An award no lizard can give
Saturday, November 28, 2009 at 5:21PM I have a confession. Before I started this garden blog, I had never read another one. The purpose of my blog? Here I am at the end of the road, and no one ever sees my garden, except friends and family and, of course, the mail carrier. I put a lot of work into my yard, and I want others to see it.
I don't garden for glory. I garden because working the soil refreshes my spirit and tones my body, and there is deep satisfaction in nurturing a plot of land and watching plants grow. A scene like this photo, taken from my patio in the spring, gives me a little jolt of joy, no matter how busy or stressed I am.
I like to create a sanctuary for them, and in the process I make a place that's good for me, too.
I delight in the creatures of the garden, and sometimes I think they appreciate my efforts. I caught this guy sunning himself on a concrete ornament I had placed on my patio table.
But I am human. Occasionally I admire the featured "Yard of the Month" in the Helena news, and I know a lizard isn't going to nominate me for a landscaping award.
I thought there could be a few hundred garden blogs out there, but really I had no idea. I published my first post, Weed War, on October 5, less than two months ago. Nobody read it. I followed up with Weed War: part 2, and nobody read that either. I finally cajoled some relatives and friends to take a peek. I bribed my friend Virginia to leave a comment. Everyone gave glowing praise, except my son Mark, who said I should add more pictures. Good advice.
Then, on November 10, I discovered Blotanical. Wow. Now I had the gardening world available at the click of a mouse. I realized I was a tiny minnow in the ocean of garden blogs, many written by gifted writers and expert landscapers and horticulturists. There are professional photographers and computer whizzes who can put together amazing web sites. I gulped and kept swimming, wondering how long I could survive in in such deep waters.
Then something happened. Other little fishes, and big fishes, too, swam up and welcomed me. And they began to read my blog! I remembered what I have always known: gardeners from all over the planet are naturally warm souls who like to share. So I am very happy at Blotanical. I thank everyone who has visited my site and commented on my posts. I thank all these gifted people who have invited me to visit their own gardens and have offered encouragement and inspiration to me.
And this past week, I was nominated for Yard of the Month!
Well, not exactly. What happened was, Noelle, of azplantlady, (She gardens in another world, in a fascinating place called Arizona) presented me with the Best Blog Award. At first I thought it might be a mistake, and I had better take my award and hide it before someone said, "Oops! Sorry, but that was the wrong Deborah." Then, a couple days later, Deborah (She spells it the same way I do, and she is a Canadian whose climate is also quite different from mine) of Green Theatre presented me with the same award. So it is really me, and I do get to keep it. Thank you, thank you, Noelle and Deborah!
The award has strings attached. First, I have to display it:
Looks nice, doesn't it?
And I have to pass it along to somebody else. I have discovered that "Best Blog" doesn't mean THE best blog; it means another blogger thinks your blog has merit and is worthy of recognition. The problem for me is that almost all the other bloggers I know already have this award, well deserved. There is one blogger who is also new to Blotanical. He gardens in south Florida, and his wit has made me a fan. I think he needs encouragement to become more involved with the Blotanical community. So I hereby present the award to sanddune of South Florida Challenges.. Everybody check out his blog. Thanks!
Reader Comments (17)
Nice gesture, to turn the Award into encouragement to a new member. Awards and Memes started out as a way for the orignal author to get links back and snowballed into something almost meaningless when passing to 10 and 15 people became the object. You gave new meaning to this one.
Your pictures are lovely. Actually, it is a positive vote when you have lizards; if they weren't happy in your garden, they wouldn't hang around.
Wonderfully well said and congrats!
Lovely post, Deb,
Getting to know a new blogger is always a delight!
My roots are still growing, and I'm still engaged in creating good soil in my garden...
Cheers,
Alice
Congratulations, Deborah! This award is well deserved. (You were on my list, too; but I decided to focus on those who hadn't already been recognized.)
As someone who also gardens at the end of the road (in my case, a narrow dirt track), your reasons for blogging really resonated for me.
BTW, if you edit this post to add a hot link to Blotancal and then call it to Stuart's attention, you can get one of those "Blotanical Friend" red stars. -Jean
Deb, like you I am new to blogging, and I had never read another garden blog before I started mine. I say you're off to a great start here. Your garden (and blog) looks lovely! If I were the mail carrier I would love delivering your mail.
Congratulations! Good for you. I a glad you found blotanical so you could branch out. Once they find you they will come back. Nice job and I think you should get the Yard of the month award.
Hi Deb! Congratulations on your award! I am glad you joined Blotanical and we can see your lovely garden (thank you for the pictures!) I like the little lizard and the birdhouse, and the corners of your garden which you showed. Happy gardening and happy blogging to you!
Congrats on your award. I enjoyed reading through your very nice blog. What a view to sit and enjoy!
Hi Deborah, you've expressed many sentiments and experiences similar to mine on starting a blog, discovering blotanical, etc. Thanks for an interesting post. Barbara
Hi Deborah,
Want to hear a good one? I heard that you had awarded my blog the best blog award then reading your post found it to be true. Thank you and yes I do desire to become more involved with Blotanical. Herein lies my delema. While my blog made it onto Blotanical my E-mail and password apparently didn't. So while I can view my blog there I am locked out from signing onto the site. In other words my "plot" is not accessable to me to answer any comments or participate in any way. I find it all quite bizarre and get no response from the help messages I have sent so far. I am hoping to somehow get this resolved with the site soon. In the meantime , Thanks again for your consideration you are most gracious.
Thanks to all of you for visiting my site and taking time to comment. I appreciate your good wishes and encouragement. I hope to get to know you and your gardens better through your own posts. Sanddune, how awful! I do hope your problems are quickly resolved. I'm sure you've already tried this, but did you click on the "did you forget your password?' link - they should then email you a new authentication password.
Your garden is gorgeous! Alas, we have no lizards in Alaska, but the little guy sunning himself at your place looks very content. Keep those pics coming.
Christine B.
Very nice post! I too started to blog about my garden before I even read another garden blog! I started it to try to keep track of my garden. But like all gardeners, it has been a joy to be able to share my garden with so many other people. And Blotanical has certainly been an easy way to find other gardens and gardeners! That's how I found you!
Congratulations on your award. Well earned, be sure of it.
I enjoyed reading your post. Your garden looks very pretty and I like the little lizard. When I first started getting picks for my posts I emailed Blotanical and said that I thought it was a mistake... I have come to find out there are a lot of nice gardeners out there! :) enjoyed your blog.
Hello Deb,
What a well written post. You expressed many of the same feelings that I have about the people at Blotanical. I also love your reasons to garden, which I think are the best reasons, because you love it, not just for display for others.
I love looking at new blogs and yours really stood out to me....you definitely deserve the award :0)
Congratulations on the awards. You truly deserve it. Do keep up the good job. I am glad to have found you at Blotanical.
Deborah, my Wordless Wednesday post today is dedicated to you. Do check it out.