I am a newer gardener.. and have found that magazines give the best examples. LOVE THEM! My favorite is the Beds and Borders (put out by Better Homes and Gardens). I am looking to purchase a subscription to a magazine and don't really know which ones are worth the $$ and have lots of good pictures and examples versus advertisements. Any favorites? I have never seen Country Gardens, The English Garden and/or Fine Gardening. Are any of these good?
Thanks for your help!! Krista
Favorite Gardening magazine??
One I really like is Garden Gate by August Home publications. You can check out their website at:
www.gardengatemagazine.com
Deb
I see that they even offer a free preview magazine!! Great! Thats what I like to see!
Fine Gardening is my airplane-read; I only buy them at airports. I usually finish them before I get to my destination, lol. Kinda pricey but pretty pictures...
If I were to subscribe again, I'd do "Garden Design". I find that it's cheaper in the long run just to look for what I like at the bookstore only because I never get to the subscription mags, they just pile up. But that's my suggestion, regardless!
Garden Gate is my favorite.
P-Cat, have you seen Garden Gate? I have not, but I've been hearing good things about it. Am wondering how it compares to Garden Design...
I love Garden Design & have subscribed for 5 years, I think, although it seems like they have a definite CA bias, when showcasing designs. The last issue, w/ container plantings, was great, as long as you could figure out what to swap for all the tender plants...Fine Gardening is good, too, I pick up the occasional issue, just got the special, 'Plant Combinations', which has great photos of plant combos, a kick start for inspiration...
One of my neighbors came by with a big box of past issues of Fine Gardening and Garden Design and gave them to me because he always sees me out in the garden His ex-wife was an avid gardener and he didn't want the reminders in his home... I scored.
Oh yes, you did!-at one point, I had to get rid of most of the back issues of Garden Design, when we were moving, & it was rough! Gardening magazines don't really 'date' as much as other mags...
Anyone want a few years worth of Dressage mag's? I need to make more room for the gardening addiction...
wrightie, you are so lucky to get all of those unwanted magazines!! Good for you, I am sure that you will put them to good use.
my favorite magazine is country gardens....love it love it love it...but i get all that i can get my hands on....havent heard or seen garden gate...will have to put that on a search....; someone mentioned how they love fine gardening magazine and i bought several issues .....didn't like it at all.....don't know why...i am thinking cause there was too much verbage and not enuf photos....who knows...
I love Garden Gate and save every issue and look at them again every winter, I enjoy Country Gardens for their pretty pictures. I won't be renewing Garden Design, it just doesn't offer enough for the cottage gardener, I have a stack of them if someone wants them.
do i need them? ahhhhhh, why not...if they aren't spoken for ...do you like fine gardening ?
I love Garden Design and Horticulture. Kind of spendy though. Costco sells magazines now, i've gotten several there for quite a savings off newsstand price.
Nope, I've never seen Garden Gate - is this something I'm going to hate you guys for showing me, lol?
Horticulture and Fine Gardening.
I gave up on Garden Gate. I have every issue up to a point, then I found that there was less and less content that I wanted to read. I guess between all the subscriptions, things were getting repetative.
My Mom loves Birds and Blooms, which I give her every year. It is nice to see photos of "real" gardens.
I gave up on Garden Design - like mentioned above it is "very California" and very "spendy" in the things it recommends (such as garden furniture). However, I kept a lot of articles from this magazine as it has some wonderful ideas.
My most very favorite magazine was Country Living Gardener magazine. If you can find back issues, you may want to check it out.
Last year I subscribed to English Gardens. Very to drool over historic or English Country society gardens...I doubt many of the gardeners in there actually dig in the dirt themselves, lol.
I like some occassional magazines. I will often pick up a Better Homes and Gardens publication just for photos (by the way, they will repeat and change articles and re-use photographs through all of their titles, over a few years...)
LOVED the Carolina Gardener magazine I bought one time. Really nice, lots of good info, nice interviews...
GGG
i just love looking at garden mags in general....love the extra ideas...vignettes ...plants ...flora etc....
I just accidentally subscribed to Garden Gate for two years. OOPS.
accidentlally? wrightie...did your fingers hit the wrong key?
They accidentally hit ~several~ wrong keys, yes.
I too love Country Gardens magazine! I've picked up a few other Better Homes & Gardens special interest publications that I also really liked. The latest that I liked was "Nature's Garden." I also get Organic Gardening, and pick up Fine Gardening now and then.
But seriously folks, I do subscribe to a couple of mag's that I can recommend but they are not the kind with lots of glossy photos:
Organic Gardening, and
Washington Gardener (local to the DC area, but I think would be useful to anyone in the Mid Atlantic region of the US).
I'd have to say Horticulture is the only one I've stuck with over the years. Fine Gardening is another favorite. Like girlgroupgirl said, I like a little content with my pretty pictures.
Wrightie, I like Virginia Gardener, which is a sister mag to the one you mentioned. It's a little hard for me to find, though. The only place I've found it is Books a Million and I don't get up there very often.
Here's a link to the other magazines they have for other states.
http://www.vagardener.com/other_states.php
Hmmm. I don't see Washington Gardener listed so perhaps that isn't a sister magazine.
you know kids....thems magazines separates the mens from the boys...i am a mere pup....i have to have purdy pics ....with very few words...; simple minds need pictures ....and that is me:)
wrightie...i am wondering if you need to go to the doctor about those fingers that are working incorrectly...or selectivly working incorrectively...hmmmmm
Interesting, Hart. I haven't seen Va Gardener, but I'll keep my eyes peeled for it for you if you like.
Wash. Gardener is one year young, so it may not have a big following yet.
Good thinking, SnS. I had another incident earlier in the week when they mistakenly ordered a book on butterfly gardening from Amazon. I'll try to dial the doctor's office in the morning to set up an appt. Thank you so much for your kind thoughts.
wrightie...i have sorta the same afflictions...; when you get the diagnosis could you please share so that i don't have to pay for a doc and can buy more flowers? (grin)
I subscribe to Garden Gate and have for years, it is NOT available in stores. But I have noticed that the issues are getting thinner and thinner, and the content has gone downhill a little. Anyone else think so?
There was a free magazine just for my area, Ornamentals & Edibles, then it went to paid subscription, then it went bust anyway. I hate when that happens. OT but same thing happened with Budget Living, which was great.
As someone else mentioned a great one was Country Living Gardener. I was so bummed when they dumped it. It was the best.
What I like the very best about Garden Gate is the detailed garden plans in every issue, they describe every single plant with mature height/spread, common name, latin name, zone, bloom time/color, and plenty of extra comments or tips, for example, cut back grasses in spring. And then there used to be an alternate plan for a little twist on the original theme.
Now i want Garden Gate. For some reason i always thought it was a Bay Area specific mag.
My favorite is the Internet. Google works for me.
If I want a hardcopy I'd say...Sunset Family of publications.
I loved Sunset before they sold out - *major* change....
Fine Gardening seems to be the one magazine I keep coming back to. But I also like Gardens Illustrated and Country Gardens.
Wrightie: I also have a bunch of old Dressage Today (other other horsie magazines) magazines. I'm slowly throwing them out. I stopped riding a couple of years ago.
So, what does everyone do with their old gardening magazines? I can't usually bring myself to throw them out. I'm always going back to them for one thing or another.
I stick em on a shelf. At least the horse mag's eventually make their way out of the house...
I stick mine on a shelf too but I'm starting to run out of room--between the books and the gardening mags.
i continue looking thru mine....i am always looking for something...and as i grow in my gardening skills i find things in the magazine that i wasnt ready to deal with back then and now it is like a whole new world for me.
I do that, too S_n_S. That's why the gardening mag's get to stay.
I hold on to the dressage mag's for at least a few years as well, but I don't think that the articles hold up as well to time as the gardening ones do. Now, my classical dressage *books* - that's a different story.