What an evening for the gardening community last night in Austin! I was so pleased to host Jennifer Jewell, the creator, writer, and host of acclaimed podcast Cultivating Place: Conversations on Natural History and the Human Impulse to Garden, as the kickoff speaker for Season 8 of Garden Spark.

Jennifer presented “What We Sow” before a sold-out crowd under the big live oak at Barton Springs Nursery, the generous sponsor of Garden Spark’s fall talks.

Using the lens of seeds, Jennifer reminded us why gardening matters and how each of us makes a difference in the world through tending gardens and sowing seeds both physical and metaphorical.

Read her fascinating book What We Sow for a wide-ranging yet personally insightful exploration of seeds and their impact on us — and how we’ve impacted them. I’ve really enjoyed her other two books as well, Under Western Skies and The Earth in Her Hands.

Huge thanks to Jennifer for her thought-provoking talk and to Barton Springs Nursery for creating a warm and magical gathering place. Pictured above: me, Amy Hovis (BSN co-owner), Zander Caruso (BSN plant pro), Jennifer Jewell, and Greg Thomas (BSN co-owner).

And I’m so appreciative of everyone who took the time to come out and be part of our thinking-gardener community!

Next talk

Mark your calendars for the next talk on Thursday, November 14th. Michael McDowell, better known as the Plano Prairie Gardener, will be in the house! I’ve admired Michael’s homegrown prairie garden in the ‘burbs for more than a decade and have photographed it several times: here, here, and here. I’m also featuring it in my forthcoming book about Texas gardens (due out in Fall 2025). Michael’s talk is called “Lawn Free: How I Transformed My Lawn into a Prairie Garden”:

“Why settle for a boring, thirsty lawn when you can create a dynamic prairie garden that changes with the seasons and benefits the environment? That’s exactly what Michael McDowell thought when he set out to create his Plano prairie garden in the suburbs 20 miles north of Dallas. Michael will show how he transformed his yard from a lawn-dominant landscape to a lawn-free prairie garden and how his vision continues to evolve as he and the garden mature. He’ll share his tips for gardening on a budget (hint: propagation and patience), explain how he’s stayed on good terms with neighbors and off the radar of property standards officers, and show how resilient prairie plants are in spite of extreme weather and other challenges.”

If you’d like to attend, be sure to sign up for my mailing list; simply click this link and ask to be added. Tickets will go on sale to subscribers first, and seating is limited. If you’re in the Austin area, I hope to see you there!

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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. Read all about the Season 8 lineup here!

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