Last week two of the magazines that I had subscriptions
for stopped publication.
Country Home magazine was a wonderful magazine for
those who were into country decor, antiques, gardening
and cooking.It had so may great ideas and I am going to
miss it. They are replacing the rest of my subscription with
Better Homes and Gardens which is a good magazine but it
seldom had articles that interested me so I am not pleased
with the replacement.
The other magazine which is stopping publication is Backyard
Living.
I have been a subscriber to Backyard Living for five years
since its first issue. This magazine I am
really going to miss so much. It was packed with so many
wonderful gardening ideas.
From the plant doctor to new plants being introduced.
From veggie know how to blunders.
Landscaping to raised beds and container gardening.
Visiting the wonderful gardens of everyday people.
I hate to see such a wonderful magazine cease to be around
anymore for gardeners.The remainder of the subscription is being
replaced by Country magazine which is a good magazine
some really great pictures in it, but it is not a gardening and
landscaping magazine.
I realize that in this new day and age the internet has caused
the decline in printed materials such as newspapers and magazines.
Some would say it is good and we are saving trees and resources
but there are recycling ways that can get around that.
I for one like to take my time and relax while reading the
printed word whether it is a book or magazine. I do not like
to be staring at a computer screen every time I want to read
something. Reading a book online is just not the same as
kicking back with a good book. I enjoy Blotanical so much but
with it I still want books, gardening shows and magazines.
With the bad economy and more and more people going
back to backyard gardening it is a shame that so many
magazines and gardening shows are going by the wayside
instead of increasing. I still want to have hissy
fits because The Home and Garden Channel has no gardening
shows anymore. To me they may as well take gardening out of the title.
Landscaping and backyard kitchens are on the rise in some
form and fashion according to everyones budgets but I am so
sick of remodeling and decorating shows.
I have nothing against landscaping shows but I want gardening
also when I watch the Home and Garden Channel.
One half hour show a day in the morning is not gardening
but I am always glad to see Paul James or A Gardeners Diary
even for that length of time.
I have written HG several times complaining about the lack
of gardening shows and I know others have also, plus many of
us have written about it in Blogs hoping someone would
take the hint, but nothing has happened to remedy the situation.
Since many of our gardening shows and magazines are slowly slipping
away Blotanical has become even more important to we gardeners who
are always looking for information, ideas and help.
So thanks Stuart for starting Blotanical and filling the void, and
to all of you great gardeners and designers in Blot land
"don't you go anywhere".
10 comments:
Seems like a great Magazine, Heres to all the
gardeners! and Blotanicals!
Great post! ICAM. Teza did a similar rant (if I may) several days ago. It's like the-powers-that-be are completely ignoring a very large demographic. We've had several regional (Seattle, WA to Eugene, OR) periodicals start up, run for a year or so then disappear. Mike Darcy used to have the best garden show ever. He toured gardens in the area and talked about plant introductions. He had a degree in horticulture and a gorgeous garden so he was the genuine article. Apparently he still does a radio show, but, excuse me...radio?? Gardening is a VISUAL pursuit. Hello?
But it seems that our demographic although semi-lucrative just isn't spending enough money. Oh brother.
My sister is a huge fan of HGTV's "A Gardener's Diary." She, like you has written to them several times. (I've never watched it because it does run on our [cheap] basic cable.) Anyway my sister just emailed me a few days ago to tell me that A Gardener's Diary is supposed to start up again in April. And the producers of that show have other shows in the works. Whether all of this pans out is yet to be seen.
I'm sorry about your magazines--not one but two going defunct. It sucks.
I learn a lot about gardening from articles in the net and Blotanical does encourage me to keep on digging in the dirt.Blossom Blooms
Lona, I wholeheartedly agree about losing gardening shows. HG has narrowed the list to such a small number. Our PBS station has a couple gardening shows on, though I would enjoy another one or two or ten! You make a great point about the internet changing the way print media. I do hope that some stay around.
So true. I like to browse the internet but while print media may take trees internet takes electricity. At least print media can be passed around a big circle of friends before it gets recycled too.
Maybe we should film a pilot episode of a show type that we'd want to see and send it in to hg, I wonder if that might kick them into action. I've found that pbs has a channel called create with a bunch of interesting shows. I think they have more gardening shows on it that hg does.
I agree...I used to watch some gardening shows from Canada on PBS. How about the Victory Garden when it first started?I could watch the reruns of those shows even now, if they were offered. I recently found out that Wisconsin public television has a couple of programs on Sat. morning.
My favorite little garden magazine is Garden Gate right now.
Balshia: I get Garden Gate and Country Gardens.I hope that Country Gardens doesn't stop publishing because it is another one I just love. Garden gate is good too. I just started reading Horticulture but the jury is still out on it.
Cindy: Evidently the big bucks are not in it so nothing will help.
Janet: I use to watch some on PBS also, it is just too bad. I think with the increase in gardening they are missing an opportunity to reach more. If you snooze you lose :)
lili11: Blotanical sure fills a void that seems to be widening. Thanks for dropping by!
Grace: Glad to here that "The Gardeners Diary" will be putting up some new shows! Thank goodness for them and Paul James.
Cathy: It was a great magazine. Maybe I should have spread the word about it before it went under, might have helped a little.
I agree. There is something so relaxing about sitting and enjoying a magazine, saving pages or rereading them. It's disappointing when one you enjoy is no longer published.
The gardening shows are non existent too. There used to be a few, but now most of them do such majorly expensive landscape overhauls that it's hard to take some small idea to use in my own garden.
My beloved Cottage Living closed up shop too--I wish I had a chance to say Thank You to the editorial staff. They are sending me Sunset instead, which is nothing to sneeze at, but not the same. Hard times all around. Thank you for the photo farewell to your magazines.
Thanks for telling that.. I get the Country Home.. I really liked it..
Deb
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