Colleen Dieter has been recognized as the latest Net-Zero Hero by the City of Austin for her efforts in promoting sustainable gardening practices and climate action. With over 20 years of experience, Dieter has worked to make gardening accessible for Austinites through her roles as a landscape consultant, certified arborist, and founder of Central Texas Seed Savers.
Dieter explained that she was motivated to take action because “there’s not much information available to gardeners about when to plant or trim plants in Austin. Gardening is very confusing here, and most gardening information applies to other parts of the world. Our climate is unlike any other on Earth, and the proper timing of gardening tasks is puzzling. Throughout my career, I found gardeners were asking me the same questions repeatedly, and I saw folks making the same mistakes — like planting at the wrong time of year, and trimming at the wrong times. These mistakes were leading folks to give up on gardening and say, ‘I have a brown thumb,’ or ‘I kill everything.’ With just a few key bits of information, they could be awesome gardeners. I started wondering how I could reach a larger audience and have a bigger impact.”
Dieter launched the ATXGardens podcast to provide practical guidance tailored specifically for Austin’s climate. She noted that podcasts offered an accessible way to share advice: “Lots of practice! I have over 20 years of experience helping Central Texans with their yards as a landscape consultant at ATXGardens. I am also a certified arborist, sustainable landscape designer, and founder of Central Texas Seed Savers. You may have seen me on PBS Austin’s Central Texas Gardener, KXAN’s Weekend Gardener, or Spectrum News’ Garden Journeys, or heard me on The Horticulturati podcast and KLBJ’s Horticulture Hangover. I am passionate about making gardening approachable. I needed a steady outlet for specific how-to information for local gardeners. Podcasts are low-cost and easy to DIY compared to other types of media, so I borrowed a microphone from a friend and got started recording on Zoom. I was connected to a podcast manager through a friend. She walked me through the steps to get started, and I hired her to edit my show.”
She described combining practical tips with updates from the local gardening community: “It’s rewarding to get the information about all kinds of plants — vegetables, fruit trees, native plants, and more — on one platform. Often, gardening information is too esoteric for an average gardener… There’s a strong need for Austin-specific gardening information, and I am happy to be filling that gap.”
Dieter said that starting her podcast presented challenges due to limited existing models: “Just getting started from scratch and figuring it out as I go along. I didn’t have any great examples to follow for creating a local, calendar-based gardening podcast…”
On sustainability goals in Austin, Dieter emphasized: “I believe that gardening is key to solving global, local, and personal problems… Trees and plants are crucial to fighting climate change because they pull carbon out of the atmosphere… They also have relationships with soil microbes that store even more carbon in the soil.” She also stressed growing food locally reduces emissions from transport.
For those interested in taking similar actions or learning more about sustainable practices in Austin gardens—including how timing affects plant success—she recommends resources such as her own ATXGardens podcast as well as Central Texas Gardener on KLRU.
The City encourages residents who wish to share their own contributions toward net-zero goals or nominate others making an impact locally.
