August 06, 2025

Garden Spark, my speaker series on garden design and ecology in Austin, returns for its 9^th season of in-person talks in September! This season we’ll learn how to use native plants in all kinds of gardens, not just naturalistic ones, to provide habitat and beauty; hear how one woman (a creative, prolific “problem maker”) partnered with one man (a can-do “problem solver”) to create their magical home garden…and then, against the odds, turned it into a public garden; and discover how garden makers across Texas are creating beautiful, resilient gardens while adapting to our increasingly unpredictable weather.

Talks are held on Thursday evenings at Leaf Landscape Supply’s NORTH location on Pond Springs Road. I hope you’ll mark your calendar for the dates listed below and make plans to join us.

Tickets go on sale for each talk 4 to 6 weeks in advance and are offered to subscribers first. SUBSCRIBE to Garden Spark’s email list to get announcements delivered directly to your inbox. Simply click this link and ask to subscribe — it’s that easy! (Emails are never shared or sold.)

And now, here are this fall’s garden thinkers and presenters! (The spring schedule will be announced later.)

Andrea DeLong-Amaya

September 11: Andrea DeLong-Amaya

Native Swagger: Turning Heads with Texas Plants

Native plants are ecological powerhouses, and they represent the botanical heritage of all Texans. But too often, they’re dismissed as messy or weedy. It’s time to change the narrative! In this talk, we’ll explore how to use Central Texas natives to create gardens that are true people-pleasers. From wild to formal designs, lawns to containers, sun to shade, wildlife gardens to water gardens, even edible gardens — you’ll see how natives provide habitat while they also serve as the anchor for stunning landscapes. Whether you’re already a native-plant champion or just native-curious, you’ll come away with ideas to elevate your garden and give native plants the starring role they deserve.

Andrea’s new book, The Texas Native Plant Primer

Speaker Bio

As director of horticulture at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Andrea DeLong-Amaya oversees the Center’s gardens and nursery programs and is passionate about sharing the value of native plants in planned landscapes. She’s been a staff member since 1998 and has over 30 years of experience with Texas native plants in horticulture, ecology, and garden design.

Andrea teaches classes in native plant horticulture and has contributed numerous gardening articles to publications such as Fine Gardening, Rodale’s Organic Gardening, American Public Gardens Association’s Public Garden, Neil Sperry’s Gardens and e-Gardens, Texas Gardener, and Wildflower (the Center’s member magazine). Her new book, The Texas Native Plant Primer, has been a regional bestseller since its publication in spring 2025.

Andrea has appeared numerous times on the PBS show Central Texas Gardener and was a two-time guest on WNYC’s Science Friday. She was featured in the book The Earth in Her Hands: 75 Extraordinary Women Working in the World of Plants, and she’s appeared on the acclaimed podcast Cultivating Place, both by Jennifer Jewell.

Earlier this year, Andrea received the prestigious 2025 Scott Garden & Horticulture Award from the Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College.

Jill Nooney and Bob Munger. Photo: Morgan Karanasios

October 9: Jill Nooney

Bedrock Gardens: The Evolution of a Magical, Mysterious Artist’s Garden (Complete with Dark Woods, All You Need is Balls, and Wiggle Waggle)

This is the improbable and humorous story of Bedrock Gardens and the creative couple, Jill Nooney and Bob Munger, who dreamed it up, built it by hand, and filled it with obsessively collected plants and handmade art on the site of an old dairy farm in southern New Hampshire. Over 40 years, they expanded their one-of-a-kind garden across 30 acres behind their 1600s farmhouse, and then they managed, against all odds, to turn it into a public garden. It’s a story of passion, perseverance, and foolhardiness. Most of all, it’s a love story about the land, their garden, and each other.

Jill’s new book, Bedrock

Speaker Bio

Jill Nooney is a problem maker. She found the perfect partner in husband Bob Munger, her undaunted problem solver. Together over 40 years they created the magnificently quirky Bedrock Gardens in Lee, New Hampshire. What started out as their joyful personal garden filled with Jill’s exuberant plantings and sculptures (found-art metal bugs, carved and welded totems, tiny folk made of old farm tools, a spiral garden) and Bob’s monumental constructions (a wiggly stream, skylight-roofed gazebo, suspended horse skeleton galloping through the trees) has morphed into a treasured public garden. Jill’s new book, Bedrock: The Making of a Public Garden, tells its story with humor, passion, an appreciation for serendipity, a tolerance for screwing things up, and evident love of the process of gardening and creation.

Jill grew up in rural New Jersey and graduated from Bennington College, Smith College School of Social Work, and the Radcliffe Seminars Program in Landscape Design. She has had a lifelong interest in plants, making things, and healing the human spirit. She lives with her exceptional husband, Bob, in southern New Hampshire, where they raised their three kids.

Pam Penick. Photo: Kenny Braun

November 6: Pam Penick

Gardens of Texas: Making Beautiful, Resilient Gardens in a Changing World

With the increasing weather extremes Texas is experiencing — ranging from heat wave to deep freeze and drought to flood — how should gardeners adapt? Drawing from the visionary landscapes in her new book, Gardens of Texas, Pam Penick shows how gardeners and designers across the Lone Star State are embracing change, shifting their plant palette, nurturing wildlife, and finding deeper joy in the process. Discover practical strategies for creating gardens that weather the storms and grow stronger — and learn how cultivating resilience in your landscape can also cultivate it in yourself.

Pam’s new book, Gardens of Texas

Speaker Bio

Pam Penick is a garden writer, speaker, and advocate for climate-resilient design, known for inspiring waterwise, wildlife-friendly landscapes for nearly two decades. She’s the author of Gardens of Texas, Lawn Gone!, and The Water-Saving Garden, and the voice and photographer behind Digging, her website about gardening in a hot climate.

Pam has written for Better Homes & Gardens, Fine Gardening, American Gardener, and other publications. For 10 years — including during a historic drought — she ran a landscape design business helping Texas homeowners replace thirsty lawns with waterwise gardens of native and adapted plants. She’s also the founder of Garden Spark, the Austin-based speaker series on design and ecology, where she brings fresh ideas and bold voices to the local gardening community.

Pam gardens under live oaks in northwest Austin, where she keeps an eye out for screech owls and foxes — but could do with fewer deer.

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How to Attend

Subscribe to Garden Spark for early access to tickets! Simply click this link and ask to be added.

Sponsor Thank-You

Grateful thanks to Garden Spark sponsor Leaf Landscape Supply NORTH for providing a welcoming space for the talks! Their support makes it possible for us to learn from a variety of garden thinkers each year, and I hope you’ll patronize them when you’re shopping for plants and gardening supplies.

I welcome your comments. Please scroll to the end of this post to leave one. If you’re reading in an email, click here to visit Digging and find the comment box at the end of each post. And hey, did someone forward this email to you, and you want to subscribe? Click here to get Digging delivered directly to your inbox!

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Digging Deeper

Want ideas for your yard besides lawn? Sure you do! I’m giving a talk called “Lawn Gone: 8 Great Ideas for Your Yard” on Saturday, September 13, at the Concho Valley Master Gardeners Fall Symposium in San Angelo, Texas. The cost for the all-day symposium with 4 speakers is $30 per person; refreshments and lunch included. Register by 9/10 at this link to attend. I hope to see you there, West Texas homeowners and gardeners!

My new book, Gardens of Texas: Visions of Resilience from the Lone Star State, comes out October 14! It’s available for pre-order now on Amazon and other online book sellers. If you’d like to read it or give it as a holiday gift, please consider pre-ordering. (I’m happy to sign pre-ordered copies at my book events!) Early orders make a big difference in helping new books get noticed. More info about Gardens of Texas here — and thank you for your support!

Come see me on tour! I’ll be speaking and hosting book events across Texas this fall and into next spring to celebrate the release of Gardens of Texas. Join me to learn, get inspired, and say hello!

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 © 2025 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.