Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Reflections from the Garden Bloggers Conference in Atlanta

I recently attended the national Garden Bloggers Conference in Atlanta. The conference was held in the beautiful Grand Hyatt Hotel in the Buckhead section of Atlanta. The conference was attended by 125 people from 25 states and Canada. The attendees included landscape designers, master gardeners, botanists, journalists and bloggers. Although I felt a bit out of my league, it was great being in the presence of some of the "stars" of the blogosphere and gardening world. It was interesting to hear their stories and to learn how they have become successful bloggers.

Some of the sessions included: "Blogging with the Stars: Snapshots of Four Successful Blogs"; "The Business of Blogging"; "A Botanist Walks into a Bar: How to Turn any Topic into a Lively (and Sharable) Story"; and "Photography and Online Branding: Accomplish the Seemingly Impossible". The highlight (at least for me) of the conference was the keynote address by Dan Hinkley. Dan is a plantsman, horticulturist and garden writer. He discussed the many fascinating facets of his career which includes collecting rare plants from around the world, creation of  Heronswood Gardens and Nursery, and the ongoing development of Windcliff, his current garden which he and his partner have created on a bluff overlooking the Puget Sound in Washington state.

I returned from the conference with a renewed interest in gardening and in blogging. I hope I can incorporate some of the things I learned from the conference into my little amateur gardening blog.

To learn more about Dan Hinkley's amazing garden:

http://www.danielhinkley.com/

http://www.themarthablog.com/2013/08/more-of-windcliff-dan-hinkleys-amazing-garden-in-indianola-washington.html


1 comment:

Matt Hiemstra said...

James
My name is Matthew Hiemstra and I'm an 18 year old Niagara College student from Ottawa, Canada. I have a blog called Hiemstra Gardens and just recently i moved to a new web host. Along with the move I started a new blog segment that is planned for launch next spring. I have been contacting different bloggers all over the world and pitching them my idea to grow identical gardens next year to compare and exchange growing methods. The plot would be a small 6 by 2 foot plot and each blogger would have input into what was grown. Throughout the season we would write about how the gardens are doing. It would be a great way to compare growing methods and most importantly it would be fun. There are still a few things to figure out but I would like for you to join us!!

If you'd like to know more you can check out the FAQ page I created. It is not quite finished but it should give you a general idea about what we have planned, Of course, if you have any questions. Feel free to email me at hiemstragardens@yahoo.ca and I'll get back to you as soon as possible!

Heres the link to the FAQ page

http://hiemstragardens.weebly.com/garden-connect.html

Thanks, Matt Hiemstra