Re: Magazines

I buy tons of magazines because I don't own a car (not necessary in New York
City) and spend enormous amounts of time on buses, subways, commuter trains.
The only magazine I clip a lot is Fine Gardening. It seems to be really
targeted at middle-class gardeners (i.e. people fairly unlikely to hire
garden designers, people who don't have five acres to landscape) who are
fairly savvy about gardening. The mass-market publications like Better Homes
and Garden are too basic and Garden Design, though I find it quite
beautiful, never really has much that I find useful. Many of the British
magazines are lovely though often seem more appropriate to people who
actually understand what butlers do all day. I agree with others here who
feel that Horticulture is rarely satisfying, though I can't quite put my
finger on why. It will be interesting to see what the editor of Horticulture
does as the editor of WWF's new gardening magazine.

When I first started reading Fine Gardening about eight years ago I (as a
full-time magazine writer) was appalled at the quality of the writing and
the photographs. The magazine has gotten much, much better though it still
has a rough-hewn quality that some people probably find charming and others
reassuring. A family in Connecticut owns the business (they also put out a
lot of woodworking magazines), pays its staff poorly, and pays writers
almost nothing.  By keeping costs low, it operates more like a European
magazine and makes most of its money on subscribers and not on ads. One
reason Fine Gardening seems so filled with info, I think, is that not much
space is taken up with ads.

No one's mentioned The American Gardener, put out by the American
Horticultural Society, which always has some interesting features and
sometimes carries the writing of our own Marge Talt. I wish it came out more
often.

Finally, I eschewed Allen Lacy's surprisingly colorless newsletter (compared
to his more charming newspaper columns) in favor of the more newsy Avant
Gardener newsletter, which often reports recent scientific findings.

Nancy S.


>There are a lot of gardening magazines out there, most of which I buy at
>the newstand because they have one, two, maybe three articles I'm
>interested in. Horticulture I still subscribe to, although I find it blows
>hot and cold. One month every article has something of interest, other
>months, nada.
>
>But over the years, there are only three that I subscribe to and KEEP for
>their value as a contining resource.three magazines I read cover to
>cover..Fine Gardening is one, of course. Then there's it's sister pub,
>Kitchen Garden, also high quality. Only flaw is too many recipes!
>
>My third is a regional publication that I find invaluable. Carolina
>Gardener is a magazine that has info for not only the Carolinas, but also
>the whole Southeast. And an added bonus is that they sponsor an annual
>Gardening Symposium, with Garden and nursery tours, and guest speakers.
>Previous locations have been Greensboro, NC, Asheville, Charleston, and
>this year it's in Richmond VA. If you live anywhere in the Southeast I
>highly recommend it. The magazine also has a lot of nursery ads from small
>nurseries that never make it into the national mags (Harry, are you
>listening? This might be a good place for you to advertise).
>
>Does anyone subscribe to Alan Lacy's Homeground? Is it worth it? He's one
>of my favorite garden writers (second only to the late Henry Mitchell), but
>for some reason I've never tried the magazine.
>
>Gerry
>
>At 08:31 AM 1/18/01 -0600, you wrote:
>>My favorite popular magazine is Fine Gardening. Anyone have one they like
>>better (...leaving out dedicated journals like the Hosta Journal)?  Or, what
>>are some excellent journals we might be interested in?
>>
>>Diann
>
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