Re: For anyone not blogging but maybe interested in doing so

**"* K* E* <b*@xnet.com>**

Hi Judy,

Chances are you've filled your needs with this gracious offer for 
bloggers.  However, should there still be an opening -- or if something 
doesn't work out with another blogger -- I would like to offer myself as 
one.

First and foremost, I am an all-around plant nerd -- in essence, a total 
plant freak.  I lust after each one. My favorite is usually the one I'm 
looking at, or is blooming in my yard at the moment, or I've just 
encountered in literature or a grower's catalog.  I volunteer for the 
Garden Conservancy because we are losing spectacular gardens at an 
alarming rate and whatever minute help I can give the cause  to slow 
this erosion, I am happy to oblige.

Gardening should be fun.  Yet, we garden writers sometimes are so full 
of do's and don'ts that we have taken the joy out of spending time in 
the back yard planting things.  In my writings and lectures, I try to 
put the fun back into gardening.  Yes, there are basic rules one must 
follow.  Obviously, if you plant a woodlander in full sunshine, it will 
struggle, wither, and die.  So we have to follow some rules.  But what 
if, even if we follow all the cultural requirements, a plant does die.  
Is it really such a sin?  I think not.  Plants die for a variety of 
reasons, many of them not under a gardener's control.  That's 
okay...something we don't impress on gardeners often enough.  Heck, I've 
killed more than my fair share of plants, but each one that withered and 
died, taught me something -- and presented me with the golden 
opportunity to try something else.

There is a whole great, big, wonderful world of plants out there just 
waiting to be discovered.  There are the strange, unusual, and rare 
categories, such as species peonies and clematis, hardy orchids, and 
arisaemas.  There are plants with marvelous histories behind them.  Some 
are visually spectacular, while others emit a spellbingding fragrance.  
We just have to showcase them for others.  Just about every person knows 
the difference between a marigold and a rose...but what of Kirengeshoma 
palmata, corydalis, deinenthe, asarum, anemonopsis, saruma, and lamium 
orvala.  Shouldn't we introduce people to these treasures?   Hopefully, 
I can help people get more in tune with the changing seasons, not just 
by the first warm day of spring or the first snowfall, but by the 
intimate details that accompany them.  The unfurling wispy threads of 
the witchhazel, the nodding heads of the first hellebore of the season, 
or of the delicate bells of  snowdrops pushing through the snow to 
herald the coming of
spring.  Or maybe the last blossom of violet colchicums amid a blanket 
of glowing maple leaves signaling the close of autumn.
Gardening keeps us in touch with the natural world, especially in our 
urban environment of asphalt and concrete.  

I have blogged before, for Syntagma Media, in 2006 -- "Green Gardening 
with Betty Earl".  Unfortunately, though the blog was getting good 
response, finances within the organization caused them to cut more than 
50% of their subject matter. Gardening, the newest subject,  was 
included in the cuts.

My knowledge of perennials is extensive. I've written for national and 
regional magazines, am an author of a book on exemplary nurseries in the 
Midwest (In Search of Great Plants:  The Insider's Guide to the Best 
Plants in the Midwest, Cool Springs Press), am a regular contributor to 
various Harris Publications, am a garden scout and contributor to 
Meredith,  a regular columnist for the Kankakee Journal and Chicagoland 
Gardening Magazine,  and, as mentioned before,  a regional 
representative of the Garden Conservancy. 

I am happiest hunting out the new introductions in the gardening world.  
Most of my lectures are about the rare, the unusual, the hard to find 
yet extremely versatile and worthwhile additions to the garden.   There 
is no greater joy than knowing you have opened a whole new world of 
plants to someone eager to try a few of them in their own yards.  And 
when months later you receive an email relating their experiences with 
the plant -- well, that's just icing on the cake!

So, should you have an opening for a new blog now or sometime in the 
future, I hope you will think of me.

Thank you.

Betty

Betty Earl
(In Search of Great Plants:  The Insider's Guide to the Best
Plants in the Midwest, Cool Springs Press)
Author, Writer, Photographer, Lecturer
Columnist, Chicagoland Gardening Magazine
Columnist, Ornamentals & Edibles
Garden Scout and Contributor,  Better Homes & Gardens and Midwest Living
Magazine (Meredith Corp.)
Regular Contributor, Harris Publications
Regional Representative, The Garden Conservancy
Member, Garden Writers Association
630-983-79 84
bearl@xnet.com

Judy Lowe wrote:
>
>
>
> Several people on this list have invited those not currently blogging to do so on their sites. I'd like to do the same.  
>
>
> The Christian Science Monitor is an international newspaper. For more than a year, we've been building our online gardening site, which features articles and blog posts. Currently we have four bloggers who write about roses, greenhouses, and general gardening. We'd love to feature some writers who'd like to blog about gardening in various zones, or on specialized topics. (Herbs? Grasses? Perennials?)
>
>
> This isn't a job offer. It's an offer of space to express yourself, impress editors, communicate easily with readers, draw an audience to your work, and publicize your books, articles, or projects, etc.
>
>
> Why blog with us since you can set up your own site? 
>
>
> – It's easy -- you don't have to do a thing but write (and, if you like, send us a photo to illustrate what you're writing about). We take care of the rest.
>
>
> – We provide an audience from the beginning -- the Monitor has more than 4 million individual (separate) visitors each month. And a marketing staff to publicize the section..
>
>
> – Few writers make money on their blogs, so you wouldn't be forgoing much. (And the Monitor is a nonprofit. We're not making money on your work. You retain rights.)
>  
> -- And if there's a way to pay bloggers in the future or provide other considerations, we will.
>
>
> That's not to say that blogging is easy or for everyone. Or that this is the right path for anyone who wants to blog. 
>  
> But if you've been thinking you might want to give blogging a try, do e-mail me and ask whatever questions all this raises. Or pass along my e-mail to another garden writer or Master Gardener with writing talent.
>  
> Our site is at http://features.csmonitor.com/gardening
>
>
> We prefer those who would like to blog at least twice a week, but are open to other schedules of posting.
>  
> All the best,
>
>
> Judy Lowe
> lowej@csmonitor.com
>  
>  
>
>
>
>
>
>
>       
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For GWL website and Wiki, go to
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