Monday Miscellany: Jocelyn from The Art Garden Visits, Five Books, and Best Garden Blogs


Yes, I live in the boonies. My fellow Humboldt County peeps know – it’s like pulling teeth to get anyone to visit here because of that extra plane ride or seven-hour drive from San Francisco’s airport.

So you all can imagine my delight when I heard from Jocelyn over at the The Art Garden that she would be visiting family here and would I like to meet up? Um, YES!!!

Jocelyn’s a landscape designer and textile artist (see both kinds of her work here), and is a member of the Garden Designers Roundtable with me. We went out to Café Brio and had hot cocoa with her also-very-talented sister. Pictorial evidence below (I look a bit strained only because I am trying so hard not to blink for the photo – I have a Nancy Pelosi-like blinking habit.)

Anyway, Jocelyn wrote about her trip to the Arcata Marsh (from a designer’s perspective, naturally!). Check it out here. And thanks for giving me a call, Jocelyn! It was a blast!

jocelyn and gen

fivebooks1Next up, I wanted to share some of the Five Books contributions that have come in lately. Garden writers from all over have been sharing their top five favorite gardening books, and I’ve been linking to them all from the Five Books page.

Steve over at The Rainforest Garden shared his Top Five Tropical Gardening Books. I was so excited to see a few of my favorites listed along with two I had never heard of! My wallet isn’t thanking you Steve, and neither is my overstuffed bookshelf.

Carole over at Beautiful Wildlife Garden posted her favorite five Butterfly Gardening Books. While a couple of these are more for the east coast, some are suitable for everyone, and I’ve added a few to my Amazon wishlist.

Melissa at Zanthan Gardens shares her Five Books: Essential Reads for Gardeners. I love how so many of her favorites are books that talk about the love of gardening. Most of my favorite gardening books are dripping with photos, so it was exciting to be introduced to some new reads that I could conceivably take into the bathtub with me without fear of dropping them in with a great SPLOOSH. Oversized hardcovers plus bathtub = unhappy Gen.

Hort-mag-badgeThen, big congrats go out to Anna Looper (who I can’t help but think of as FlowerGardenGirl!) for becoming the garden blog editor at Horticulture Magazine. She has a new site, BestGardenBlogs.com, where garden bloggers can submit their garden blog to the directory and connect with other bloggers. I’m sure this is only the beginning of this new project, so keep your eyes on HortMag and Anna for more about the best in garden blogs.

Have you read anything cool around the web lately? Let me know in the comments below.


15 responses to “Monday Miscellany: Jocelyn from The Art Garden Visits, Five Books, and Best Garden Blogs”

    • Hah! Jocelyn, I adored reading your Humboldt posts, both of them. Seeing our area through your eyes was a special pleasure. Lovely photos and a unique take on design, as always.

  1. I would LOVE to live in the boonies! Someday……
    Thanks for shout out for Butterfly Gardening books. I’m really enjoying reading all of these other lists. I have to admit, My name is Carole and I’m a bookaholic 🙂

    • Hi Christine! Lovely to “meet” you! We shall have to meet up at one of the local garden events one of these days. I love that you’re a keeper of chickens as well!

  2. Genevieve, you are a precious person and really on the ball with up to date info in the garden world. I am so pleased that you mentioned Best Garden Blogs—and thrilled that you think of me as Flowergardengirl cause that is just how I want it. I’m like you–I live in the boonies and this little country girl will never really be anything else. I love my new adventure with Hortmag.com.

    If I ever get to California–I promise to drive the 7 hours to meet you.
    Big hugs my friend and nice to have your website listed at Best Garden Blogs–truly one of the best!

    • Awww, Anna, thanks for your kind words. I so admire what you’re doing with all of your sites – helping so many people move towards happier and more gracious living. Congrats on your new site and on your partnership with HortMag. Very, very cool – and well-deserved.

  3. aloha

    great links thanks for sharing these and i look forward to checking out all the different books that were suggested from the different bloggers.

    • Noel, thanks for stopping by! Lovely to meet another local, even if virtually! I loved the morning shots of the sky today on your blog.