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Are the big gardening magazines worth the money?
"Heidi" wrote in message . com... Hi all, I'm just curious as to how many folks see value in subscribing to gardening magazines. I have subscribed to two of the biggies for a little over a year now. There are some beautiful pictures, however often the plants in large vignettes are not identified. One magazine always highlights some rich couple's gardens, the ones done by professional landscapers, and the ones that you really need to have some $$$ to afford. Well, it is nice to see these photos, but I'd like to see some pictures of gardeners more like me. A few more practical gardens. The other magazine has too many articles and ads for garden furniture. For either, when a plant is identified, I find it is not something carried in the local nurseries where I live. Do you all think they are worth it? Anyone else get annoyed that the featured gardens always show some wealthy couple lounging around in pricey furniture, next to their outdoor shower, which is being fed by their faux waterfall, etc... Heidi For what it's worth, and to me it's worth something, I have subscribed to some pretty decent and big gardening magazines now for well over 20 years. I started out years ago with Mother Earth Magazine, then to Rodales Organic Gardening until Mike McGrath left as editor. Somewhere I outgrew my need for Organic Gardening, but what I learned from them was worth it and has surfaced in my knowledge since then despite that I haven't felt the need to subscribe in awhile. It used to be a good publication for learning and checking out information and new plants. Once my level of gardening and knowledge increased, I ventured out and tried Horticulture Magazine. I still subscribe to it. There has never been an issue that hasn't taught me something, made me smile, showed me a plant I'd love to have, (they give sources for those plants if it's at all possible and I think were the first gardening magazine to do that). It doesn't matter that I don't have a natural grassland in Marin County, California, I enjoy reading and learning how other gardeners accomplish and solve their various problems and dreams. I stumbled onto Garden Designs when it first came out because for awhile I was quite insatiable when it came to ANY gardening magazine and I read and sampled just about every one. I still subscribe to it as well because despite that there are things in it that don't appeal to me personally, it is a very well thought out magazine. I love the little snippets at the bottoms or sides of the pages in the front and back that pertain to the article or subject on that page. These magazines don't go out for the rich and well off. They are there to inform us, to show us ideas and yes, they advertise products that some of us can't afford, but that's life in general honey. I don't fault them for that. It's like a given that if I want to watch regular television I have to put up with the commercials for things I don't buy or want. The commercials pay for that programming I'm watching. Well the ads and products that run those nice ads pay for the bulk of the magazine that allows me to buy it and read it each publication. I also subscribe to Fine Gardening. I have every issue. And that last part is thanks to another gardener when I first came onto this newsgroup putting his collection up for sale and we struck a deal across the country. (I sent him advance money for half of the issues which surprised him and he sent me the second half before I sent the next payment, as I was in short financial straits at the time but really wanted those back issues. My honesty paid off and my best friend got the duplicates). I still subscribe to Fine Gardening and it's never let me down for articles and information either. I also subscribe to another absolute favorite that I stumbled upon after moving over here to Eastern Tennessee but which is available to anyone. I happened to hear one Tuesday morning the voice of a nice gentleman on the NPR station I had discovered over in North Carolina reading a short piece out of his quarterly magazine. It was a riot. And I could relate to it completely. At the end of the 12 minutes he closed with what later turned out to be the normal closing every Tuesday for another year and a half, that if anyone wanted a copy of the article he had read, to send a SASE to him care of the radio station or him at his P.O. box and he'd send it out ASAP. It was Pat Stone, former writer and editor of an older Mother Earth Magazine who had decided when ME had temporairly ceased publication in the early 90's to start up his own magazine. But not your normal publication. He wanted something different. His baby? Green Prints/The Weeders Digest. His was not HOW to garden or gardening, it was ABOUT gardening and such. Like this newsgroup is. And he didn't publish but four times a year, or seasonal which was fine with me except once I subscribed to his quarterly publication (I also got my first article published with him and it was incredibly moral lifting. Enough to inspire me to keep attempts at writing to this day regardless of wheather or not he prints it g) I really wished he published more because the writings were excellent. I wanted more. In between all of those tried and true magazines and such I have tasted various successes and failures. There was a brief shining star of a gardening magazine called Beautiful Gardens that was awesome, but it was ahead of it's time. There were no ads and I suspect that is why it died it's rather quick and untimely death. Bottom line, to ME I will say that the big gardening magazines are worth the money. I adore that Fine Gardening features tight shots of someone's garden combinations. Something that became obvious to me one day as I was looking at the back of one. I realized in my own way I was trying to achieve the textural and visuality the featured picture was sharing. I was thrilled. It might seem simple, and obvious but that's how I felt. Don't let the majority rule you on this one. I personally think that good garden magazines don't appeal to the "rich and yuppie" as much as they appeal to gardeners who like a good read, a good laugh or idea. Oh and just to let you know, I not only subscribe to those I mentioned above, but I also KEEP all the issues on my shelves for later accessing for a plant, an article, information for how to (one nice thing that Horticulture did was starting in 1987 they began the illustrated Step by Step which was incredibly informative to me) not to mention that Roger Swain contributes still to Horticulture magazine despite that he's no longer hosting Victory Garden on PBS. (I STILL miss him!!) I hope this helps despite that the majority still thinks they're a waste of money. I always make a concerted effort to keep my subscriptions up on my select magazines. It's nice to get something in the ol' mailbox, not to mention concerning so much about what I love to do, garden and stories about gardening. Might I suggest you take stock again and check out Fine Gardening, give Garden Design a lookie see, and get a year's subscription to Green Prints? Pat's compilations of garden stories is incredible and worthy of the investment. (I have all of those too, and getting the first issue was difficult, I had to beg adn plead his wife to make me a Xerox copy of it since it was out of print and I sent her $10 for her trouble. She complied and put the lion's share of that ten spot onto another few issues. Of course, this is just MY opinion........GBSEG madgardener up on the ridge, back in fairy holler, overlooking English Mountain in Eastern Tennessee zone7, Sunset zone 36 |
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