Way back in 2002 when several of us got together to start a native plant society chapter in the Big Bend, the first thing we found was that there was no garden guide to help us know when and how to do things. So we began with the idea of a calendar filled with gardening advice. But as we went along, we saw that wasn’t a practical solution. And the Gardener’s Guide was born. Much of the content is based on the notes that Beth Francell had made during her years as a landscape designer, and the design is the creative child of Chris and Ellen Ruggia at Vast Graphics in Alpine.
In this second edition, we’ve added essays on gathering and propagating local seed and creating Firewise landscapes, two topics for which there have been many requests.
Our first guide was paper only and went out of print in 2006. This second edition is electronic – now the whole world can learn how to garden in the Big Bend of Texas with a couple of key strokes. But it’s also downloadable – so you can print it if you want a paper copy. Our thanks to Chris Ruggia for adding the updates to the guide.
Here’s to great gardening in our beautiful part of the world. We hope the Big Bend Gardener’s Guide will become a good friend. Click on the link directly above or the blue button below to start your adventure!
Dallas Baxter, editor
August 2019