Introducing Jenny Peterson - Southwest Garden Guru

Greetings from the hot and humid land of Austin, Texas! I’m Jenny Peterson, an Austin-based landscape designer and freelance writer—that’s Zone 8a, where we can see 105 temps in the summer and occasional snow and ice in the winter. My garden occupies a spacious 150-square feet of real estate on a windy 3rd floor balcony—but don’t let the small space fool you. I’ve grown flowers, palms, ferns, herbs, lettuces and strawberries on my little lot. Also have seating for 6 plus a fountain with alligator heads. It’s a great spot for happy hours, morning coffee and for my teenage boys to hang out with their girlfriends (my 17-year-old said it was romantic, then swore me to secrecy that he used such a word).

Not surprisingly, given my zone and my own personal garden, I specialize in xeriscaping and small space gardens. I love transforming patios, decks, courtyards and balconies for my clients—and this is how I was introduced to Proven Winners^® plants. In every design, I feature unique potted gardens and Proven Winners^® plants have always been a part of pulling that off. Last year, I fell in love with Supertunia^® Pretty Much Picasso^® Petunia, an amazing purple and green petunia and used it in many of my gardens. My clients thought I was a genius.

Lately, I’ve been getting into some oddball plants for the creation of my indoor garden—tillandsias and lithops. It took me a while to learn to not kill these plants with too much kindness, but like all committed gardeners, I take a trial-and-error approach to my plants. When I’m gardening outdoors, I love ornamental grasses, drought tolerant flowering perennials and succulents—the tougher, the better, as Austin will quickly and effectively beat the fussiness out of every gardener and plant.

I am beyond excited about being a brand ambassador for Proven Winners^®—it’s an awesome company with a superb product and I am honored to spread the word to other gardeners.

^© Proven Winners, Inc. (Received post on 12/1/11)