Playin' Outside

  For lack of a better way to reach everyone in person and online who attended my presentation to Williamson County Master Gardeners on 08 May 2023, I'm posting a handout here.  These are only the slides that were particularly info dense, so forgive the lack of context if you weren't an attendee.  Note that the list in the handout is only suggested for Travis and Williamson Counties - the Wildflower Center will have suggestions tailored to your specific location, and NOT just in Texas! These are live links to some of the items shown:  The Wildflower Center , The Jha Bee Lab , NPSOT's plant lists by Texas region , NPSOT Wilco ,  and finally, Lynne & Jim Weber (their books are available at your local bookstore & on Amazon.) T here's a world of other resources, too!  Check out Sam Drogge's incredible photography at the USGS Bee Inventory , follow Heather Holm on Facebook and read her books, follow Carol Clark on her blog "Carol's World" .  Seri...

Now that it's aired, I will confess that my little suburban garden was recently featured on Central Texas Gardener .   Months of freaking out with every deep freeze, every plant that suddenly died, every arbor destroyed by freakish winds - in other words, every event that might naturally occur in the garden with the changing seasons -  all that nervous panic is finally over and I can go back to simply playing outside.  Why a "confession", rather than being pleased as punch?   Something about having my garden on CTG feels like bragging.  And i n my eyes my garden is messy, my own personal playground - not something worthy of a segment on that wonderful program.  It's where I go to test out new skills, like digging a pond ,  building a rainwater harvesting system , creating an  insect hotel , making a vermicomposting bin , or putting together a greenhouse with the help of a few friends.   Having my garden "go public" temporarily destr...