Well; now I've joined Blotanical. Esther was a member and my guess is she wouldn't have met so many people who love to grow things without it.
And I've been busy getting my 'Plot' space ready - filling in the form about my favourite flowers and trees and my lack of expertise and that kind of thing.
I've even had two messages - one from Stuart who runs the show (everyone gets one of those when they join, it's a bit like getting a telegram from the Queen)
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and one from Barbee (who has a wonderful blog - take a look!).
Although many serious garden enthusiasts and experts are listed in the Blotanical Directory and although it's a good route to some excellent gardening blogs with friendly writers who are glad to chat and swap opinions and give advice and generally be very pleasant and encouraging company, although all these things are true, I also think it appeals to the secret child that lurks in almost everyone.
There's a sort of 'sticker section' on each member's 'Plot' where the emblems of other 'Blotanists' pop up when you press a little button to say they are among the best writers of blogs.
And there's a notice to say where your own blog comes in the affections of other Blotanists - which is a sort of aggregate (I think) of how many people have put your blog in their lists or 'Picked' out one of your posts as specially worthy of note. In fact, there are so many ways of collecting points of different kinds, and stickers of your favourite blogs and having your stickers stuck in other people's plots - it's a bit like swapping picture cards or counting red cars or all sorts of other things we enjoyed when we were children and are secretly sad to have left behind.
So . . . there it is . . . a mixture of the practical and the companionable, the informative and the supportive, with experts and novices alike tipping in together to re-live some of their childhood instincts for collecting things and being competitive in a very jolly and harmless way while (hopefully) becoming better gardeners, or better appreciators of growing things, or more knowledgeable or something like that along the way.
And I said that all that in one breath!
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How strange. Someone's just put a dried nettle through my letterbox.
11 comments:
Morning Lucy! I'm afraid I've tagged you, see my blog for details. I'm sure Esther would have done this already, but have you? Ah, there we are you see.
Hello! That's quick with a comment - I'm still adjusting the layout and working on the frills for today's post - putting in the links etc.!
I'll respond to your tag soon. And thanks for it! I've a feeling Lucy enjoys such things rather more than Esther.
I do have a small problem though, I'm already picking up a tag left for Esther by Compostings - even though she seems to have disappeared somewhere, possibly Mars!
I began to do it yesterday but found one of the people I wanted to tag has put a note on her blog saying it is suspended while she is in some personal distress.
Then, someone else I thought I would tag turned out to be responding to exactly the same one on yesterday's post - so I was a bit stumped.
I'll think about it over the weekend.
Meanwhile - thanks for tagging me. I appreciate it. So nice for a new blogger to be roped in in this way!
Lucy
Hi Lucy,
welcome to Blotanical, I hope you have as much fun as I think Esther did. I hope she is happy where every she has disappeared to, think she is missed, let her know that if you see her again?
Best Wishes,
Zoë
Zoe - I'm so pleased you left a note here because I have a big backlog of reading to do on your absolutely fabulous blog.
I hadn't realised how much work starting a blog is - and I've been running round taking photos as well as doing all the set up things like choosing background colours and wondering what to say. (Which, on the whole, means what not to say because I tend to be a bit verbose if I'm not careful.)
About Esther - I'm almost certain she's happy, wherever she is. She's that kind of person. And if she isn't happy, she's probably in the middle of rearranging everything so she can be. I expect the whole political system on Mars is under challenge and, if she doesn't like where it's situated in the Universe, she'll probably be working on that too!
Thank you for coming over to 'Loose and Leafy' - I'll be visiting your blog and saying 'hello' there soon.
Lucy
Hi Lucy! Leaf and stone and bark sound so good together! I'll come foraging for more later. And thanks for adding Terra Farmer to your blog list! Have fun and my regards to Esther, if you happen to bump into her! That is, when she actually descends to terra firma and keeps the Martians out of her mind---for a while!!!
Hi Lucy, welcome to Blotanicals! We're so glad to see you here. We've missed Esther. If you see her, please give her our best. I hope she didn't get lost in her plot, or maybe she left off on an adventure with her Martian friends. I'm sure she'll return with many stories to tell.
I'll be sure to visit you often; it looks like you have an interesting blog started here.
Hello Lucy! I love your post about Blotanical. Everyone here is really knowledgeable and creative and I think you will fit right in. Look forward to reading future posts. See you around! :)
Thank you, Lucy! Also, I love these photos, especially the one of the clay pots and dried leaves on stones. I would like to have that in my calendar hanging on my wall.
Hi Lucy,
Welcome! I am fairly new to blotanical too. I have found so many interesting gardeners here. Hope you enjoy it as much as I am.
What a lovely, novel idea for keeping a friend's work going. Happy blogging! Will check back on your progress.
Your blog is looking quite lovely. Now, pictures of your garden come next...
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