October 13, 2025
Austin-area gardeners, come learn about Texas gardening at a November 6 presentation for Garden Spark! This time I’ll be speaking — and sharing how the garden makers featured in my new book, Gardens of Texas, are adapting to the challenges of the Lone Star State and creating beautiful, resilient gardens that bounce back from weather extremes.
I’ll also share stories of the gardeners and pictures of their gorgeous gardens. There will be lots of eye candy from Marfa to Nacogdoches and from Dallas-Fort Worth to the Rio Grande Valley.
Each ticket holder will receive a $20 discount on the purchase of one copy of Gardens of Texas at this event. Additional copies available at retail price. I’m also happy to sign pre-purchased books, so if you already have a copy, bring it along.
Here’s more about the talk — I hope to see you there!
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.
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.
When/Where: November 6, 7:30 to 9 pm
Pam will speak on Thursday, November 6, at 7:30 pm. The approximately 1-hour talk with Q&A, followed by a book signing, will be held at Leaf Landscape Supply’s North Austin location on Pond Springs Road.
Tickets
Get your ticket at this link. Tickets are $25, plus a small fee that goes to the ticket-processing website. Tickets must be purchased in advance.
Each ticket holder will receive a $20 discount toward the purchase of one copy of Gardens of Texas at this event. Additional copies available at retail price. Pam is also happy to sign pre-purchased books.
Thank You to Our Sponsor!
The 2025-26 season of Garden Spark is sponsored by Leaf Landscape Supply, which brings the visions of Central Texas gardeners to life through superior quality, an excellent selection, and individualized customer service. Check out their website and online store for pricing and availability.
Subscribe to Garden Spark
GARDEN SPARK is a speaker series on garden design and ecology held in-person in Austin. To be notified about future Garden Spark talks, join my email list. It’s easy! Just send me an email with “Subscribe” in the subject line. I’ll never share or sell your email.
Garden Rant reviews Gardens of Texas
By the way, Gardens of Texas received a nice write-up at Garden Rant, one of my longtime favorite blogs. Founder Susan Harris writes:
“I was honestly mesmerized by SO many of the photos, I paused to experience every one. [F]or me they formed a travel documentary, the good kind that transports you to someplace exotic and beautiful….I enjoyed reading these human stories with their theme of resilience because we can all learn from and be inspired by their responses to weather-related (climate-related) challenges they’ve had to endure lately and anticipate having to endure in the future – record heat and drought, freak freezes and snows, even ice storms. These intrepid gardeners just garden on.”
That we do. Thanks, Susan and Garden Rant!
Photographs taken from Gardens of Texas. © Copyright 2025 by Pam Penick. Photographs by Kenny Braun. Published by Timber Press, Portland, OR. Used by permission of the publisher. All rights reserved.
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
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!
Oct. 25: Tour 5 gardens in Cedar Park, Leander, and Georgetown, 10 am to 3 pm, during the Hill Country Bloomers Garden Club’s fall garden tour. Local artists will be at each garden with works for sale, and plants will be for sale at one of the gardens. Tickets are $20 — more info here. Proceeds go to garden grants for local schools.
Nov. 6: Learn about garden design and ecology 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. The next talk on Nov. 6 is my own — a presentation on resilient Texas gardens! Tickets available here.
Nov. 8: Tour 5 Austin gardens on the Open Day Tour for Travis County, sponsored by the Garden Conservancy. I’ll be at the Belmont Parkway Garden with a book-signing table for Gardens of Texas, so come say hi! Tickets for each garden must be purchased online in advance, and some gardens limit attendance, so reserve your spot early. Find full details and ticket links here.
All material © 2025 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
