Eat breakfast tacos in Digging garden

My former garden, toured at the first Garden Bloggers Fling in 2008

A decade ago (what?!), in April 2008, I opened my garden to bloggers at the very first Garden Bloggers Fling for a pre-dinner happy hour. This was my former garden, where a baby Moby (my beloved whale's tongue agave) was growing in the front yard and my rustic Green Hall shed anchored the back yard. With Mexican martinis in hand, 37 bloggers explored the garden, milled around in the kitchen, relaxed on the patio, and participated in two blogger-led roundtable discussions in the living room and out on the back porch. What fun it was to see bloggers I'd known only online enjoying themselves in my garden!

My current garden, seen here with Moby, my dearly departed whale's tongue agave

Fast forward 10 years later, and Austin bloggers are hosting the Fling again -- this time for a full 3-1/2-day Fling experience, even better than the one-day meetup and tour that comprised our first experimental Fling. And I'm delighted to be opening my "new" garden (now almost 10 years old) to the bloggers -- this time with breakfast tacos! Hey, everything's better with a breakfast taco.

While Moby has passed on -- and I know some of you have Moby Jrs in your own gardens -- you'll see plenty of other agaves, plus some big yuccas and sotols. An 8-foot stock-tank pond sits at the heart of my garden, where you can say hello to the goldfish that's been wily enough to elude marauding herons and raccoons.

Dry shade and hordes of hungry deer have shaped my plant choices out front, where I rely on fragrant, toothy, and grassy foliage. In back, a steep slope has been tamed with terracing, and shade-tolerant perennials and succulents are elevated in upcycled containers, including culvert pipe remnants and concrete cinderblocks. You'll find multiple seating areas for enjoyment of the promised breakfast tacos, although of course breakfast tacos are portable for noshing while exploring, if you prefer.

I look forward to welcoming Austin Flingers to my garden. See you in May! 

And if you're a garden blogger and want to snag one of our remaining few spots on the tour -- a great value at only $275 USD -- click here for registration info.

Fling sponsor, Tula Hats, covers all your sun protection needs

We’re excited to have Tula Hats partner with the Garden Bloggers Fling. 

Tula Hats makes an array of beautiful and functional hats for any outdoor need.  Now you can enjoy all of your favorite outside activities without worrying about the damage the sun is doing to your skin by putting on a gorgeous palm hat from Tula Hats. Their hats are handwoven in a small village in the mountains of Mexico, adhering to the local tradition used for centuries.  They are made using 100 percent natural palm fiber, which is a sustainable, environmentally friendly fiber grown on the Mexican coast.

Tula hats have been rated as having the highest level of sun protection – providing UPF 50+ sun protection, and they’re also fair trade, made by artisans with fair wages and safe working conditions.

Want a hat to wear while planting your garden? Need a set of the best hiking hats out there for a family excursion? Or perhaps you just want to stroll around town on a sunny day? Tula hats are perfect for these activities, and more. 

They’re even travel friendly – their packable straw hats are sturdy and pliable, great to bring along in your suitcase to any Fling, with clothing (and maybe plants in plastic bags) stuffed around them.

Check out their hats online, and you’ll soon see why they’re so loved.

Check them out on their website at http://www.tulahats.com/.  You can also find them at  https://www.facebook.com/tulahats,

https://www.pinterest.com/tulahats/, and @tulahats.

Be sure to thank them for their generous support. 

Modern design and native plants at designer B. Jane's garden

When designer B. Jane created a garden for her own home, she faced some familiar challenges: a small lot with a need for privacy from the neighbors so she and her family could enjoy a resort-like back yard, complete with swimming pool, grilling station, fire pit, spa, and outdoor shower. After creating gardens for other people all day, her goal was to relax in her own garden, not slave over it. She also wanted a fun outdoor space for her daughter and friends to hang out. 

Choosing a contemporary style with an architectural approach to planting, she planted up the front yard with native and adapted plants -- i.e., water thrifty and Texas tough -- in linear arrangements to provide lots of curb appeal and to screen neighboring driveways. In back, she divided the garden into different "rooms" for various activities, making the small space live larger. 

She even managed to make the garden Brisket-proof -- that is, able to hold up to the wear and tear of their very active and swimming-pool-lovin' dog Brisket.

You'll visit this garden and more at Austin Fling this May 3rd-6th. If you haven't already signed up, here's the registration info!

Spotlight on Sponsor: Spring Meadow Nursery and Proven Winners

We are so excited to partner with Spring Meadow Nursery and Proven Winners for the Austin Garden Bloggers Fling May 3-6.

From a small propagation nursery to one of the largest providers of proprietary plant materials in the country, the Proven Winners brand is synonymous with quality and consistency.

Nurseries large and small look to Spring Meadow Nursery to do their propagations and to bring new and exciting plants to garden bloggers and flingers across the country. Spring Meadow Nursery is the developer behind Proven Winners® ColorChoice®, one of the most recognized brands of flowering shrubs in North America.

A market leader, they offer more than 400 varieties in their catalog, 270 of which are marketed under the Proven Winners Color Choice brand, including Incrediball® Hydrangea, My Monet® Weigela, Little Henry® Itea and Wine & Roses® Weigela.

Their plants are ubiquitous, a testament to their quality and the consumer loyalty they enjoy throughout North America.   As bloggers and gardeners, we are always looking for new and exciting plant selections that we can count on to perform.  Their plant varieties are always on the cutting edge, as they work to achieve longer bloom times, multiple seasons of interest and improved disease resistance in all of their selections.  And, let's admit it, when their plants look good, we gardeners look good!

Growers, retailers, landscapers, gardeners, and garden bloggers know and trust Proven Winners to deliver the best.  

Lo & Behold Purple Haze Buddleia

We thank them for their long-time support of the Garden Bloggers Fling and we thank them for their  beautiful and high-quality plants.

Visit Spring Meadow Nursery's website and their Facebook page.

Visit Proven Winners' website and their Facebook page.