I left my husband scratching his head wondering why I was so excited to see my #gardenchat friend @jchapstk  tweeting away images at the Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show as I run for a refill on my coffee and back to watch the twitter feed in the office on my P.C.   He just couldn’t grasp why it was so fascinating to see what this cyber friend was sharing via tweets from this  Baltimore, Maryland Nursery Trade show.  This event took place many miles  from my growing zone here in Ohio.

Using social media is something to get excited about in the garden industry.  I wish more nursery owners would realized that using social media sites like Twitter can help them connect in priceless ways interacting with a whole new group of the next  generation of potential garden enthusiasts.   It’s free to set up a Google, Facebook and Twitter account and can be done in a matter of minutes so the question of ‘why should I use social media‘ always baffles me. I’m going to use my friend @jchapstk as an example because we met each other on the social media site Twitter.  Connecting one day on the hashtag #gardenchat and sharing our love for growing natural and supporting others who enjoy gardening , we’ve learned so much from one another.  Even though we grow gardens and plant trees many miles from each other and she is a super- Hortie ( my term for master gardeners) and I just wanna grow and have fun WE continue to grow better gardens together.  Jeavonna ( aka @jchapstk on twitter) called me last week asking for tips on attending a garden themed trade show.  I was honored to tell her some of the basic tips I’ve learned in the past few years networking on my own as well as working for the shows.    It was exciting to me to hear that she was inspired by what I had shared  last summer and she wanted to do share the #mants show with the #gardenchat community.     Are you starting to see  how this is MORE then just tweeting out some images?

On Tuesday ,  January 10th in the  late morning the tweets began to stream on the #mants hashtag streamline on Twitter.   One of the first to start sharing images from the show floor was Jeavonna.  Knowing it was her first show,  I could imagine her excitement knowing she’s the eyes for the 120,000 plus audience we attract on the hour of #gardenchat.  Just writing about this experience knowing the adrenaline rush I get goose bumps!  YOU TWEET GIRL!!!   One of the  first pioneering garden net-workers , Annie (@greensoil) who connects using social media all the way from her ranch on the West Coast was supporting our friend @jchapstk as well as sharing in the excitement by retweeting the event to her followers.

Some of my favorite shares by @jchapstk are featured in the collage below.   It was awesome to see some of the new perennials for 2012 that I’ll be looking for in my garden centers locally.   I’m also interested in possibly attending this Nursery Show next year to help support my community of growers and those who provided the products  by sharing all the exciting things going on in the industry!

View more of @jchapstk shares on Twitter by clicking on the collage above.

Have you been to a trade show or would just like to put your 2 cents in on my blog ?  Please leave my a comment so we can connect!

This was one of my favorite images captured during the Subaru at Greensgrow Farm event this past Autumn. The color of this healthy succulent only goes to show that this plant species can be festive anytime of year. I’m loving the show this all natural container is putting on; How about you?

View more of my images from Subaru Fall Festival at Greensgrow Farm in Philadelipha on my Flickr account.

Does every gardener take to birdwatching in the winter months?  At first last year when I started networking the birds I spotted and took photos of from my office window I felt a bit odd.  I guess I always thought of birdwatching as a hobby old people enjoyed doing because it was something you could do in the warmth of indoors without much activity involved.  Well after a few photo shares of the birds I had captured as they stopped by my Ohio garden, I noticed that birdwatching was something all ages were enjoying.  You can imagine my surprise to have a young 4-H Clover-bud who was a 2nd grader comment on a Blue Jay photo I shared on Facebook.

The Ladies Hangout

Nikon D-90 is my weapon of choice. I snapped this image with my Iphone4.

From the comfort of my home office about 15 feet from the window and 10 feet out into the garden,  I took this cozy photo of two female cardinals in the late December burning bush.  I’ve been keeping my Nikon D90 next to me with the 55-300 MM lens ready to shot at any given time.  Natural shots are fun outdoors to and I will journey out to the wooded area of our yard as soon as the ground freezes.  We’ve had so much rain this year our property has been Lake front this year in Ohio.   The best time to take photos in the woods is later afternoon when the temperature is around 20*f – 35*F .  I don’t mind wearing extra socks and using hand warmers to spend hours sitting in the deer blind the hunters left behind for me to use for my hunting with the camera.

It took FOREVER to get that photo of the cardinals on this partly sunny mild winter day.  The bird feeder was just filled with a new blend of seed just for the Midwestern song birds I was given to try out in my garden.  What gives?  The bird feed was yummy!  I couldn’t help but try a bite of a dried cherry. Seriously, look how yummy that food looks in the image collage below.   My green feeder is filled with  Midwestern Bird Blend with ingredients that include: Black oil sunflower, niger, white millet, safflower, peanuts, sunflower chips, raisins, canola seed, cherries.  Anything good enough for my guest is good enough for me to try!

Picking out Bird Food Can be Confusing - I went with the Midwestern Blend!'

It wasn’t until I got up to get another cup of coffee that I noticed to the right of the window where I was shooting there was an Oppie Kitty on the prowl.  SHAME ON YOU KITTY!  I want to note that this kitty is a handicap kitty who had no back claws because of malnutrition when he was rescued and brought to us in 2005. I don’t think he could catch a bird if it was the last meal he ever had.

Shame on you Kitty ..... Oppie Kitty on the Prowl

I look forward to sharing more #birdwatching photos throughout the winter from my garden here in Ohio.

It was hard to miss all the creative miniature gardening designs this past year at most of the garden shows.  One of my favorite designers was featured at the Northwest Flower Garden Show this past February.  She was also a vender at the IGC Trade Show in Chicago this summer.  I can’t believe with all the networking and garden shows we’ve both attended in the past year our paths have yet to actually cross.  I’m talking about  designer  Janit Calvo of Two Green Thumbs Garden Center and today I’m sharing photos of her beautiful mini garden designs.

I’m excited to announce that Janit will be the guest host at tonight’s #gardenchat that I over see.   I’m sharing these images from the NWFGS 2011 featuring Eat, Pray, Love Themed display which  was named after the popular novel that was turned into a movie last summer. The project was by Janic Calvo and Christina Salwitz .

One of the highlights of being involved on Twitter is sharing and learning from my #gardenchat friends.  From time to time I get a questions that would make a creative blog post topic and this entry happens to be one of those posts.  Today I’m inviting you to join in on this topic as well as visit a few of my friends who are writing about where their blog names came from.   Monica is not the first garden friend to ask me ‘what does the G in BGgarden stand for …. your last name starts with an H!’.

My story is pretty simple – just like me!   I became a  BLOGGER when I started my first blog using Googles Blogger.  This account was first started in early 2008 and my intentions were to share information with my new Spark People Fitness group. My blog  was to help me stay on track with making healthy food choices and exercising excessively.   It totally didn’t keep me on track as I had hoped and I found myself sharing daily from my garden.

The screen grab above is off of my old site from April 2008 when I officially started sharing garden information on my blog.   My first blog was titled ‘Mom In Garden’ while sharing healthy living tips on this over network.  After a few months of networking I realized it was a very good thing I didn’t go with MOM in Garden because there are many garden loving mommy bloggers out there using that similar name.

It was very simple and some what of a no-brainer to pick BGgarden.  You see, that is where my garden is located.  I’m in Bowling Green, Ohio.   This garden is my life.  It is where we raise our children and grow with our friends.  Over on the cozy garden swing that I use as one of my trademark images is where I find myself and all the creative ways of living in zone 5b Ohio.

I hope you will click on over to Monica’s site at http://gardenfaerie.blogspot.com to enjoy the story  behind her name as well as the others who will be sharing.  If you have a blog I hope you will join in on the fun and share your story.