GardenRant Bling

The comments we've been getting in the last week are proof positive that we're doing something right.   Angela says this about Susan's rant on HGTV:

I want to see dirty, sweaty people gardening in their worst clothes ...TV shows may try to make gardening look crisp and clean and effortless, but it just... ain't.

Joann drools with us over hunky British gardeners (and by the way, if hunky gardeners of all nationalities would like to send in their photos, we'll gladly post them), and Annie in Austin of Divas of the Dirt stopped by to cheer us on.  (Annie, we love ya and all things Austin.  At least one of us is a native Texan and a UT grad.  Wanna guess who?)

With so many like-minded gardeners checking in, we wanted to come up with a way for you to tell the world you're one of us.  In that spirit, we've created the first-ever, limited edition, bound-to-be-a-collector's-item GardenRant badge.  If you've got a little turf to spare on your sidebar, we've got some flair for you.  Just take this HTML and go crazy with it.

<center><a href="http://www.gardenrant.com"><img src="http://www.gardenrant.com/photos/sidebar_photo_album/garden_rant_button_86_x_30.jpg"/></a></center>

Comments

[Heather]

There's a Longhorn in your midst? Hook 'em!

I'll add a link to my old site, but unfortunately the best I can do is a post on the Chronicle site. Kinda sucks not "owning" my blogspace.

[Claire Splan]

Speaking of hunky British gardeners, I'd like to give a word of appreciation for Matt James of "The City Gardener." (At least HGTV is carrying that!) His designs are often too modern/streamlined for my taste (I like a bit more chaos), but he's a guy who clearly loves plants and seems to try to make gardens that are a good fit for his clients. And I wouldn't mind seeing him take his shirt off to do the really dirty work.

[Pam/Digging]

I'm guessing the UT grad is Amy. She has that Austin-hippie vibe going on. Vermiculture! Am I right?

[Annie in Austin]

Pam, I was thinking the same thing... Amy, if a thorny rose pokes you, do you bleed orange??

It took some time and I needed html help from my own personal, live-in hunky gardener, but the very cool Garden Rant badge is now on my page. In the 11 days since I signed up for blogger, I have realized that it's a helluva lot easier to read other gardeners' stories than to write my own, so I appreciate all of you even more than before!

Annie

[Kathy Jentz]

This addresses a question I've been mulling over in my head for the last couple of years - what does a typical gardener look like? If you want people to know - "I'm a gardener" how do you dress? Do your hair? I think P. Allen Smith (http://www.pallensmith.com/) gets it as close as it gets for guys - with his khakis, blue oxford, and boyish blond looks. But what about us gals? Do we all need to look like Charlie Dimmock (http://www.hellomagazine.com/profiles/charliedimmock/) (who seems to be letting her self go a bit a lately)? She's just a little wild and woolly for me. It seems there are two directions to go - preppy polish or hippie dippy. What says "gardener: to you? So ladies - aside from wearing a "Plays in the Dirt" t-shirt - how do we brand ourselves as Mothers of the Earth?

[Annie in Austin]

Kasmira, one of the Friends of Garden Rant, had a post on this subject at Cincinatti Cape Cod:

http://cinticapecod.blogspot.com/2006/05/flower-fashion.html

[Terry]

Gardenwear - Om Girl flared leggings in olive green, a white wife beater, an old panama hat and gloves...... Shoes are my old Merrell trail runners. Not so great for keeping out water/dirt/sand - but can't be beat for comfort.

I'm definitely notorious in my 'hood for the hours and hours of back breaking, sweaty, 'down and dirty' gardening that I do - as well as the piles of non performing plants that I've wrenched from the dirt and piled in the street with a 'free' sign tied to them. They're usually gone in about 20 minutes, taken by my more compassionate neighbors