Report From PIA – February 17
I recently learned that one of my favorite gardening magazines is celebrating its 20th anniversary. I’m talking about GreenPrints, published by Pat and Becky Stone. This prompted a realization that this publication is a great deal like this blog. I am Homor Simpson, hitting his head and saying, D’oh!”
GreenPrints isn’t the usual garden publication, and they don’t print stories about how to design a shade garden or plant a balled-and-burlaped tree. GreenPrints, like Whole Life Gardening, starts in the garden but uses that beginning to cultivate other aspects of life.
Recently I asked my readers to weigh in on whether I should do things a bit differently in this blog. In emails, through facebook or twitter, and in comments here, the majority said, “Keep doing what you’re doing… it’s different than all the other gardening blogs.”
GreenPrints has taken a similar path, publishing stories about gardening grandparents and grandchildren, pruning used to release pent-up emotions, and gardens that connect neighbors and friends.
Some would ask why I might want to continue to write a gardening-but-not-quite-gardening blog, when a magazine has been doing something comparable for twenty years. While I agree that there is little new under the sun, I absolutely believe that although the theme may be the same, each article we write, song we compose or garden we plant is unique because we all come from an individual viewpoint and tell a singular story.
We all are on life’s journey, each taking a separate path, and rejoicing when those routes intersect in a garden.
Happy Anniversary, GreenPrints! And many more.
