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.
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