Terra's Garden
Monthly Column by Terra Hangen

There is a fun to explore world out there of blogs for and by gardeners, and I went adventuring and share here my favorite ten blogs and bloggers. Since the blogs are so very personal, they reflect the personality and even the soul of the blogger.

Soul of the Garden
This is a virtuoso blog combining garden tips, Christian thought and inspiration. Tom Spencer’s blog at soulofthegarden.com explores the garden of life from an Austin, Texas garden. The host of TV and radio garden shows shares his rich reflections and poetry, and breathtaking photos. Click on Daily Muse for his blog journal.

Robin’s Nesting Place
This Indiana gardener shares her well-balanced mix of text and photos at robinsnestingplace.blogspot.com. She loves zinnias as do I, plus she shares photos of her rose themed tea pot and tea cup collections, seed packets and more.

Giddy Garden Gnome
Visit acadiacove.blogspot.com. to read this Maine gardener’s blog. She has cats Spike and Sluggo, bakes bread like Deli Rye and Focaccia, and shares photos and tips on baking breads; and for flower photos find her summer posts.

Doug Green’s Garden
Doug Green lives on an island in Lake Ontario and at douggreensgarden.com offers his blog (click on Blog), Garden Stories, Articles and gives links to his gardening videos on You Tube. He has written seven gardening books and knows his plants.

Spade Work: From Plot to Plate
John Curtin’s blog at www.spadework.typepad.com is well tended with plenty of photos and text, as he gardens near the Thames River in England, and also posts about tending a monastery garden. I would love to do that, wouldn’t you?

Tara Cotta
This blog by a Canadian stay at home mom of two girls, at taracotta.blogspot.com has mostly photos, and shows her charming country paintings of winter scenes (her 12/6/07 post) and a gorgeous quilt she is making (10/9/07).

Hummingbird Garden
Lisa in Wisconsin, my home state, has a blog mostly of photos at thehummingbirdgarden.blogspot.com. Here are excellent photographs of barns, cardinals, hawks, zinnias, sage and even a photo of a hummingbird drinking from a hand held feeder (September 2, 2007 post).

Digging
Be sure and see the photographs of stupendous quirky arches formed of simple clay pots (1/24/08 post), at Pam Penick’s penick.net/digging. She is part of an energetic group of Austin, Texas gardeners, and her blog has plenty of photos and text. Don’t miss her photo of her purple Santa Rita prickly pear or the trowel as a door handle.

Empress of Dirt
Melissa from Ontario, Canada shares lots of great photos of quirky things, at her empressofdirt.blogspot.com. Be sure and see the Faces in the garden section, in particular the photo of a face carved into a tree stump, instructions to make a tipsy pot, and sections on art/junk and garden tours.

Bliss
Yolanda Elizabet blogs at blissyo-elgarden.blogspot.com about her ornamental kitchen garden and cottage garden in the 400 year old village of Dinteloord, the Netherlands. See photos of her Russian Blue cats playing in the conservatory, indoor orchids and hyacinths blooming, and outdoor garden and song birds.

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In addition to my top ten blogs, my own blog is at terragarden.blogspot.com and covers my passions for gardening tips, ideas for beginning writers, my own writing journey, book reviews, and more. To see a photo of me signing my first book contract, read my January 15, 2008 post. Leave a comment if you stop by, pretty please.

My list showcases ten gifted gardeners that create blogs in Canada, Maine, Texas, Indiana, Wisconsin, England and the Netherlands. Thank you bloggers. If you have favorite blogs from other states or countries, or you are writing your own garden blog let me know at thekilns@excite.com.

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