August 27, 2023
Prairie and native-plant advocate John Hart Asher, principal of Blackland Collaborative and host of the PBS present Central Texas Gardener, spoke at Backyard Spark final Thursday. His partaking and informative presentation supplied a wonderful Season 7 kickoff for the speaker sequence about backyard design and ecology that I’ve been internet hosting since 2017.
It was additionally the most well liked Backyard Spark. It was 106 levels F after I arrived at 7 pm and 98 F when it ended, an hour after sundown. Whew! Central Texas gardeners and Backyard Spark attendees — and audio system — are a hardy bunch!
Barton Springs Nursery once more supplied a heat welcome and a ravishing venue underneath their stay oaks and string lights.
In addition they arrange a stunning show of potted prairie crops to welcome attendees. Thanks a lot, Barton Springs Nursery employees!
John Hart shared how prairie grasses sequester extra carbon than bushes and are among the many most resilient crops for a warmer, drier local weather. Even a small prairie backyard — a pocket prairie, as he calls it — could make your backyard extra resilient to climate extremes and provides important habitat for native and migratory wildlife and pollinators. If everybody dedicates even a portion of their yard, he urged, collectively we are able to make an enormous distinction for our planet.
The subsequent Backyard Spark occasion shall be held on December 7. (Sorry for the wait. I’ve a busy book-writing schedule this fall.) Speaker Shaney Clemmons, principal and founding father of Shademaker Studio, will give a chat known as “Hedge Enjoyable: How Hedges Beat Fences for Wildlife Habitat and a More healthy Ecosystem and Why You Want One”:
As an alternative of spending your landscaping price range on a fence, study why planting a hedge is the greener alternative — in each sense. Biodiverse hedges present shelter and meals for city wildlife, create and join wildlife corridors, and scale back impervious cowl, making a more healthy ecosystem and extra comfy local weather whereas additionally mitigating stormwater runoff. Panorama architect Shaney Clemmons explains why her agency, Shademaker Studio, began the Hedge Pledge three years in the past and the way planting hedges has improved her purchasers’ gardens. Study why climate-resilient plant design is vital, improve plant variety in an present backyard, and which crops are performing finest in Austin’s excessive temperatures of latest years.
I hope you’ll be part of us, native gardening lovers! To obtain notifications about ticket gross sales and upcoming talks, subscribe to Backyard Spark. Merely click on this hyperlink and ask to be added.
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Digging Deeper
Come study backyard design from the consultants at Backyard Spark! I arrange in-person talks by inspiring designers, panorama architects, and authors a number of instances a 12 months in Austin. These are limited-attendance occasions that promote out rapidly, so be part of the Backyard Spark electronic mail listing to be notified upfront; merely click on this hyperlink and ask to be added. The Season 7 lineup may be discovered right here.
Tour a number of Austin gardens on Saturday, November 4, on the Backyard Conservancy’s Open Day tour for Travis County. Tickets should be bought on-line upfront and shall be out there starting September 1st.
All materials © 2023 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized copy prohibited.