Planning to start gardening in the Texas Hill Country? We’ve got the best resources to help you begin.
Editor’s Note: This article contains affiliate links to Amazon.com.
A few weeks back we shared some of our favorite regional nurseries, so we’re confident that they’ll cover you for plants and seeds. For this curated list of gardening resources, however, we’re turning to more fundamental supplies with Hill Country ties. From books to organizations to our favorite soil and fertilizer, we’ve collected some fabulous suggestions.
Central Texas Gardener
If you’re not already a fan, then you’ll want to check your local PBS listings for times. We promise this KLRU-produced garden show from Austin is worth the effort! From recommendations on deer-resistant plants to profiles of regional gardeners doing incredible things in partnership with nature, this show offers a bounty of inspiration, advice, and insights. They also have an award-winning blog with years of back articles full of information and ideas as well as collection of previous episodes on their website if you can’t get your DVR to cooperate or want to catch up. (Best of all, “CTG” is produced by one of this website’s favorite fierce Hill Country women, the delightful Linda Lehmusvirta.)
Pam Penick’s Gardening Books
Known far and wide for her garden blog, Digging, Austin’s own Pam Penick is a prolific writer for garden magazines. She also has two outstanding gardening books for homeowners who want to make the most of their property with minimal stress to the environment. Lawn Gone: Low-Maintenance, Sustainable, Attractive Alternatives for Your Yard ( (Ten Speed Press, 2013) focuses on creating attractive, inviting outdoor living spaces that require less mowing and irrigation in the long run but perhaps a bit more upfront labor and investment. The Water-Saving Garden: How to Grow a Gorgeous Garden with a Lot Less Water (Ten Speed Press, 2016) expands upon those same principles to focus on water issues critical to eco-savvy gardeners living on the Edwards Aquifer. As Penick illustrates beautiful in her stunning photographs and text, one doesn’t have to resort exclusively to cacti and rocks, either. (Not that there’s anything wrong with so doing! We love succulents, too.)
[Editor’s Note: Penick’s 2016 book will be featured in our upcoming June 2018 newsletter. You’ve subscribed, right?]
Native and Adapted Landscape Plants Guide
Produced by the City of Austin’s Watershed Protection Department, this free guide to plants suitable to the region is worth looking up their website. They even have a searchable online database if you want to do a quick check on your phone before picking up that tempting plant at the nursery or the farmer’s market.
Ladybug Hill Country Garden Soil
[Update: We’ve learned from Pam Penick that production has ceased on this product and when the current supply runs out, that’s it.]
Let’s talk dirty for a minute. And by “dirty” we mean actual “dirt.”
Hill Country soil can be, um, challenging for gardeners. Many of them work around the problem by resorting to raised beds and/or serious soil conditioning to get things to grow. But if we’re going to have to build up or replace the soil, we’d prefer to use something that can be sourced regionally. Founded in Central Texas years ago, the Ladybug brand was bought out in 2013 by Houston’s New Earth company—but it remains at root a Texas product. Hill Country Garden Soil is much-loved for its balance of compost and mineral sands. (Plus, we really love the graphics on the bag.) Also of note from this company are their Vortex Potting Soil and John’s Recipe Fertilizer.
Medina’s HastaGro
Based in Hondo, Medina has been helping gardeners and farmers with their plant ambitions since the early 1960s using natural and organic fertilizers and soil conditioners. They’ve got staying power, as will your plants if you pick up their HastaGro liquid plant fertilizer.
The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
You don’t have to be an Aggie to appreciate the wealth of information made available online by the AgriLife Extension folks. In the Gardening & Landscaping section of their website, they cover everything from soil and seed selection to pest management and harvesting. They also train the state’s cadre of Master Gardeners who help others learn how to work with nature to care for prettier, sustainable landscapes and grow better vegetables.
San Antonio Botanical Garden (SABOT)
If you’re looking for inspiration on how to grow a more vibrant garden, look no further than the Alamo City’s SABOT. And as beautiful as the gardens themselves are (we mentioned them recently in our story about wildflowers), SABOT’s educational outreach programs serve green thumb folks of all ages.
Do you love the Texas Hill Country as much as we do? Are you interested in learning more about it? Subscribe to our beautiful monthly digital newsletter. (It’s free!) Oh, and look for us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Thanks so much, Texas Wildflower, for featuring my books and blog in your “favorite things” post! I’m honored to be included among such terrific resources as Central Texas Gardener, the AgriLife Extension Service, and others. Just a heads up about the wonderful LadyBug brand though — they’ve recently ceased production and won’t be available once the current supply runs out. I’ll miss their Hill Country Garden Soil for sure!
Oh, thank you so much for the update.