ...

August 28, 2013 They might have heard me whooping all the way up in Quebec City last Monday when I learned that I’d won the 2013 Gold Award from Garden Writers Association (now GardenComm) for Best Magazine Writing. I couldn’t make it to the GWA symposium, held in Canada this ...

April 15, 2013 Last year I wrote an article for Garden Design magazine about Texas plantsman John Fairey and Peckerwood Garden, his decades-in-the-making collector’s garden in Hempstead. “The Plant Man” appeared in the June 2012 issue of Garden Design (now, sadly, out of business). I’m surprised and happy to tell ...

April 15, 2013 Last year I wrote an article for Garden Design magazine about Texas plantsman John Fairey and Peckerwood Garden, his decades-in-the-making collector’s garden in Hempstead. “The Plant Man” appeared in the June 2012 issue of Garden Design (now, sadly, out of business). I’m surprised and happy to tell ...

March 31, 2012 Dear readers, thank you for voting all through last month for Digging in the About.com 2012 Readers’ Choice Awards! I found out yesterday that Digging won for Best Gardening Blog! Now, I know how many really good garden blogs are out there, and I know how excellent ...

May 03, 2010 Thank you, readers, for nominating Digging for a Mouse & Trowel award! This blog is a finalist in the category Best Blog About Garden Design, which I’m honored to share with several talented blogging friends as well as the group blog I contribute to, Garden Designers Roundtable ...

April 05, 2010 The Mouse & Trowel Awards have returned, after a year’s hiatus, allowing readers once again to “show your favorite garden blogs a little love.” Dubbed the Mousies, they are the people’s choice awards of the garden-blogging world. Anyone can make nominations and vote, non-bloggers and bloggers alike ...

April 05, 2010 The Mouse & Trowel Awards have returned, after a year’s hiatus, allowing readers once again to “show your favorite garden blogs a little love.” Dubbed the Mousies, they are the people’s choice awards of the garden-blogging world. Anyone can make nominations and vote, non-bloggers and bloggers alike ...

September 30, 2009 The competition for the 2009 Blotanical Awards was much stiffer than for 2008’s inaugural awards at Blotanical, the social-networking site for garden bloggers. Therefore I’m particularly humbled and gratified that my peers awarded “Bloggies” to Digging in two categories: Best Texas Blog and Best Drought-Tolerant Blog. It ...

May 01, 2009 Last Monday I learned that my photo of the Echinacea and other native plants, above, had won the Picture This Photo Contest at Gardening Gone Wild. Reading the nice things photographer Saxon Holt said about my image might have been prize enough—and it was quite nice indeed—but ...

September 28, 2008 I see hummers in my garden every day, and when I have my camera handy I always try to get a shot. They’re skittish, though, and don’t appreciate the paparazzi. I should be more patient and lie in wait, but inevitably a weed will catch my eye, ...