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Who is your vote for the most influential garden
blogger?
Who do you consider the most influential garden bloggers?
I am writing an upcoming column for here at Examiner and need your input.
So what do I mean by influential? Well, you tell me.
Perhaps it is someone whose blog you ALWAYS read. Perhaps it is someone who changes the way you think or practice about gardening. Or maybe it's someone who influenced you in just a single, major way.
Please let me know. And please pass along the request or include in your own blog, linking here in the body of your comment.
You can email me at gardeningexaminer@gmail.com, comment here or use the comment form here on my blog. I need your input by Friday, January 30. My column will appear the following week with your comments and links to your own blogs.
So, who's most influential among garden bloggers?
UPDATE: I'm impressed at the number of people commenting here, at Bumblebee and emailing me. Thanks you! People have definite opinions! Please make sure that you tell me WHY you think someone is influential. I will be quoting and linking to you in the follow-up. Many thanks!
You can reach Robin, the National Gardening Examiner, at gardeningexaminer@gmail.com.
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Comments
Carol at May Dreams Gardens always makes me laugh, and I never miss a post. She makes gardening seem accessible to everyone. Garden Rant is influential because they have their finger on the pulse of the gardening world. I also never miss Digging. Pam's blog was one of the first I ever read, and her photos are beautiful. Those are my top three although I read many, many more.~~Dee @ www.reddirtramblings.com
May Dreams Garden and My Little Acre have both changed the way I garden.
Gardening Gone Wild has amazing articles which get me to think in a new way, and Garden Rant for pure fun.
I agree with the others that Garden Rant is terrific for information on gardening from several directions. I also enjoy blogs that take a step back and talk about gardens and not just gardening, maybe looking at history or philosophy. Philip's Garden Blog and Gardenhistorygirl are good resources in those directions.
Kathy Purdy at Cold Climate Gardening got me started exploring the gardening blogashpere with her extensive directory of blogs from all over the world. It helped me find several of the blogs I follow regularly. My favorites are the ones that gives you a sense of place, or a context inwhich the author gardens.
My top three are Carol at May Dreams, Kathy Purdy at Cold Climate Gardening, and YOU! I always learn something and find myself getting lost down the internet rabbit hole as I follow the links to other sources. The three of you have always represented the very best of the garden blogging world to me.
Well I would be terribly remiss if I did not mention the Best US Blog and Blog of the Year for 2008 (as voted on by fellow bloggers at Blotanical) Faire Garden. Frances' blog can be found at WordPress. Not only is she a masterful storyteller, but a big, BIG supporter to ALL other bloggers, new and old. Her interaction and daily chat with others has always been nothing but positive and pleasant. Her pictures nothing short of spectacular, and her gardens even more wonderful than one can imagine. Of course, I may be a bit biased since I have seen her gardens in person. As have some other bloggers who would truly agree.
She is most influential in that she aids all bloggers with memes or awards or technical issues and photography tips. She shares her vast knowledge of gardening techniques, plants, and designs, and she does all so with a humility that is to be envied. Do please consider Faire Garden, a highly influential and recognized blog within the blogging community for your list of most influential blogs. There are many more I consider to be influential, but for the sake of brevity, I will submit my case to you for only Faire Garden on this fair day:) tina
Gardenrant.com for the latest hort. info and because with 4 bloggers there is always something new to read daily. Also because they have the most well known and knowledgeable "guest ranters".
Douggreensgarden.com because it is "the" place to go for organic gardening and because it is connected to his extensive website and even forums.
I like to visit Helen Yoest at Gardening With Confidence. She gets me thinking about gardening topics in a throughtful and lighthearted way.
helpful hints and to-do lists are what i like, plus a dose of reality as in where they are with respect to where i am: zones are very important. also love the prose of Nature Remains, such lovely pictures and simple prose.
And I get accused of making people think too much;-}
I may not be the best gauge since I only follow 39 and have only been blogging a year. I enjoy all the 39 I follow and wouldn't follow if I didn't. I continue to add as I find new ones I like. But 39 are too many to mention here. They know who they are by looking at their analytics - they know I visit.
Mentally, I've put each into a category as to why I visit. For example, I go to Garden Rant for garden news; I go to Tidewater Gardener to see what's up in the woodie world and admire great photography; I go Grumpy Gardener at Southern Living, cuz he's a wild card,I never know what he will say and I like that; I go to Flower Garden Girl to lean how to always stay positive and it's a constant, always uplifting. Clay & Limestone is my water cooler blog, a place to stop and chat or lurk about garden goings on. And I go to Defining Your Home Garden for Deer resistance info.
I see I have a fan - thanks kk.
P.S. in general, I spend less time at blogs with too many ads. I find it distracting. And those with the winking ads make my brain curl. I could be enjoying a post and get to area where there is an ad winking and I have to stop reading and move on. Am I the only one? It could be a great blog, but unnerving with the winks.
Kathy Purdy at Cold Climate Gardening.
Strong writing, personal knowledge, and generosity of spirit all win her my vote.
Definitely, aviewfromthegreenbarn.blogspot.com/, has been very inspirational - Don is an elementary teacher and sees everything with the same wide-eyed wonder as his pupils. He's new to just about everything and we get to experience his experiments and trials right along with him. He just hatched out some chicks. Too cute!
Oh, and I could never forget Colleen at inthegardenonline.com/main/. 'Mousie' blog awards founder and all-around awesome inspiration and garden blog writer. She pretty much says it like it is and I appreciate that!
I'm always amazed at the host of good garden bloggers out there. But here are SOME of my favorites: Frances at Fairegarden for her warmth, helpfulness, and beautiful photos; Garden Rant for all the latest in the hort world, Gardening Gone Wild for the interesting articles from various bloggers, and Carol at May Dreams Garden for her wit and hosting of Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.
Oh and although this isn't a blog per se, blotanical.com for a place to search for garden blogs.
Holly@passion2communicate Blog: Hooks and Lattice, has a fabulous photo gallery of window box plantings by real people! If you're a window box gardener, enter their annnual photo contest. Fine Gardening offers great info, plant lists and stunning idea photos. I especially like the surpringly number of plants both sites suggest for shade.
I call myself very much a beginner gardener and I have to juggle the pace I expand my garden knowledge and expertise with many other responsibilities that I have in life.
What I find amazing about Helen @ Gardening with Confidence is that she has this increadible ability to involve you and educate you at any level of your ability to process and adopt the information. It is just like she is subtly planting these seeds of not just knowledge but desire to know in you, and on the subjects that you would think are totally irrelevant to you based on the stage of your own journey.
It so exciting to learn and follow Helens ideas – they inevitably change your world and elevate it to a totally different level.
I love blogs that have a little sass and also some design sense. I find many to be a little too romantic. My favorites...Kiss my aster, You grow Girl, and my urban garden deco guide. I also love my own site...studio g (at http: / / studiog.greayer.com). To me, a good site inspires in a visually interesting and modern way. Oh - I almost forgot ...the human flower project...smart and interesting topics about gardens and related items.
I love Our Little Acre! Also You Grow Girl. A Way to Garden is also good. I now read most of the ones from gardening.alltop.com at least sometimes, so they're kind of all favorites!
And a small plug - I just started out, but pls stop by jennahsgarden.wordpress.com and let me know what you think!
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