Garden Spark kicks off Season 7 next month

Garden Spark returns for its 7^th season connected August 24th, kicking disconnected a bid of in-person talks by 3 of Austin’s champion plot thinkers. If you emotion gardens, design, and learning, these talks are for you! This play we’ll larn however to “become the bison” and make a pouch prairie successful our location landscape, wherefore we should take a hedge implicit a fence, and however to harness chromatic and waterwise plants to marque an utterly unique, Texas-tough crevice garden.

Talks are held at Barton Springs Nursery‘s outdoor schoolroom (or indoors if upwind necessitates) connected Thursday evenings. Exact times are announced erstwhile talks spell connected sale, astir a period successful advance. I anticipation you’ll people your calendar for the pursuing dates and marque plans to articulation us.

Tickets indispensable beryllium purchased successful advance, and talks thin to merchantability retired quickly, truthful don’t miss out. SUBSCRIBE to Garden Spark’s email database to beryllium notified arsenic soon arsenic tickets spell connected sale. Simply click this nexus and inquire to beryllium added.

August 24 – John Hart Asher

Pocket Prairies: Creating Biodiverse Landscapes While Saving the World

Ecological restoration is nary longer a nicety. It’s a necessity. We each emotion wildflowers successful the wild, but shouldn’t we request to spot those aforesaid taxon surrounding our homes and passim our cities? In this speech John Hart Asher shows however to plan and instal a “pocket prairie” with a divers premix of autochthonal grasses and flowers. Pocket prairies reconnect america with nature, supply captious situation for pollinators and different autochthonal species, and amended the landscape’s quality to heal our world. By installing your ain pouch prairie, you’ll find retired beauteous rapidly that you’re besides restoring a portion of yourself.

Speaker Bio

John Hart Asher has implicit 13 years of acquisition designing and gathering earthy ecosystems successful municipality environments. At Blackland Collaborative, his ecological restoration firm, John Hart works with engineers, architects, scenery architects, and developers to integrate sustainable scenery designs, practices, and philosophies into projects. He besides aims to amended the show of greenish roofs successful semi-arid, subtropical climates and has helped plan and physique galore native-prairie greenish roofs each implicit the authorities of Texas, including for Austin’s Edgeland House, which was featured successful Dwell and Texas Architect and won respective awards. Current projects see restoration of a tallgrass prairie successful an municipality riparian corridor; greenish extortion probe and implementation; and h2o conservation, ungraded remediation, and greenish infrastructure.

John Hart holds a bachelor’s successful past from the University of Mississippi and a master’s successful scenery architecture from the University of Texas astatine Austin, which awarded him a President’s Outstanding Staff Award successful April 2018. Since 2019 he’s besides hosted the nationally syndicated PBS amusement Central Texas Gardener. You tin stake helium has a pouch prairie successful his ain yard. Follow John Hart connected Instagram.

December 7 – Shaney Clemmons

Hedge Fun: How Hedges Beat Fences for Wildlife Habitat and a Healthier Ecosystem and Why You Need One

Instead of spending your landscaping fund connected a fence, larn wherefore planting a hedge is the greener prime — successful each sense. Biodiverse hedges supply structure and nutrient for municipality wildlife, make and link wildlife corridors, and trim impervious cover, creating a healthier ecosystem and much comfy clime portion besides mitigating stormwater runoff. Landscape designer Shaney Clemmons explains wherefore her firm, Shademaker Studio, started the Hedge Pledge 3 years agone and however planting hedges has improved her clients’ gardens. Learn wherefore climate-resilient works plan is important, however to summation works diverseness successful an existing garden, and which plants are performing champion successful Austin’s utmost temperatures of caller years. 

Speaker Bio

Shaney Clemmons is the main and laminitis of Shademaker Studio, a tiny scenery architecture workplace successful East Austin. A licensed scenery designer with implicit 25 years of experience, Shaney takes connected projects ranging from single-family residential gardens to hundreds of miles of scenic byways.

Shaney spent her puerility spelunking the lava travel caves of confederate Idaho and moving the fields of the household farm, cutting and baling alfalfa connected the Camas Prairie. These aboriginal experiences shaped however she spends her clip arsenic an adult, some professionally and personally, and person made her a passionate perceiver and advocator for the outdoors. Since moving to Austin successful 2013, Shaney has go an advocator for improving ungraded health, reducing impervious screen and stormwater runoff, and expanding biodiversity wrong our municipality gardens.

January 18 – Coleson Bruce

Crevice Gardens: Finding Natural Resilience successful Central Texas

Crevice gardening is cutting edge and fashionable successful dry, cool-summer climates similar Colorado’s. But present successful Texas, accepted crevice gardening with alpine plants is simply a nonstarter acknowledgment to our vigor and humidity. Enter Coleson Bruce’s Texas-style crevice garden! Coleson created a Texas-tough crevice plot during the COVID lockdown, erstwhile helium abruptly had clip connected his hands and a tract of thirsty St. Augustine to kill. In spot of accepted alpine granite, helium utilized section Texas limestone to signifier the gardening crevices. Instead of alpine plants, helium deployed dry-loving taxon recovered successful Zones 7 and up. As soon arsenic helium got it planted, on came Snowpocalypse successful 2021, followed by the hellish summertime of 2022. Learn what became of it all, arsenic Coleson shares his acquisition successful designing, building, and maintaining a Texas crevice garden. Whether oregon not a crevice plot (or possibly a crevice container?) is successful your future, observe innovative techniques and applicable tips that whitethorn assistance you unlock the earthy resilience of Central Texas gardens.

Speaker Bio

Coleson’s plot has been described by Kenton J. Seth, writer of The Crevice Garden, arsenic “one of the finest crevice gardens: I’d enactment it successful apical 10 earth-wide, possibly adjacent apical five.” A lawyer by trade, Coleson’s inheritance includes godforsaken biology and sculpture, some of which played a relation successful his fascination with crevice gardening. What began arsenic a tiny landscaping task during the COVID lockdown morphed into an 8-month, all-encompassing passionateness project, from which helium emerged narrowly adept successful crevice gardening — admittedly a comparatively tiny tract of competition. His plot has been featured successful salient gardening blogs, photographed by internationally known plot lensman Claire Takacs, and volition beryllium included successful a forthcoming publication by Pam Penick. Coleson lives successful Austin with his woman and 3 young children.

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How to Attend

Subscribe to Garden Spark for archetypal dibs connected tickets! Simply click this nexus and inquire to beryllium added.

Sponsor Thank-You

Grateful acknowledgment to Barton Springs Nursery for sponsoring Garden Spark, providing usage of their beauteous venue, and their hospitality!

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