5 questions with Barton Springs Nursery's Amy Hovis
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BSN Design Studio & Showroom. Photo: Courtesy of Whitney Runyon
As Central Texans head into peak gardening season, Barton Springs Nursery owner Amy Hovis is seeing a shift: fewer lawns, more butterflies and a growing appetite for water-wise yards.
Driving the news: Hovis recently opened the new BSN Design Studio & Showroom at 910 N. Lamar, where she offers full-service garden design and installation.
- We caught up with Hovis to talk about the new studio and tips and tricks for gardeners.
This interview has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.
1. What was the vision behind opening the Design Studio and Showroom?
"The vision was to create a space where landscape design, horticulture, and lifestyle all come together.
- ... It's also about making design more accessible. Whether someone is building a large-scale project or just rethinking a small corner of their yard, we wanted a place where they could come in, get inspired, and leave with a clear path forward."
2. You say no project is too big or small for the design studio. What's the most common request you're hearing from Austin homeowners right now?
"Right now, the most common request is some version of: 'I want my yard to have more plants for butterflies and be more water-wise, but I don't know where to start.'
- We're seeing a big shift away from traditional lawns toward more natural, layered landscapes with shade, habitat, and places to gather. There's also a strong desire for low-water, low-maintenance gardens that still feel lush and intentional."
3. For someone starting from scratch, what's the first step to creating a garden that actually works in Central Texas?
"The first step is always to understand your site: your sun, your soil, your drainage, and how water moves through the space.
- In Central Texas, if you skip that step and go straight to picking plants, you're setting yourself up for frustration. Once you understand the conditions, everything else becomes much easier, because you're working with the environment instead of against it.
- From there, we always think about structure first: trees, major plant groupings and layout, before filling in the details."
4. Austin's climate can be brutal. What's the biggest mistake people make when choosing plants here?
"Austin has intense heat, unpredictable freezes, and periods of drought, so plants need to be incredibly resilient.
- A lot of people fall in love with something that looks beautiful in a pot or in another climate, but it simply isn't suited for our conditions. We always encourage people to lean into native and adapted plants, which is what Barton Springs Nursery specializes in. They're not only more sustainable, but they actually look better over time because they belong here."
5. For people who say they have a brown thumb, what's one houseplant that's almost impossible to kill?
"Snake plant or pothos. They are both incredibly forgiving. You can forget to water them, put it in lower light, and they just keep going.
- But more importantly, there's no such thing as a brown thumb. Having plants thrive is something anyone can easily learn to be good at. When it comes to indoor plants, it's really about taking a little time to understand what each plant needs and not overthinking or stressing about it. Once you begin to learn what works, (which is usually watering once a week), it becomes surprisingly easy."