While I still feel like a complete blogging newbie, Grounded Design is now over three years old. Since blog years are like dog years (a year on the internet = at least seven years in reality, right?), I am feeling a bit reflective about all the great interactions that have happened here. I may not blog with the frequency of my first six months (17 posts in one month--was I on amphetamines?), I still feel a fire in my belly when it comes to creating honest, content-focused posts that fosters dialogue.
So it is with a sense of renewed commitment that I announce Grounded Design 2.0. Ok,ok so maybe I just updated a dreadfully outdated banner and a few fonts. But I want to use the much needed graphic update to symbolize a revived charge to engage in more relevant content, cutting-edge design, and deeper immersion into where we connect with our landscapes.
So here is to you: thank you for reading, engaging, and sharing your own trials and tribulations. The interaction with so many talented designers, gardeners, and thinkers has stretched me in so many wonderful ways. As I dig deeper into the process of writing a book and in engaging with some of the top minds in our field, I want to promise more of myself through this journey. I look forward to sharing my adventures with you.
With the deepest gratitude,
Thomas
As an even newer blogger who is already thinking of a blog re-design, let me compliment you on yours. I like the clean look and particularly how the new banner's form eflects the words. I enjoy your posts and almost always find an idea that causes me to reflect. Blogs, as well as gardens, are points of connection, grounding and continuity. I look forward to continuing to connect via Grounded Design.
ReplyDeleteHi Pat!
DeleteThanks for the comment. Totally agree about the analogy of blogs to gardens . . . it's a nice thought. Look forward to interacting with you more!
I always look forward to your posts Thomas. Was sharing it with my favorite perennial grower, supplier, plantsman just this week.
ReplyDeleteSome of my favorites of the blog are ideas and items you post that are so relevant to me, a home gardener with a small suburban plot. Thanks for the connection and the inspiration though your Grounded Design.
I really appreciate it, Greg! Small scale gardening is fraught with challenges, but if it were too easy it probably would not be so damn interesting. Many thanks for the well wishes and the comment.
DeleteGreg Nelson this is Greg Nelson. Is that bizarre or what. I guess I could be the Bizarro Greg Nelson. I live in Kansas where do you live? Thomas I'm not ignoring you. I like your new changes, however I liked the old banner too.
DeleteIm always happy to check my reader and find something new from you - at whatever frequency. I heard one fan of yours say you ONLY post when you have something interesting to say, and that's a good thing.
ReplyDeleteWow, that's such a nice compliment--and a nice way of describing my rather slack posting style the past year or so. I'll have to use that line ;)
DeleteYou are still such a huge inspiration to the rest of us bloggers. For so many years, you and the other Rant-ers have produced quality content with such rich point of view, voice, and originality. It is the original. I sit in your shadow (appreciatively).
Keep up the great work. It matters.
Four more years. Four more years. Oops, wrong blog.
ReplyDeleteBut seriously, keep coming back to us when the mood strikes you and when you have time.
We're here awaiting your thoughts.
Ha, ha!
DeleteMany thanks, Molly.
While you may not post frequently...oh the posts! I can't tell you how I look forward to them. I am a long time blogger and know only too well how much time and effort it takes (I'm actually on "August Break" right now!) I've passed on your blog to my garden club here in North Carollina. I am an avid "stay at home gardener" and see it as a process. There is never an end point and that is what makes it wonderful! And P.S., your new header is great!
ReplyDeleteSo appreciative, Libby. Your blog is exquisite, by the way. A woman of many talents . . .
DeleteHappy gardening
Thank you for eating my comment, Captcha. A move to Wordpress next, Thomas?
ReplyDeleteGreat stuff - one of the best. I'll know I've really arrived when I find you recommending thinkingardens and the Veddw blog and I keep my fingers crossed..
Meanwhile: keep going, please! XXXXX
Ha, you're a constant promoter, Anne! One of the many qualities I love.
DeleteThinkinggardens (and your garden) is an inspiration. What you've done online in fostering a critical garden community is as impressive as your own garden. We are all indebted.
Glad to hear that you're writing a book. One thing that I always almost find disappointing in garden design books is that while they give overall design guidelines (such as rhythm, repetition, contrast, etc) and suggest recommended plants, they provide little guidance on the nitty-gritty of how to translate those guidelines to specific plant choices for a site. If you could include case studies of the process of plant selection and placement for various projects, I think that would be very helpful.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all of your wonderful posts !
That's great feedback, Carol. I totally agree with you as well. I spent today working on the outline and trying to focus on the "nitty-gritty". We really want to make it about quality design content that is both fresh and readily applicable. I'm sure I'll be sharing more of the process in the future. But great advice.
DeleteNice new look...it's always good to freshen things up after a while (and yes, things age out much faster in the online world)! I look forward eagerly to each of your posts...they are a breath of fresh air in the world of gardening, which sometimes seems to be moving more and more toward instant gratification and over-the-top spectacle. I've always appreciated your recognition of the importance of personal interaction and emotional connection to gardens, rather than of just hyper-designed and inhuman "landscapes". Can't wait to see what you have in store for us...both on this blog and in your book :-)
ReplyDeleteIt's not about the quantity of posts but the quality. Each of yours has been a gem shining like a solitaire-cut diamond.
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ReplyDeleteI came across so many interesting within your blog specially it's conversation. Keep your blog updated and all the best .!
ReplyDeleteHappy blogiversary, Thomas. I really like your new header and look forward to more great posts to come.
ReplyDeleteI love the new design, Thomas, and I'm looking forward to many more thoughtful and thought-provoking posts. You have definitely expanded my gardening horizons. -Jean
ReplyDeleteCongrats and all the best to you. Your outstanding and thought-provoking blog makes this landscape designer eager to come back for more, and more, and more...
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