October 06, 2025
I’m honored to be on Dr. Jared Barnes’s The Plantastic Podcast this week for a wide-ranging conversation. Jared’s curiosity about how I got into gardening and garden writing got me talking about my free-range childhood, my first post-college job at a rock-n-roll magazine, and my pivot into gardening during my stay-at-home-mom years. A growing obsession with garden design and blogging led to new career paths as a garden designer and writer.
Oh yeah, and we also talked about my new book, Gardens of Texas!
Jared is a professor of horticulture at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, in East Texas. His own charming country garden is featured in Gardens of Texas, in a chapter titled “Celebrating the Ephemeral.” He and wife Karen welcomed me and photographer Kenny Braun during our photo shoot in early April 2023.
Naturally (weather extremes being a subtext of the book), a late freeze struck a few weeks before our scheduled shoot. But thanks to Jared’s heroic efforts — using Karen’s collection of Container Store bins, as you’ll hear in the podcast — and a sturdy plant palette, his garden was blooming beautifully when we arrived.
So was Jared’s wonderful floral shirt that day — see above photo.
During the shoot, I was astounded by the number and variety of bees and butterflies drawn to phlox and other early spring perennials. It showed me the value of planting an array of native flowering plants to help insects when food sources are scarce. A lawn can’t do that — not that there’s anything wrong with having lawn, but we need far more plant diversity in our yards to create urban and suburban corridors for pollinators and other wildlife.
Here’s Kenny getting a shot of Jared and Karen’s log cabin porch and its pretty planters and decor.
And here’s an idea I took from Jared’s garden that day: pots of succulents hanging on porch posts. Eye-catching, right? (Read Jared’s post about how he hangs pots.) You’ll see scenes from Jared’s garden and much more in Gardens of Texas when it comes out on October 14.
But first, I hope you’ll listen to The Plantastic Podcast. You’ll hear two people who love plants explore what it means to be a gardener adapting to the changing climate and its weather extremes, and specifically what it means to be a Texas gardener. Hint: there’s a lot of grit and plant-killin’ involved.
Jared, thanks for having me on the show! For anyone who doesn’t already listen to The Plantastic Podcast, you should. Jared is as curious as he is knowledgeable, and he interviews a wide range of interesting people in the realm of horticulture and gardening.
Come see me in East Texas
If you’re in the Nacogdoches area, I invite you to come see me on October 23 at Stephen F. Austin State University’s Fall Plant Fair, run by the horticulture students whom Dr. Jared Barnes teaches. I’ll be at a book-signing table 5-6 pm (books make good Christmas gifts!), and at 7 pm I’ll give a presentation on Gardens of Texas. More details to come, but both events — the plant sale and my presentation — are open to the public.
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Join me for Jill Nooney’s Garden Spark talk on October 9th
Austin-area readers, I invite you to my next Garden Spark event on October 9th. Artist, gardener, and author Jill Nooney of Bedrock Gardens will speak about her acclaimed New Hampshire garden, and I can’t wait to see her photos and get inspired by her gardening magic. You may wonder what a New England garden has to teach us here in Texas, and I’ll tell you. Like any garden created with passion and creativity, it teaches us to TRY and experiment and risk failure, and to delight in the beauty, humor, and life stories that result. Come join us!
Tickets available here
Garden Spark is open to the public. Tickets must be purchased in advance.
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Digging Deeper
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’m speaking in cities across Texas to celebrate the release of Gardens of Texas. Talks in October include: Planta Nativa in McAllen on 10/16; The Natural Gardener in Austin on 10/18; SFA State University’s Fall Plant Fair in Nacogdoches on 10/23; Houston Botanic Garden on 10/25; and The Arbor Gate in Tomball on 10/26. Join me to learn, be inspired, and get a signed copy of the book!
Tour 5 Austin gardens on Saturday, November 8, on the Garden Conservancy’s Open Day tour for Travis County. Tickets must be purchased online in advance, and some gardens limit attendance, so reserve your spot early. Find full details here.
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, so join the Garden Spark email list for notification when tickets go on sale: click this link and ask to SUBSCRIBE. Read all about the Season 9 lineup here!
All material © 2025 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
