The weird and wonderful ways of the world flowed into Gardenkeeping’s garden this last week. I was contacted by the arts editor of the Port Townsend Leader, Chris McDaniels. He asked about setting up a time to interview me for a profile article. I initially couldn’t figure out if it was going to be about my blog or my gardening business. He had been given my name by a client of mine, Suzzanne Stangel. She is a sculptor who lives here in Port Townsend and is engaged with the arts community. I should also mention that she is a very sweet person! I’ve worked for quite a few artists over the years and, with Port Townsend being a small town, many of them know and are supportive of each other. When I started blogging I was surprised by how supportive and encouraging these women were of me! The day of the interview I was working in Anne’s garden. I had started extra early that day (sooo much trimming to do!) so that I could take a break to meet with Chris. I was really anxious but, Anne, who’s art and garden is famous, said it would be fine and that there’s usually some miscommunication but, that it didn’t matter. For some reason those words really did the trick!
My blog is mainly an outlet for me to be in my own garden space, something to make it feel different from work. I do occasionally include a story about a client. One story that was touched upon in the article was about one of my favorite clients who always made my days at her garden interesting. I wrote about it in this post Seeing Red? Definitely one of my favorites!
When the interview was over, Chris said that with the fourth of July coming up he wasn’t sure if the article would make it into this week’s paper or next.
I was secretly hoping for next week but, this morning I looked at the paper and there it was, The Plant Whisperer! I had to laugh! One of the first things he had asked me was if I talked to plants. Of course I said yes; they are my constant companions. That’s when he said, “Oh, you’re like a plant whisperer.” and my response was something like, “Oh yeah, totally!” So now I fully expect I’ll be called that when I’m out and about. I was kind of hoping to be known as the Gardenkeeper though…
This has been fun to have my blog and garden maintenance business in the spotlight. Here’s a link to the article! The Plant Whisperer
Congratulations on the awesome article in the PT Leader!
The photos of your garden in the sun are great too, especially the one of Fluffers in Anne’s garden. Cats always find the best place to take a nap. 🙂
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Thanks! It was interesting to see what gets put into an article and what gets left out. He did a nice job of making my ramblings seem likely one coherent conversation.
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Good morning Bridget,
A beautiful image and article. You are such an intelligent and creative writer and gardener. My life is richer for knowing you. XXAE
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Thanks for helping me through that day and countless other days too!
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Yay! It was such a treat to open the paper and see you there! To me, you’re the Zen Gardener 🙂
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Way to go Bridget! If you want, i’ll start calling you Gardenkeeper. Kind of like the Keymake in Matrix . . . And I look forward to reading the article in the Leader when I get a chance.
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Thanks! I realize that you usually don’t get to pick your own nickname but, you can’t blame me for trying!
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Congratulations. I so miss being able to write about other people’s gardens, or special plants. It was so much easier back when newspaper were actually for ‘local’ news. I have been writing my garden column for almost twenty years. (It was cancelled from the original group just a few months short of twenty years, but continues in other newspapers.) It is nothing like it used to be.
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https://www.ptleader.com/the-leader-at-120-years-a-brief-history/. It is nice to live in a town that supports local and independent businesses. I was sorry to read about what happened to your local newspaper.
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Oh, it was not limited to the newspaper. There are more than 30,000 people here now, and more than a million in San Jose next door. Almost none of us are native. Almost none of us are interested in local news. Even the history of our town was changed. Seriously, for many years, there was a book of local history that was updated every few years or so. In the 1990s, it was replaced with a new book that was written by someone who had just arrived from England. I looked through it briefly, and recognized nothing about it. Someday, I will write an article about the Memorial Trees that were in front of the City Hall in Sunnyvale before it was demolished. Most have died over the years but the plaques stayed. When the area was redeveloped, all the plaques were removed, tossed into a pile, and then reinstalled randomly and most irreverently. The oldest of the trees that was was planted in the 1850s as a Memorial for Veterans of the Mexican-American War, before Sunnyvale became a town, was labeled as a tree of no historical significance that was planted in 1978. There really is a tree that was added in 1978 merely for landscape purposes, but it was labeled as a memorial that was planted during the Victorian period.
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That’s too bad. I’m a sentimental person and like to think what came before still matters. Writing about it will at least preserve some of what matters to you. Good luck with that.
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