Pam Penick on Gardens of Texas (#46)
In this episode, Pam Penick shares how her childhood and background in writing led her to become one of Texas’s most recognized garden voices. She talks about starting her blog Digging nearly 20 years ago and how authentic, local storytelling continues to resonate even as platforms shift. Pam discusses the inspiration behind her books, including Lawn Gone!, The Water-Saving Garden, and her newest release, Gardens of Texas, highlighting how gardeners across the state are adapting to drought, floods, and extreme freezes. She emphasizes the importance of diversity in planting for resilience, the creativity that constraints can inspire, and the ways gardens can reflect both place and personal meaning. The conversation offers practical lessons on water conservation, design, and documenting gardens, while also underscoring the joy and healing that come from connecting with nature.
The Plantastic Podcast · Pam Penick, Jared Barnes
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Show Notes
Discount link for Botanic Bootcamp.
PAM PENICK BIO
Pam Penick is a Texas garden writer, speaker, and advocate for climate-resilient design. She’s the author of Gardens of Texas, Lawn Gone!, and The Water-Saving Garden, and the voice behind Digging, her influential website about gardening in a hot climate. A former landscape designer, Pam now tends her own garden under live oaks in northwest Austin, keeping an eye out for screech owls and foxes but wishing for fewer deer. She also leads Garden Spark, a speaker series that brings bold ideas in design and ecology to the Austin gardening community. For more info, visit Digging at penick.net.
THE PLANTASTIC PODCAST
The Plantastic Podcast is a monthly podcast created by Dr. Jared Barnes. He's been gardening since he was five years old and now is an award-winning professor of horticulture at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, TX. To say hi and find the show notes, visit theplantasticpodcast.com.
You can learn more about how Dr. Jared cultivates plants, minds, and life at meristemhorticulture.com. He also shares thoughts and cutting-edge plant research each week in his newsletter plant•ed, and you can sign up at meristemhorticulture.com/subscribe. Until next time, #keepgrowing!