Who’s Who at Austin Fling

There are as many reasons to write a garden blog as there are reasons to make a garden. Some bloggers enjoy documenting the seasonal changes and excitement of their own gardens. Others aim to educate or inspire other gardeners about cool plants, beautiful design, or specific interests. Some love ornamental gardens of flowers or foliage. Others value gardens that provide food for the table. Still others garden to feed and shelter wildlife. Whatever drives you to blog about gardening, there’s a place for you at Garden Bloggers Fling, as evidenced by the diverse group of bloggers planning to attend Austin Fling this May. (Here’s the list of attendees, organized by location.) Below are short profiles of participating bloggers and what they’re all about. We’re sure you’ll find kindred spirits here as well as reasons to reach out to bloggers doing something interesting and different. And if you need a little extra help putting names to faces, you may also find this a helpful reference once you arrive in Austin, so bookmark this page!

Ann Amato Blog: Amateur Bot-ann-ist Location: Portland, Oregon Focus: Being a chronically ill gardener, cooking, ornamental plants, community gardening, working at a nursery part-time, seeds. Projects: I’ve enjoyed hosting underground dinners in my back garden to pay off back surgery. I sell seeds on Etsy at Milton’s Garden Menagerie.

Photo: Roman Baumle

Kylee Baumle Blog: Our Little Acre Location: Northwest Ohio Focus: I write about my ornamental, edible, and houseplant gardening; monarch butterflies and their conservation; and a random topic now and then. Projects and Publications: Right now my focus is on the monarch butterfly and how we can help increase their (and other pollinator) numbers. I’ve written two books, Indoor Plant Decor: The Design Stylebook For Houseplants (with co-author Jenny Peterson) and THE MONARCH: Saving Our Most-Loved Butterfly. My photographs have appeared in a number of books, magazines, trade publications, and plant catalogs. I do public speaking, primarily educating about monarch butterflies and promoting habitat conservation to benefit them and other pollinators. All of this came about as a direct result of my blog, which celebrated 11 years in January!

Helen Battersby Blog: Toronto Gardens

Tagline: A noun. A verb. A blog.

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Focus: Together with my sister, Sarah Battersby, we write about gardening, gardens, and garden events in and around Toronto. We also bring home ideas and inspiration from garden travels around the world of interest to city gardeners anywhere.

Projects and Publications: Aside from our day jobs as a freelance copywriter (Helen) and college instructor in graphic design (Sarah), we’re garden coaches and speakers. In fall 2017, we also became the new publishers of a beloved, long-running local garden diary and guide, The Toronto Gardener’s Journal 2018. We’re working on spin-offs (to be announced).

Photo: Pam Penick

Vicki Blachman Blog: Playin’ Outside Location: Austin, Texas Focus: Curiosity drives my learning, writing, and teaching – whether it’s about supporting our native bees, rainwater harvesting in our increasingly wonky climate, or my struggle to bring design to the chaos my curiosity creates. If it makes me smile, I like to share it. Projects: I’ve been working on a book for several years. It’s not about gardening but rather about what foods mean “home” to the homeless and marginally housed. When it happens, the proceeds will go to a local nonprofit that makes every dollar count to provide housing for Austin’s homeless.

Photo: Kathy Stoner

Gerhard Bock Blog: Succulents and More Tagline: Embrace spikiness! Location: Davis, California Focus: My main interests are succulents, but I also grow a wide range of plants from the various Mediterranean climate zones around the world. Like many of you, I’m zone-blind – i.e., I often experiment with plants that aren’t supposed to grow here. In addition to documenting my own garden, I also showcase public and private gardens I have the opportunity to visit on my travels. Projects: My other passion is photography. It’s a blessing and a curse because I often spend way too much time in Photoshop trying to come up with the best possible photos for my blog.

Photo: Pam Penick

Loree Bohl Blog: Danger Garden Tagline: careful, you could poke an eye out Location: Portland, Oregon Focus: My blog name comes from my love of spiky plants, but that’s not all I cover. I write about my garden, nursery visits, and public and private gardens I visit. Everything is fair game, and there are always lots of photos. Projects: I’m still busy trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up, but right now I am enjoying serving on the board of directors for two West Coast horticultural organizations (Hardy Plant Society of Oregon and Pacific Horticulture) and helping to spread the joy of gardening.

Judy Seaborn, founder/co-owner

Botanical Interests

Laura O’Connor

Judy Seaborn and Laura O’Connor

Blog: Botanical Interests Blog Location: Broomfield, Colorado Focus: Gardening, cooking, and craft tips. The Botanical Interests team will host Garden Bloggers Fling in Denver in 2019.

Jennifer Brown Blog: Victory or Death!…in the Garden Location: Austin, Texas Focus: Gardening with native Texas plants, spiky plants (especially ❤️ agave), and plants/landscapes/nature-y stuff I see while out and about or on vacay.

Photo: Johnny Quirin

Natalie Carmolli Blog: Through the Greenhouse Glass Tagline: Information and inspiration for garden writers Location: Grand Haven, Michigan Focus: This blog focuses on a plant of the week in the Proven Winners® ColorChoice® line of shrubs. Projects: We often do plant giveaways! It’s important for us to hear about our plants, especially new varieties, being trialed in gardens of people who can then write about them and share their insights online. Sound like you? Drop me a line, and let’s see what we can get going. Besides gardening and talking about gardening, I’m also an actor and director in local civic theater!

Michelle Chapman Blog: VegPlotting Location: Chippenham, Wiltshire, United Kingdom Tagline: Musings from the heart of Wiltshire, erm Chippenham actually… Gardening, GYO, Food, Travel & Lifestyle Focus: My allotment was my blog’s original subject in 2007. Now, 2,000 posts later, I draw my inspiration from a wide range of sources covering gardening, grow your own, food, travel, and lifestyle. I review books and products, take my own photographs, and sometimes have a few guest spots. Projects and Publications: My 52 Week Salad Challenge project led to my contribution of a chapter of year-long salad plans in Niki Jabbour’s Groundbreaking Food Gardens. My current project is #mygardenrightnow, which is designed to show real gardeners in their gardens at a particular moment in time. I have also set up several popular online events for the Chelsea Fringe, including a #mygardenrightnow edition in 2017. I blog for Gabriel Ash, and I look after Connect Group PLC’s community blog and the online PR for West Green House Garden in Hampshire. I also looked after the Garden Media Guild’s social media for 4 years and wrote articles on the subject for their GMG News. I’ve written for Reader’s Digest, The Guardian, The Independent, and various local and specialist magazines. I produce the photojournal Sign of the Times. My blog VegPlotting was Garden Media Guild Award finalist in 2009 and 2012-2014, plus it’s been a Vuelio Top 10 gardening blog since 2010. Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

Photo: KC Kratt

Jim Charlier Blog: Art of Gardening Location: Buffalo, New York Focus: Garden travel, ideas, inspiration, and great Buffalo, NY gardens by the well-traveled past president of Garden Walk Buffalo, America’s largest garden tour. Projects and Publications: I’m currently working on a gardening book, co-authored with Sally Cunningham, to be published by St. Lynn’s Press in fall 2018. I’m vice president of Gardens Buffalo Niagara, which organizes and promotes garden tours, a garden art sale, bus tours, and Garden Walk Buffalo, America’s largest garden tour. I helped plan the 2017 GWA Annual Conference in Buffalo and the 2010 Buffalo Garden Bloggers Fling, and I’ve given talks at America In Bloom’s 2015 Conference in San Louis Obispo, CA, as well as spoken twice at the International Garden Tourism Conference in Toronto. My garden photography has been published in many garden magazines as well as garden books. My garden itself was featured with an eight-page spread in This Old House magazine’s June 2017 issue.

David Cristiani Blog: It’s a Dry Heat

Tagline: outdoor living: the border + beyond

Location: Las Cruces, New Mexico

Focus: Landscape design mostly in the Desert Southwest, my projects and others’ projects, physical geography and ecology, and inspiration from being outdoors or travel.

Projects: I’m developing an ecoregion-based climate zone system for gardens, and transitioning from 3 decades in landscape architecture into planning, including a corridor plan for El Camino Real in my county. I’ve started a book and a booklet on arid-region landscape design, and I make presentations to regional groups including the Native Plant Society and workshops focused on resource-efficient horticulture. I contribute to others’ publications on like topics.

Darcy Daniels Blog: eGardenGo Location: Portland, Oregon Focus: Creator of eGardenGo and garden designer with Bloomtown®. Projects: I’m a Northwest-based garden designer and creator of eGardenGo, a website that helps gardeners decide what to plant with what. I created eGardenGo in response to questions and concerns I’ve heard throughout the years I’ve been designing gardens and consulting with gardeners at Bloomtown® Gardens. A product of my passion for plants and my desire to help gardeners be more confident in their garden-making efforts, the site endeavors to help gardeners unlock the secrets of making successful planting combinations and connect with their most creative selves. An easy-to-use online database filled with plant profiles and professionally curated garden combinations allows users to browse the site’s extensive library of images by foliage, texture, and form to create beautiful gardens that will delight all year long. User accounts and newsletter subscriptions are FREE! Check us out.

Photo: Pam Penick

Lori Daul Blog: The Gardener Of Good And Evil Tagline: Lush Landscapes For Tough Climates Location: Austin, Texas Focus: Native and well-adapted plants that are beautiful and useful, feed pollinators and wildlife, and are hard to kill. Projects: As my landscape design business has taken off, I spend more time tending client gardens than my own these days. My own garden serves as a test plot to try out new plants. I’m a firm believer in trying and maybe killing something a few times before planting it in someone else’s garden. I’ve also gone through a few distinct phases of plant obsession: roses, then agaves, and now water gardening.

Janet Davis Blog: The Paintbox Garden Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada Focus: Color in the garden, garden travel, public and private garden profiles, pollinators, and meadow gardening Projects: I’ll have a photo show in Toronto this fall at a friend’s restaurant featuring my studio still lifes of autumn colored foliage.

Layanee DeMerchant Blogs: Ledge & Gardens Location: Foster, Rhode Island Focus: I blog about my garden. My blog is a way to share my own garden, gardening experiences, plant loves, and techniques with others. Gardening is regional, and my garden is a zone 5b New England garden. I have been a professional in the field of horticulture in design, sales, and communications via a gardening radio show and garden writing. I have a B.L.A. and a Certificate of Horticulture from the University of Rhode Island. The blog is ad free. I am not promoting anything except the shared love of gardening.

Liza Drozdov Blog: HortusTV Tagline: Television for Gardeners Location: Oakville, Ontario, Canada Focus: High-quality garden series, streams unlimited 24/7, “Netflix for Gardeners.”

Gail Eichelberger Blog: Clay and Limestone Tagline: Wildflower gardening in Middle Tennessee Location: Nashville, Tennessee Focus: Native plants, pollinators, and gardening for wildlife. Lots of photos. Projects: I have a monthly meme (4th Wednesday of every month) called Wildflower Wednesday, which is about promoting and showcasing native wildflowers. Everyone is invited to join! I am also a Tennessee Master Naturalist.

Brenda Embry Blog: The Blonde Gardener Location: Northwest Arkansas Focus: I love to blog about my vegetable and flower gardens, beekeeping, farm life, and adventures on our motorcycle. Projects: Working toward developing my brand and selling seeds to support my beekeeping addiction.

Jane Finch-Howell Blog: MulchMaid Tagline: Muckracking at Longview Ranch Location: Portland, Oregon Focus: I started my blog in 2008, to document progress on my then-new garden. Over the ensuing years I have blogged about the continuing progress on my own garden, visits to other gardens, and a number of garden- and plant-related subjects. Projects: I was part of the planning group for the 2014 Portland Fling.

Lorene Edwards Forkner Blog: Pacific Horticulture Tagline: Supporting the Power of Gardens Location: Seattle, Washington Focus: We believe in beautiful gardens connected to the world at large. Beautiful design, sustainable resource management, awareness and cooperation with natural systems, and the preservation of healthy soil. Projects and Publications: I’m editor of Pacific Horticulture, which has online content as well as a print magazine. Our garden coverage is up and down the West Coast, and we’ve been in publication since 1976! And we’re always looking for contributors. Sign up for our free monthly e-newsletter.

Andrea Fox Blog: Transplant Studio Tagline: grow where you’re planted Location: Caldwell, Texas Focus: I like to document the plant and critter discoveries I’ve had in the places I’ve come to know as a gardener. My husband and I have recently relocated to a rural property in Texas. We have yet to establish any gardens, but there’s plenty to learn from all the nature and wildlife that surrounds us. Projects: I’m an avid knitter, quilter, and bread baker.

Shirley Fox Blog: Rock-Oak-Deer

Tagline: Living and gardening in beautiful San Antonio

Location: San Antonio, Texas

Focus: Sharing what I’ve learned about keeping my garden looking good year-round in our tough South Texas climate. I also include plenty of tours of both public and private gardens along with the wonderful sights of beautiful, historic San Antonio.

Stefanie Gilmour Blog: See Jane Dig Location: Western Michigan Focus: Garden journal of my experiences learning about gardening and sharing that knowledge with others. Projects: I’m active in my city through the Master Gardener Volunteer program, community gardens, and urban forestry.

Annette Goliti Gutierrez Blog: Potted Blog Tagline: Indoor Style for Outdoor Living Location: Los Angeles, California Focus: Garden design and decor Projects and Publications: Co-owner of an outdoor-lifestyle garden shop in Los Angeles called Potted. In 2017, I co-wrote a book called Potted: Make Your Own Stylish Garden Containers. I’m also available to do public talks.

Photo: Bill Schosser

Kim Halyak Blog: Cooper Young Garden Walk Blog Location: Memphis, Tennessee Focus: Sharing Cooper Young Garden Club activities and garden events around the city, highlighting garden design, and promoting our annual Cooper Young Garden Walk. Projects: The project closest to my heart is growing and promoting our neighborhood garden walk throughout Memphis and beyond. In only our 3rd year, we have grown from 24 gardens to 80 gardens. Our long-range goal is to expand our garden walk throughout Memphis and have Memphis become a garden tourism destination. I give talks on “Garden walks as catalysts for neighborhood and city-wide beautification projects and pride.”

Photo: Jenny Prince

Wendy Hatoum Blog: The High Country Gardens Blog

Location: Shelburne, Vermont

Focus: Organic, sustainable, waterwise gardening; gardening with native plants; new plant introductions

Projects: I grew up gardening in Los Angeles and Salt Lake City and have spent the last 25 years perennial-gardening in northern Vermont. I have a background in print journalism and digital marketing and have worked as the brand manager of High Country Gardens since 2013.

Grace Hensley Blog: Fashion Plants Tagline: Container Design | Plant Love Location: Bainbridge Island, Washington Focus: Container design, specimen plants, drought tolerance, general horticultural interest. Projects: I worked on a display booth for the 2018 Northwest Flower & Garden Show in February. Check out my garden photos on my Instagram page.

Karin Hicks Blog: Southern Meadows Tagline: Creating a wildlife haven one plant at a time Location: Talmo, Georgia Focus: Native plants, pollinators, beneficial insects, butterfly gardening, habitat gardening, birding, vegetable gardening, and youth gardening. Projects: I’m currently teaching a course at Georgia State Botanical Garden for the Native Plant Certificate Program and leading a workshop for Georgia Native Plant Society at Linwood Nature Preserve. I’m available for speaking engagements and workshops, will write articles for publication, and my photos are available for purchase.

Photo by John Anderson

Caroline Homer Blog: The Shovel-Ready Garden Location: Austin, Texas Focus: Gardening (vegetables, citrus, ornamentals, annuals, perennials, bulbs), travel (Fling, urban farm tours, national parks, Europe), and DIY garden projects. Projects: I’ve been a Travis County Master Gardener since 2012 and a registered dietitian since 1989. I post my photography on my Flickr site, Caroline Homer Photography.

Noelle Johnson Blogs: Ramblings From a Desert Garden and Southwest Gardening Tagline: Having fun with plants in a dry climate Location: Chandler, Arizona Focus: As a horticulturist, I work to inspire others to create beautiful outdoor spaces that thrive in arid climates – through blogging, through my work as a landscape consultant/certified arborist, and through writing for publications such as Houzz, Phoenix Home & Garden Magazine, and Water Use It Wisely. Projects: I speak on a variety of gardening topics such as Fuss Free Gardens, Creating Hummingbird Gardens in Containers, and Landscape Design for Maintenance.

Helen Johnstone Blog: The Patient Gardener Tagline: “The love of gardening is a seed once sown that never dies” — Gertrude Jekyll Location: Malvern, Worcestershire, United Kingdom Focus: My blog records my own and my garden’s development over the last 10 years, through highs and lows, both horticultural and personal. I have dabbled in alpine gardening, showing plants, and being involved in plant trials, and I’ve done a bit of traveling, featuring gardens just down the road and as far away as Japan and San Francisco. Along the way I’ve discovered and developed my artistic side, which these days has morphed into a love of textiles and embroidery that rivals my love of all things horticultural. My horticultural loves are quite diverse but can probably be narrowed down to bulbs of all kinds and foliage, especially hardy exotic foliage. Oh and ferns – I love ferns. Projects: I host a monthly meme called The End of Month View, which I started 9 years ago. On the last day of each month, bloggers post about their garden at that point in time, and we can see how the garden, or a particular part of it, changes through the year. Why not join in? The more the merrier.

Photo: Pam Penick

Cat Jones

Blog: The Whimsical Gardener

Location: Austin, Texas

Focus: Passionate about gardening and photography. The Whimsical Gardener is where the two meet. You can find me on Instagram too.

Claire Jones Blog: The Garden Diaries Tagline: The ups and downs of the gardening world Location: Sparks, Maryland Focus: Focusing on what is happening in my own garden, The Garden Diaries spotlights ideas for springtime bulbs in pots, edible plants, container gardening, cooking from the garden, fall pumpkin decorating, decorating your house for Christmas, pollinators, beekeeping, and how to photograph your garden. My favorite subject is artful gardening, or Gardening with Pizzazz – thinking outside the pot! Projects and Publications: I have decorated the White House during the holidays for 3 years and enjoy writing about my behind-the-scenes experiences and Christmas projects. Blogging for Mother Earth News’ Keeping Backyard Bees keeps my writing schedule full, and currently I am working on a book on artful containers. A schedule of around 20 yearly speaking engagements keeps me busy, and I organize and lead two international garden travel tours every year. My last one was to the Chelsea Flower Show in the UK. Photography of the natural world is one of my passions (besides my dogs), and I use my photos for my blogs and presentations.

Kelly Kilpatrick Blog: Floradora Location: Oakland, California Focus: Exploring gardens and the natural world. I enjoy photographing plants, gardens, and landscapes, and my blog is a way for me to share those photographs. Projects: Through my design company, Floradora Garden Design, I’ve designed more than 100 gardens in the San Francisco Bay area since 2000. I try to give each garden its own personality, taking into account the needs and tastes of the client, the style of the architecture, and the microclimate, plus whatever plants I happen to be obsessed with at the time!

Diana Kirby Blog: Sharing Nature’s Garden Tagline: Connecting to the earth, wildlife friends, & fellow gardeners Location: Austin, Texas Focus: I’m inspired by beautiful plants, intentional design. and the creative reward of gardening. Projects and Publications: My blog chronicles my gloved-hands-on experience in my own garden, as does the monthly gardening column I write for the Austin American-Statesman. I teach landscape design classes for a local community education program and several county Texas Agrilife Extension Service Master Gardener certification programs around Central Texas. Through my company, Diana’s Designs, I provide hourly coaching, DIY workshops, and full-spectrum landscape design and installation services. Find me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and my business Facebook page.

Leslie Kuss Blog: Growing a Garden in Davis Location: Davis, California Focus: Gardening in Central California, projects in my garden, garden travel

Ann Lamb Blog: Dallas Garden Buzz Tagline: WaterWise Gardening in Dallas-Ft. Worth Location: Dallas, Texas Focus: Expanding knowledge to our readers so they can successfully grow Texas low-water plants and vegetables and fruit. Projects and Publications: Our writers and photographers at Dallas Garden Buzz are members of the Dallas County Master Gardener Association. We share garden knowledge and promote the activities of The Raincatcher’s Garden, a one-acre garden in North Dallas used as a teaching garden for adults and children. It is watered mostly by rain collection and cared for in an environmentally sensitive way. The successes and failures of our vegetable trial gardens, butterfly garden, orchard, color wheel, shade garden, rain garden, edible landscape, and compost operations provide information for our blog. Dallas County Master Gardeners are part of an educational volunteer program conducted by the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. Classes and plant sales are announced on Dallas Garden Buzz. Our sold-out cookbook, A Year On The Plate, was a huge success.

Alyse Lansing Blog: Garden Inspiration Blog Tagline: Regarding all things that inspire the making and keeping of a garden Location: Scappoose, Oregon Focus: Garden design tips, inspiration from nature, garden tours, plants, travel, hikes, photography, a spiritual element of the natural world. Projects: Photography is a passion. I just bought both a MacBook (Apple is new to me) and Lightroom at the same time; the learning curve is killing me! One sideline activity is volunteering with the city of Scappoose and their fledgling parks committee on codes and parks development. It’s very challenging. Follow me on Instagram and Facebook.

Janet Ledebuhr Blog: The Queen of Seaford Location: Hodges, South Carolina Focus: Gardening with a camera, shade, and deer problems. Projects: I’m working on improving my photography. Follow me on Instagram and Twitter.

Linda Lehmusvirta Blog: Central Texas Gardener Location: Austin, Texas Focus: On the Central Texas Gardener blog, I chat-write about my garden and treks and give a personal spin on each week’s Central Texas Gardener television program. My focus is on connecting gardeners everywhere to ideas, inspiration, solutions, stories, and resources that help them grow and spare them some of my mistakes! Projects and Programs: On the job, I’m producer, writer, video editor, web writer, and social media wrangler for the PBS program Central Texas Gardener and a freelance writer. At home on heavy soil in zone 8 (more or less), I’m a wildlife habitat gardener in a hot, dry climate — when it’s not hot and humid! Drought reigns between rain bombs that mess with xeric plants. To top it off, sometimes roller-coaster temperatures confuse us and our plants with 2-3 seasons in a week or even a day. If you’d like to stay in touch after the Fling, email me or follow me on Instagram and Pinterest.

Pat Leuchtman Blog: Commonweeder

Tagline: Welcome to my garden

Location: Greenfield, Massachusetts

Focus: My blog focuses on local gardens and gardeners, and my emphasis is on sustainable gardens, as well as organic farms and vegetable gardens. I also review garden books. Gardeners are always learning, and we need our books as well as conversations.

Projects and Publications: Before I began blogging, I wrote “Between the Rows,” a weekly garden column for our local Greenfield Recorder. For 36 years I gardened on 60 acres in a very small town. Now, as a gardener on a small town lot, I have become especially interested in public gardens. For several years I’ve been on the volunteer committee for The Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne Falls, MA. I also volunteer with a wonderful group of women revitalizing the gardens in Greenfield’s Energy Park. Our focus is not only beauty but native plants and sustainable management. I have also volunteered with a group to design and plant sustainable gardens around a new community center. In 2012 I published my book The Roses at the End of the Road, a humorous take on life among the roses on our former 60 acres. From time to time I give talks about local gardens as well as my own.

Elizabeth Licata Blog: Garden Rant Tagline: uprooting the gardening world Location: Buffalo, New York Focus: Rant is a group blog with five members. We focus on gardening and environmental questions that would be of general interest to a national audience; often (not always), we try to include strong opinions, question gardening norms, and address controversial issues. Projects and Publications: Elizabeth is a magazine editor, former curator, and art critic who has written for both gardening and art magazines. Books include Garden Walk Buffalo, 100 Things to Do in Buffalo Before You Die, In Company: Robert Creeley’s Collaborations with Artists, and several art-related titles. She edits Buffalo Spree, Western New York’s award-winning city/regional magazine. She has a monthly segment on Buffalo’s public radio station.

Laurin Lindsey and Shawn Michael Blog: Ravenscourt Gardens Tagline: Learning life’s lessons in the garden! Location: Houston, Texas Focus: Houston-centric design and gardening information about plants, materials, and weather. Projects: We own Ravenscourt, a landscape design installation company. We share designs, projects we’ve done, and DIY information. Our blog and company promote organic and sustainable solutions, pollinator-friendly plants, and good design with easy-to-source materials. We also share info on books related to gardening that we find useful. We have been blogging 5 years.

Gail L. Blog: Piece of Eden Location: Southern California Focus: Plants appropriate to Southern California’s climate, including genera from South Africa, Australia, Mexico, California, and the Desert Southwest. Also lots of complaining about drought. Projects: Fall: planting. Winter: pruning. Spring: relishing. Summer: sulking.

Photo: MB Maher

Denise Maher

Blog: A Growing Obsession

Location: Long Beach, California

Focus: Plants, Gardens, Design.

Projects and Publications: Working with local designers and plantspeople to create “pop-up” markets and plant fairs.

Theo Margelony

Theo Margelony and Kevin Gepford Blog: Fuchsias in the City Location: Manhattan, NY

Kevin Gepford

Focus: The Fuchsia. But also nature, travel, history, and assorted adventures from an urban garden filled with fuchsias, hostas, ferns, and way too many other shady things. One world, one garden! Projects: Theo is the writer. Kevin is the photographer, graphic artist, and Photoshop editor. Away from the garden and the blog, Theo works as a museum administrator in medieval art and does heraldry. Kevin works as creative operations director for digital marketing graphics on a corporate website, and also does old-fashioned pinhole photography with his wonderful box cameras.

Jen McGuinness Blog: Frau Zinnie Location: Portland, Connecticut Focus: I’m a huge proponent of organic gardening methods that attract beneficial insects and songbirds to the garden. I focus on creative ways to grow ornamental and edible plants in my own garden. Frau Zinnie has three purposes: highlighting my gardening experiences; reporting on local gardening events; and interviewing gardening gurus. Projects: In 2018, I am focusing on how I can make the best use of my growing space to grow food for my family – which includes two hungry house rabbits! I will be sharing the progress on the blog. I also offer garden lectures on co-existing with wildlife in the garden.

Daricia McKnight Blog: A Charlotte Garden Location: Charlotte, North Carolina Focus: Wildflowers, herbs, native plants, weeds. And sometimes, books.

Photo: Jeff Hankins

Jean McWeeney Blog: Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog Tagline: Tracking the cycle of my gardening life Location: Ruston, Louisiana Focus: I blog about my garden and the gardens of friends or ones I see while traveling. Projects: I retired from the software industry 4 years ago, and today I run the nonprofit North Louisiana Farm Fresh, which is in charge of the Ruston Farmers Market. I also help with some local political groups. On the gardening side of things, I offer garden coaching services to do-it-yourselfers and give public talks about gardening for birds and pollinators, mostly in north Louisiana. I also sell the occasional photograph.

Kathleen Melikian Blog: Queen of the Dirt Location: Fresno, California Focus: My blog focuses on my personal gardening efforts, trials and tribulations, plus I chronicle the many garden tours and events I attend in California and other states. Any travel always includes finding the local garden attractions and sharing them with my readers. Projects: In addition to being a lifelong gardener, I am a quilt maker who focuses on hand appliqué. I have just had a quilt juried into an international show held in the U.S. and featuring work from quilters in 45 states and 24 countries.

Carol Michel Blog: May Dreams Gardens Tagline: All year I dream of the days of May when the sun is warm, the sky is blue, the grass is green, and the garden is all new again. Location: Indianapolis, Indiana Focus: I’m the keeper of the secrets to happiness in your garden and created Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day back in 2007. Projects and Publications: I live a full-time gardening life, discovering and sharing the secrets to happiness in your garden. I’m the author of Potted and Pruned: Living a Gardening Life (2017) and have a second book coming out in spring 2018 called Homegrown and Handpicked: A Year in a Gardening Life. I also will go where asked (and paid) to speak about gardening topics with a focus on humor and horticulture.

Photo: Carrie Wagner

Cinthia Milner Blog: B.B. Barns Garden Blog and Cinthia Milner Location: Asheville, North Carolina Focus: I write the blog for garden center B.B. Barns, and the focus is on all things related to gardening. For my own blog, Cinthia Milner, I have fun and write whatever I want, and it isn’t always about gardening, although my most popular blog post is called Dream of David Austin English Roses. Projects: I recently started a group that offers women the chance to mentor women working in the field of horticulture. We’re horticulturists, landscape architects, breeders, nursery owners, growers, and contractors. We meet monthly, inviting speakers, taking field trips to work places, and learning and networking with each other. I am also a garden coach for B.B. Barns Garden Center and do a lot of speaking, mostly regionally, but I’ll go further if requested.

Margaret Mishra Blog: The Gardening Me (previously Homegrown – Adventures in my Garden) Location: Southern Ontario, Canada Focus: Mainly edibles, but anything that grows is fair game.

Dee Nash Blog: Red Dirt Ramblings Tagline: Firmly rooted in the Oklahoma soil Location: Guthrie, Oklahoma Focus: Well, ramblings are part of the title, so I can blog about what I want, but mostly I center upon gardening from my own part of the world, which isn’t an easy feat. I also write about cooking from the garden and some home-keeping stuff. Projects and Publications: I wrote a gardening book in 2014 called The 20-30 Something Garden Guide: A No-Fuss, Down and Dirty, Gardening 101 for Anyone Who Wants to Grow Stuff.

Mary Ann Newcomer Blog: Gardens of the Wild Wild West Tagline: High, Dry and Wild Location: Boise, Idaho Focus: Gardens, especially those in the intermountain states. Grow ’em, scout ’em, write about them. Projects and Publications: I’m a native Idahoan, a garden writer, and author of two gardening books for the Mountain West, including Vegetable Gardening in the Mountain States.

Teresa Odle Blogs: Gardening in a Drought and Southwest Gardening Location: Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico Focus: Gardening in a Drought focuses on low-water gardening; xeric plants and gardening in a harsh and high-altitude climate; rural living; and general gardening info. Southwest Gardening has some of those themes but focuses mostly on gardening in dry climates at various desert and mountain zones of the Southwest – mostly Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and Nevada.

Projects: I’m excited to be collaborating with three outstanding bloggers – Noelle Johnson (also attending Austin Fling), Ann McCormick, and Jacqueline Soule – on Southwest Gardening, which launched in January. In my offline life, my husband and I have 4 acres of land and grow vegetables each summer to sell at rural farmers markets. I also offer garden consulting with a focus on edible gardens in low-water conditions. As a freelance editor and writer, I consult with nurseries, landscape designers, growers, and other businesses on communications with their customers.

Renee P. Blog: Gardening Turned Up to Eleven Location: California high desert (Mojave desert) Focus: My garden and sometimes places I visit Projects: I just blog for fun!

Photo: David Pinson

Tamara Paulat Blog: Chickadee Gardens Tagline: Gardening on two acres near Portland, OR, with a focus on sustainability and native plants Location: Saint Helens, Oregon Focus: I focus on native West Coast plants, sustainability, attracting wildlife, and climate-appropriate gardening. My husband and I are creating a small farm from scratch. I invite readers to come along with us on our journey of making our dream garden on a blank slate of two acres. Projects: I work for Joy Creek Nursery in Scappoose, Oregon. Part of my job is to manage Joy Creek’s Facebook account, so I’m constantly in the 4-acre gardens photographing my heart out. I am a Hardy Plant Society of Oregon member and have written articles for them as well as for Pacific Horticulture.

Tonya Peele Blog: plant + shoot Tagline: exposing garden life Location: North Carolina Focus: Gardening, photography, and slow living Projects: Posts published every Friday filled with inspiration to slow down and reconnect with nature.

Pam Penick Blog: Digging Tagline: cool gardens in a hot climate Location: Austin, Texas Focus: All the gardening goodness I can dig up! Emphasis on great garden design, tours of gardens I visit, waterwise gardening, agave love, Texas native plants, and foliage fetishizing (join me for Foliage Follow-Up each month). Projects and Publications: I’m a freelance writer and photographer with articles in Garden Design, Country Gardens, and other magazines, and the author of two books, Lawn Gone! and The Water-Saving Garden. Currently I’m building my Garden Spark speaker series, bringing in 3-4 top-notch speakers on garden design each year and hosting talks out of my home. (Contact me to pitch a speaking topic.) I’m also one of the Austin Fling planners and look forward to sharing my city and its gardens with you! I’m on Facebook and Instagram.

Photo: Beth Bizer

Jenny Peterson Blog: Jenny Nybro Peterson Tagline: healthy gardens, healthy lives, urban farming Location: Austin, Texas Focus: Wellness, gardening, and urban farming. Projects and Publications: I post a Wellness Tip of the Day video, Monday-Friday, on my Facebook page, where I talk about creating a healthy life in body, mind, and spirit. I am also a smoothie fanatic and find every way I can to hook people up to them! I’m author of The Cancer Survivor’s Garden Companion: Cultivating Hope, Healing and Joy in the Ground Beneath Your Feet (Silver award winner from GWA) and co-author of Indoor Plant Decor, and I’m a public speaker and wellness advocate.

Photo: Valarie Peterson

Jim Peterson Website: Garden Design (publisher) Location: Redlands, California Focus: Garden Design provides information on plants, garden-related products, design ideas, garden tours, garden shows and events, and seasonal gardening tips. Projects and Publications: Garden Design produces a quarterly magazine that’s ad free, with in-depth insights on plants and gardens and world-class photography. Also, in 1999 I started ConcreteNetwork.com. The site provides information and resources on decorative concrete to more than 14 million people per year.

Kris Peterson Blog: Late to the Garden Party

Location: Rancho Palos Verdes, California

Focus: Creating a drought-resistant garden, Mediterranean and succulent plants, and floral/foliage arrangements from garden material.

Projects: I’m a volunteer docent at South Coast Botanic Garden.

Jenny Prince Blog: American Meadows Blog Tagline: Where Confidence Grows Location: Shelburne, Vermont Focus: Wildflower gardening on any scale; working with seeds; gardening with perennials and bulbs; pollinators, pollinators, pollinators! Projects and Publications: American Meadows has been involved in a statewide project in Vermont called Wild for Pollinators. We pack, donate, and distribute seeds throughout the state to encourage both businesses and residential landowners to plant unused land for pollinators. Nationwide, we are launching a campaign this spring to encourage as many homeowners as possible to replace their lawns with wildflowers. In addition to my work at American Meadows, I have my own website, Jenny Grows, which is all about growing nutrient-dense (high-brix) vegetables through the use of soil minerals, foodscaping, and gardening in extreme weather. I’ve spoken at the NOFAVT organic farming conference about growing nutrient-dense food; written a Kindle cookbook called Eat Like A Farm Girl about simplified CSA recipes; founded a beekeeping club in my community; won a blue ribbon for my bread-and-butter pickles at the Tunbridge World’s Fair; and earned a living selling photographs of people farming giant vegetables for 10+ years. Follow my Instagram for more.

Angie Rose Blog: Angie The Freckled Rose Tagline: Where Things Come Alive Location: Boston, Massachusetts Focus: My blog focuses on my everyday experiences in the garden and on the farm. I enjoy sharing details about my journey growing flowers, vegetables, and herbs in raised beds. This includes garden-to-table recipes, organic methods, and companion planting. I also blog about raising animals and sustainable living on the homestead. Projects: In 2018, I’m focusing on rebuilding my edible garden while incorporating new varieties and organic methods. I’m also creating a cutting garden with dahlias, calla lilies, and gladiolus to create fresh floral arrangements. I will be welcoming new baby chicks to the farm and starting my very own chicken garden. This will include beneficial varieties of herbs and treats just for them.

Photo: Matt Kiedaisch

David Salman Blog: The High Country Gardens Blog Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico Focus: Organic, sustainable, waterwise gardening; gardening with native plants; new plant introductions Projects: David is the founder and chief horticulturist of High Country Gardens. He has a series of planting and informational videos, is a sought-after speaker in the world of horticulture, and has written numerous articles for Fine Gardening, American Gardener, and Horticulture magazines. David’s plant introductions include Bouteloua gracilis ‘Blonde Ambition’ and Agastache ‘Ava’. David is a distinguished recipient of the American Horticultural Society 2008 Great American Gardeners Award.

Photo: Marcus Harpur

Barbara Segall Blog: The Garden Post Location: Sudbury, Suffolk, United Kingdom Focus: Gardens in the UK and abroad; gardeners and their stories; ornamental and productive plants; grow-your-own, particularly herbs, salads, and fruit; plants in food; and garden travel. Projects and Publications: I edit 3 magazines for member organizations (Herbs, for the Herb Society; The Horticulturist, for the Chartered Institute of Horticulture; and Suffolk Gardens Trust Newsletter) and write for various magazines such as Hortus. I’m the author of 12 books, including Secret Gardens of East Anglia. I also review books and give talks. I have a small town garden and an allotment in the town. I love garden visiting and general garden nosy-ness!

Mary Schier Blogs: My Northern Garden and Notes from Northern Gardener Blog Location: St. Paul, Minnesota Focus: General gardening for USDA Zones 3-4 (sometimes 5). My personal blog, My Northern Garden, is about designing and planting my new urban garden, a huge change from the larger, more rural garden I previously had. Projects and Publications: I edit Northern Gardener magazine, the publication of the Minnesota State Horticultural Society. My first garden book, The Northern Gardener: From Apples to Zinnias, was published in 2017 by the Minnesota Historical Society Press.

Photo: Jim Bathie

Mary Beth Shaddix Blog: A Growing Curiosity Location: Birmingham, Alabama Focus: My main focus is edible gardening, where I constantly feed my curiosity about food (mainly because I’m always hungry). I also enjoy plantsman profiles, botanical history, and doing anything to grow new generations of gardeners or get people outdoors. Projects and Publications: As a writer – see my website Mary Beth Shaddix – I create content in home, garden, travel, and food categories for media brands such as Southern Living, Cooking Light, HGTV Gardens, and Garden & Gun. And I am lucky to live and breathe plant life 24/7 as co-owner of Maple Valley Nursery, a wholesale growing operation. I have more ideas (than time) to expand A Growing Curiosity into a platform that celebrates and encourages a sense of wonder about the natural world around us. Cooking Light Pick Fresh Cookbook (2014) is a hybrid recipe and garden how-to book. I enjoy speaking opportunities and keep an ongoing wish list of future book ideas. To feed my growing curiosity and garden adventures, I’ve evolved my marketing and publishing career into a successful boutique firm, helping national consumer brands tell their stories effectively.

Photo: Heather Nicholson

Joanne Shaw Blog: Down2Earth Landscape Design Blog Location: Pickering, Ontario, Canada Focus: Down-to-earth practical advice for gardening and landscape design Projects and Programs: I am a landscape designer and proprietor at Down2Earth Landscape Design. I also host “Down the Garden Path,” an internet radio show that airs live on Monday evenings at 7 pm EST on realityradio101.com, and which is also released as a podcast.

Teresa (Teri) Speight Blog: Cottage In the Court Tagline: Creating beauty naturally Location: District Heights, Maryland Focus: I focus on embracing the beauty that surrounds us in nature and the world in general. I am a wanderer, so I find beauty outside my door and at work, as well as across the pond (so to speak). I am pretty organic and believe in reconnecting people with the earth in a natural manner so that it is not intimidating. Projects: I am about to embark on a beginning-garden series for the busy woman. It will be a vlogging series as well as a weekly blog post and a quarterly in-person event in my community. Recently I spoke at Magnolia Plantation’s Spring Symposium — the first of many talks I hope to give this year. The title of my talk was “Passionate About My Roots – History, Heritage and Heirlooms.” I also plan to attend the Hydrangea Festival in Boston and make many other road trips throughout the year, and I will continue to feature different gardens on my travels throughout the U.S. and Europe. After all, I believe in finding inspiration outside of my garden gate, from time to time.

Photo: Ernest Stetenfeld

Beth Stetenfeld Blog: PlantPostings Tagline: Notes from a USDA zone 5 shade garden in Southern Wisconsin Location: McFarland, Wisconsin (Madison area) Focus: Pollinator gardens, native plants, organic gardening, companion planting, hiking, traveling…wherever I go, I want to see and learn about plants! Projects: I’m a master naturalist volunteer and instructor. In August, I’ll be co-leading my (and our) second master naturalist training session at the UW-Madison Arboretum. I love the master naturalist program! I also enjoy presenting to small groups. In February, I co-presented about the master naturalist program at the Wisconsin Garden Expo. Large groups make me a little nervous. 😉

Jenny Stocker Blog: Rock Rose Tagline: Lots of rocks and a few roses Location: Austin, Texas Focus: I am passionate about all things gardening: design, implementation, perennial and vegetable gardening, cottage gardening, and working with rocks. I enjoy repurposing items to use in the garden. I write about these subjects on my blog as well as gardens I have visited on my travels. Projects: My garden is always an ongoing project. I am a volunteer docent at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, where I lead tours. My second, equally time-consuming hobby is duplicate bridge.

Diana Stoll Blog: Garden with Diana Tagline: plants, projects and seasonal adventures in the garden Location: Chicago suburbs, Illinois

Focus: Things going on in my garden, gardens I’ve visited, and plants, plants, plants!

Projects and Publications: I write a weekly gardening column for the Chicago Daily Herald and contribute to Chicagoland Gardening magazine and the Kane County Chronicle. I love to speak to groups of all sizes and offer a wide range of topics. More information can be found on my website.

Victoria Summerley Blog: Tales from Awkward Hill

Location: Bibury, Cotswolds, United Kingdom

Focus: I write mainly about gardens or gardening, or occasionally country or village life.

Projects and Publications: I open my garden for the National Garden Scheme, a British charity founded in 1927, which raises money for palliative care. My third and latest book, The Secret Gardeners, features gardens belonging to some of the most famous British names in the visual and performance arts, such as Julian Fellowes (creator of Downton Abbey) and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Photo: Kristen Adolf

Julie Thompson-Adolf Blog: Garden Delights Location: Moore, South Carolina Focus: Obsessive organic gardener, eco-adventurer, local food lover, nature nut, wrangler of kids and critters, traveler, and writer. Highly addicted to seed-starting and -saving. Lover of hellebores, tulips, camellias, and heirloom tomatoes. Garden Delights is a how-to DIY resource, as well as a storytelling forum. Projects and Publications: I constantly battle wanderlust with the need to garden. I garden year-round in South Carolina, which makes it tricky as a travel writer and explorer, too. I write for several magazines and work with horticulture clients, so basically I have a dream job. I’m in the process of gutting our big kitchen garden and building my dream garden, but I’d better hurry up or I won’t have any veggies this season! I’m also working on a project about slow foods and the Ark of Taste. I love farmers markets and often sell my organic, heirloom plants at our local market, helping people learn how to grow their own food. My first book will be released in October 2018: Starting & Saving Seeds: Grow the Perfect Vegetables, Fruits, Herbs, and Flowers for Your Garden (Cool Springs Press).

Cindy Tournier Blog: My Corner of Katy Tagline: The adventures of a gardener in and sometimes out of her eclectic and eccentric garden in Katy, Texas Location: Katy, Texas Focus: I mostly write about my experiences in my own garden. Projects: When I started gardening on my corner lot in a suburb of Houston in 1997, I was full of energy, enthusiasm, stamina, and imagination. Over several years, I ripped out all the turfgrass and replaced it with garden beds, planting them with a wide variety of annuals, perennials, trees, shrubs, natives, and adapted plants. I didn’t consider how I’d keep up with maintaining it all 21 years down the road! These days I’m working towards making the garden more self sustaining and less labor intensive so I can continue to enjoy working in it as I continue to age.

Jennifer Trandell Blog: The Botanical Journey Location: Gulf Coast, Texas Focus: A travel journal of outdoor adventures, botanical traditions, culinary arts, and the history of people and places. Projects: The Botanical Journey is building an expedition vehicle to travel from North America to Argentina. My partner and I hope to leave next spring for a seven-year journey (the cumulative total of the permitted visa stay in each country). I am an anthropologist, an avid traveler, and a botanical zealot. My passion is investigating the natural world and its effects on society. As a professional freelance writer and photographer, I find that the people who are working toward positive global change for the health of the planet inspire my stories. Follow our journey on Instagram, including lots of photos of pretty flowers and trees and cactus and more.

Heather Tucker Blog: Just a Girl With a Hammer Location: Portland, Oregon

Anneliese Valdes Blog: CobraHead Location: Cambridge, Wisconsin Focus: Sustainable food growing and recipes Projects: I’m a part-time gardener and part-time musician. Here at CobraHead (we’re a Fling sponsor), we make awesome garden tools!

Photo: Tim Spira

Lisa Wagner Blog: Natural Gardening Tagline: Observations on nature and gardening Location: Asheville, North Carolina Focus: My focus is gardening with natives, wildlife-friendly gardening, vegetable gardening, and nature observations, with occasional travel posts around nature or gardening. I’ve been blogging since the summer of 2007 and love the format. Projects: As a retired garden educator, I still do a variety of gardening presentations and classes at the NC Arboretum, the Botanical Gardens at Asheville, and for groups and symposia, now as a volunteer. I’m also an active volunteer at a local community garden.

Sheryl Williams Blog: Yard Fanatic Location: Austin, Texas Focus: “Yard fanatic” is an apt description for my love of gardening and passion for teaching people how to grow their own food. I mostly focus on edible gardening with generous sides of political ranting and observations/travel logs from other places I have visited. Projects: I am a Travis County Master Gardener volunteer for the Texas Agrilife Extension Service, where the bulk of my time is spent educating people about various aspects of gardening. My specialties are all types of composting, soils, tool sharpening, vegetable gardening, rainwater harvesting, turf, and gardening for wildlife. I also am nuts about nature, birds in particular, but have some great bear, rattlesnake, cougar, bighorn sheep, mountain goat, and even Sasquatch stories (who was really our drunken neighbor).

Starla Willis Blog: Dallas Garden Buzz Location: Dallas, Texas Focus: Our group blog focus is on gardening in North Texas, especially things related to our Master Gardener project, The Raincatcher’s Garden of Midway Hills. My primary blog responsibility is to help tell our story through the lens of photography, from the smallest insect to the big picture and everything in-between. Projects and Publications: I was part of a group of Dallas County Master Gardeners who created A Year on the Plate, an award-winning cookbook that was inspired by things that would grow in North Texas. Most of the photography was done by myself and another master gardener. It sold out in just over 3 months. “Through the Lens” is a photography talk that I have done for various garden clubs and community groups. It includes pictures and tips on how to capture aspects of gardening and the things that go on there.

Laura Wills Blog: Wills Family Acres Tagline: Farm to Table in Austin, TX Location: Austin, Texas Focus: My main focus is vegetable gardening. It has grown over time from two 3×3-ft. beds to my current 2500+ sq.ft. vegetable enclosure. I also enjoy xeriscaping with native and adapted plants. The vegetables keep me very busy, so my other plants need to handle regular neglect. Projects: Although my tagline is “Farm to Table,” the table portion is still a work in progress. I took a class last year on food photography and am working to improve in this area. My goal is to do at least one food post a month. I have found that when I concentrate on taking the perfect photos the meal suffers, so it is a balance. I also went through the Travis County Master Gardener training a few years ago, and I enjoy giving talks on vegetables and chickens. I plan to get the Vegetable Specialist Certification later this year. Lynn Yenkey Blog: Sin City to Slaterville Location: Columbia, South Carolina Focus: I focus on native plants, nature, and garden learning, usually the hard way. Projects and Publications: I’m getting back to work after taking time off to be with my young son. We recently moved to South Carolina, and I have writing and photography in Edible Columbia magazine. I’m working on expanding writing and photography in garden, conservation, and farm-to-table media.

Photo: Matthew Carasella

Ellen Zachos

Blog: The Backyard Forager Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico Focus: I write about wild edible plants and mushrooms, with the occasional book review and tool recommendation thrown in. Mostly plant profiles and lots of recipes. Projects and Publications: I’ve just dived into the world of online education with a short course for beginning foragers: “Five Super Safe and Easy Wild Edibles for the Beginning Forager”. It’s exhausting and exciting. I’ve written 7 books; the last two, Backyard Foraging and The Wildcrafted Cocktail, are my most recent and dearest to my heart. I speak all over the U.S. and Canada, and I love giving a live performance – blame it on my Broadway background. I do a twice-monthly podcast with C.L. Fornari called Plantrama. We argue a lot, but in a nice way. My goal for 2018 is to create a suite of online courses about safely foraging for and cooking with wild edibles. And maybe a membership site on the same topic.