We ♥ Gardens Illustrated

BBC's classy, glossy Gardens Illustrated mag has recommended GardenRant and even sent us a hard copy for our perusal.  And sure enough, in their Mixed Media column we see this mention:

Gardenrant.com - an American site, very to-the-point, by people who are "in love with real, rambling, chaotic, dirty, bug-ridden gardens and gardening our asses off." 

Yep, that's us.  (Here's a PDF of the page:   Download GI122_Outofthegarden_final1.indd.pdf.)  So thanks, Gardens Illustrated, and thanks to Heather at Wiggly Wigglers for recommending us to the editors.

Now with hard copy in hand (and we're nothing but loyal to print, ya know), let's see what else might be of interest to our readers. 

• Our old friend Graham Rice on Sweet Peas, with glorious, pornographic photos of them.`
• A great garden by Piet Oudolf. (Are they ever not great?)
• A terrific spread about Phoenix designer Steve Martino.  More garden porn, this time of larger views.
• An estate garden, even a castle garden, just so we know this is England, not South Jersey.
• In the last in a series about someone's allotment we learn that he's "as enthusiastic as ever about the cycle of tending soil and sowing seeds for the season ahead."  Love it!  Now would someone please explain this whole allotment thing?  Jane Perrone, maybe?  We know she's written a book on the subject and maybe she'll visit us with a guest post explaining it all to clueless Americans.
• Hey, remember our recent article about the great designers highlighted in Garden Design Magazine and their crappy, so-so, or "wow" websites?  Well, turns out that Dan Pearson, the raved-about designer with the unworkable challenging website, is Associate Editor of Gardens Illustrated.  Dan, we really, really want to see the photos on your site, so can you forward this message to your webmaster, please?  We can get as far as the first photo, of poppies, with links to "Image controls" and "01 of 01," but how do you get to the next photo?  If we need to "Get plug-in", the link offers dozens of them, so what's a viewer to do?  Shoot us an email and we'll post a follow-up telling readers how to see Dan's portfolio.

Comments

[Ellis Hollow]

I love their characterization of what Garden Rant is all about. Proves they at least read the 'We are ... ' bullets.

Since it's a 'classy' magazine, I'm sure the mention will drive some curiosity-seeking traffic this way, if only to see how Americans garden sans arses.

[Robert and Michael]

There's only 1 photo on the Welcome page. Go to the Projects page for more photos. On mine it starts a slide show. The image controls are on the lower left part of each page. You may need the latest Flash plug-in.

[Pam J.]

"the whole allotment thing" refers (in the U.K.) to renting a patch of land, eg, 10 x 15 or maybe 20 by 30, and growing a full garden alongside other people's rented allotments. [It might also refer to the small private gardens clustered behind rowhouses/townhouses in cities. I'll find out after I read the book.] I got intrigued by the whole allotment thing about 10 days ago or so, and just today the mailman delivered my copy of Jane Perrone's "The Allotment Keeper's Handbook." I've read only a few pages yet. She has a strong and easy writing style, and I'm struck by how nice the book is physically: it's a great size (5 x 7), with creamy heavy paper stock, very readable typefaces, and an index. I have to resist the urge to flip immediately to the chapter on composting!

[Graham Rice]

The great thing about Gardens Illustrated, I think, is the mix of features on both design and on plants, with a truly international feel. And of course it's all presented with such delightful quiet panache. You can subscribe from here: http://www.gardensillustrated.com/subscribe.asp