Thursday, November 24, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving

When I started the Plano Prairie Garden blog almost three years ago, it was intended to be an anonymous journal of the transformation of my front yard from a manicured lawn to a semi-controlled prairie garden filled with prairie grasses and flowers. My plan was to produce this blog as evidence that my prairie was an intentional endeavor and not just the result of laziness in the event I was ever reported to city code enforcement officers for violating the 12 inch height limit for grass and weeds. Thankfully, I have yet to receive a citation for any kind of violation.

I never thought anyone else would see this blog. I should have known better since it is on the World Wide Web. It did not take long before other garden bloggers discovered this blog and linked to it from their blogs. People began commenting and leaving words of encouragement. Last year, my anonymity was shattered when Curtis Ippolito published a story about my prairie garden in the Dallas Morning News. Last month, acclaimed garden blogger, Pam Pennick, posted photos and a write up about my prairie on her blog, Digging.

So on this Thanksgiving Day, I want to give thanks to all that support my prairie garden/wildlife habitat adventure. Thanks to the anonymous viewers of this blog. Like you, there are many blogs that I enjoy reading on a regular basis, but never leave a comment. Thanks to all the people that do leave a comment. Your words of encouragement mean so much. Thanks to my fellow garden bloggers that link to this blog from their own. That means as much to me as words of encouragement. I do plan to reciprocate by setting up a page on my blog with links to your blogs. Thanks to all the gardening friends I have made along the way.

Happy Thanksgiving Day!

P.S. More photos of seasonal color coming soon...

P.S.S. For anyone that tried to view the original post this morning. The original post was scheduled for publishing at 7AM. When I got up and realized I had a nice foggy morning for taking pictures, I retracted the original post and added new photos. Then I started changing the text, then I had problems with Blogger, then blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So here it is...finally.

16 comments:

  1. And I thank you for both your native garden and your wonderful blogts. I often forward a post to a friend or two whom I'm encouraging to grow more native plants.

    People can grow natives in pots, front and back yard and volunteer to get native gardens growing at schools, churches, and libraries, and other public buildings.

    And if they are not from your area, they can find plants native to their areas in the data base at Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. And they can filter for the kind of plants they want, as well as water and sun requirements.

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  2. Happy Thanksgiving to you!

    Your garden looks beautiful on a foggy morning. Nice to see while taking a break from cooking and visiting.

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  3. In the midst of my cooking, I caught a glimpse of that amazing foggy photo of your garden and had to stop and look! I love fog...it adds so much mystery and depth...your garden looks awesome today! Happy Thanksgiving :-)

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  4. This anonymous has you in my reader. So I read both the old, and this new misty post.
    Came via Pam @ Digging.
    Happy Thanksgiving from Diana

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  5. Amazing beauty and color is your misty prairie garden today. You have much to be thankful for, for sure! I'm thankful to have found your blog among the multitudes! Happy Thanksgiving!

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  6. Happy Thanksgiving. I was curious about your reasons for staying so low key and now I know...your blog was to document in case of getting reported! LOL Judging from the two photos it would be a crime NOT to like your prairie way of gardening. David/ :-) (one of your biggest fans!)

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  7. It's hard to remain anonymous when you're putting such inspiring content out there. ;-) It really was a huge treat to meet you recently and see your garden in person.

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  8. Love your foggy photos. Your blog has become a go-to resource.

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  9. To all: one thing I forgot to mention was a thanks to you for your blogs. It is always a pleasure to visit your gardens and get inspiration for things I can do in my garden (not that I need help thinking of more things to do).

    Thanks for your work as a Vagabond Volunteer, Marilyn. You look like you are having so much fun.
    You are right. You can grow natives anywhere and make a difference. It is not necessary to go to the extremes that I did. You can attract butterflies with a pot of the right flowers.

    I hope you had a great Thanksgiving Shirley.

    Scott, it is a good thing you like fog. Don’t you get a lot of it up there? I was quite pleased with that first photo with my neighbor’s pecan tree in the background. It looks like it could be a picture from the countryside rather than a neighborhood.

    Diana, I have no problems with you being anonymous. I do the same. Thanks for stopping by. I need to spend more time reviewing your wildlife garden in South Africa.

    Toni, thanks for being another DFW blogger. We need more, but then that would be more time reading. There are so many good ones as it is that it is hard to keep up.

    David, I am just a low key person in general. Of course, that is hard to believe since I am the one with a yard that stands out from all the rest!

    Thanks Pam. It was a pleasure to meet you too.

    Thanks Collagemama. I don’t know about being a go-to resource, but I think I can take a pretty flower or butterfly picture every now and then.

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  10. That first picture is amazingly beautiful with the yellows trailing foreground to aft and the tree emerging from the fog. I'd love to see it enlarged and printed on canvas.

    Your blog is always an inspiration to me. If I ever get to garden in a place with soil, I'm going to dig through your archives and follow your footsteps.

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  11. Thanks Kathleen. I have considered enlarging that picture.
    You have created a beautiful garden on your thin soil. I can't imagine you ever leaving.

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  12. Thank YOU for being so inspiring. I'm still not sure how our farm will evolve but I know that now , there's going to be a part of "prairie" in it, thanks to you.

    And side note, I can't imagine anyone seeing the beauty that is that first picture and going "oh no, this is unacceptable", ha. Just gorgeous.

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  13. Thanks 1st Man. I bet if you look closely, you will find little bits of prairie on your farm that are just waiting for an opportunity to spread.

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  14. i wandered here after googling the names/ID's of a few plants i saw at the florida caverns. love your garden...great wildflowers...prairie feel. over the past few years i have tried moving toward more native plants for my area of north central florida...in my gardens. a more wild look. natural.

    anyway...i'll be back to wander more...thanks. glad i bumped in...

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  15. I love to see pictures of gardens like yours that use native plants. Thanks for sharing - anonymously or not.

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