Responses to Readers' Concerns

I received a note today from a subscriber: "Could you get the magazine out each issue in time that the whole calendar of events could be pertinent?!"

I understand this subscriber's frustration. I've been round and round with the Post Office, and basically the answer is no. They can't figure out why sometimes issues are delivered late either, and there's nothing I can do to help them out with this, according to their official response. What we've done to try to fix the problem is to have the calendar of events extend until the 15th of the next month of publication. So even if you don't get your copy until March 15, you should be able to keep referring to January/February's calendar and get most of the info. Tell me. Is this working? Are people getting their issues even later? Should we change the calendar to start on the 15th?

Another big concern is the Almanac. When Anne Stonehocker died, I was so bummed I wanted to retire the Almanac completely in her honor. We tried that, and boy did we get backlash. One subscriber even said he wasn't renewing, because without us telling him what to do every month, what's the point? We hear you! The Almanac is back! What we're doing is rotating it around to all of the different Extension offices in our area. If you are a Master Gardener or an Extension educator and want to take a crack, please let us know.

Please keep those comments coming!

Biggest Issue Ever

The March-April issue is finally hurling its way through cyberspace, in pieces. At its next destination it will be reassembled and hit the presses. (Except for that last part, it sounds like Star Trek.) This is the biggest issue we've ever produced at 72 pages plus the 4-page wrap for Plantasia, the Buffalo flower show.

Tomorrow I'll be leaving for the Syracuse show, CNY Blooms, which starts Thursday. The new issue won't be there until Friday, but I'll have copies of the Directory, which was also a great issue this year. Please try to stop by my booth, #75. I won't be there the entire time due to family obligations, but am planning for Thursday morning, Friday and Saturday mid-morning until close and Sunday all day.

Bloggers Blogging about Blogs

My column this week in the D&C is all about garden blogs. At 450 words, there's no way I could mention all of the good ones that are out there. Those that I do reference are listed below for your surfing pleasure and convenience.

Cold Climate Gardening
The Rochester Civic Garden Center blog
gardenersgazette.blogspot.com
Garden Rant
Gardening While Intoxicated
The Plant Hunter
Julie Zickefoose

Colorado

P1290020.JPG, originally uploaded by Jane Milliman.

Back from the West! A couple of days late. Now I have to churn & burn & try to get the next issue out. Here are some loooovely pictures of The Trees I Saw, in the meantime. Above is the Colorado blue spruce. Lots of those. And the sky really was that color.

Next we have an aspen grove, with my sweet friend Kate showing off her perfect form in the foreground. Unfortunately her skiing tenure was short-lived. Did you know that in Aspen, crampons are standard issue on crutches?

Aspen

Greetings from beautiful, snowy Aspen. This is a picture of the
wallpaper in the airport. The carpet motif is aspen leaves! I've seen
lots and lots of Colorado blue spruce, not surprisingly, and huge,
beautiful groves of aspen on the slopes. More later.