Garden Spark brings Black Flora author Teresa Speight to Austin this Thursday for a presentation sure to be filled with beautiful florals and inspiring stories about the Black florists, flower farmers, and other floral creatives who make them. Tickets are on sale now, and I hope you’ll make plans to join us if you’re able. The talk will be held in Barton Springs Nursery‘s outdoor classroom, and the weather forecast is looking pretty darn perfect. It’ll be fun and informative, and you’ll be participating in Austin’s active, innovative, and creative gardening community!

I’ve known Teri since 2017. She’s passionate about gardening and connecting with gardeners from all parts of the country. I have no doubt she’ll bring her humor and storytelling talent to her Garden Spark talk, and she’ll also be selling and signing copies of her beautifully illustrated book Black Flora.

Here’s a teaser for you, plus a little biographical info about Teri.

Black Flora: Seeds of Our Ancestors

Teresa Speight, author of Black Flora, a new book about African Americans in the world of floriculture, tells the stories of farmers, florists, and other floral creatives who answered the call of the flowers, tapped into their passion, and listened to their hearts. There is a rich, beautiful, complex, and diverse narrative being told by African Americans and other persons of color in the floral marketplace. It is long past time to recognize their excellence and contributions to cut-flower farming and floristry, as they sow the seeds for the next generation.

Speaker Bio

Author, podcaster, and garden writer Teresa J. Speight is a proud native of Washington, DC, as well as a mother, grandmother, garden writer, and history lover. With ancestral sharecropping roots originating in North and South Carolina, she feels deeply connected with the earth. She’s honored those roots through her work as head gardener for the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia; as a founding farmer of an organic CSA farm; as founder and president of Jabali Amani Garden Collective, an online African American garden club focusing on “beautifying urban areas in our communities”; and as an estate gardener. Teresa also works to reconnect people with the soil through one-on-one garden coaching and by offering curated garden experiences for small groups.

Teresa is the author of Black Flora: Profiles of Inspiring Black Flower Farmers + Florists and co-author of The Urban Garden: 101 Ways to Grow Food and Beauty in the City. On her podcast Cottage in the Court (available on Anchor or Apple Podcasts), Teresa introduces interesting people, discovers unique places, and adds a little poetry to remind everyone to embrace the garden, as it is here for us.

Register today, and then come on out and enjoy Thursday’s Garden Spark event with fellow garden lovers!

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Digging Deeper

Come learn about gardening and design at Garden Spark! I organize in-person talks by inspiring designers, landscape architects, authors, and gardeners a few times a year in Austin. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance; simply click this link and ask to be added. Season 8 kicks off in fall 2024. Stay tuned for more info!

All material © 2024 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.