So thank you for visiting. No, really; it’s very depressing to go to the effort of writing something and/or editing pictures for nobody to bother with them, so I really appreciate your time.
Who am I? If you hadn’t gathered by now, I’m a bit of a ‘plant nerd’! People call me a ‘plantsman’ because I have a particular love of plants and how they come together to make a garden. I sometimes feel a little apprehensive using the word ‘plantsman’; for me it’s a word I use to describe some of the great people I really admire for their knowledge of plants and their generosity sharing that knowledge with mere mortals like me. Unfortunately the word is also used to describe people who collect plants without focus simply to boast that they have rarer plants than other gardeners, and who often use their enhanced knowledge and experience to belittle other gardeners. All too often this sort of plantsperson is seen wafting around a garden with a clutch of ‘lesser gardeners’, decrying the use of Photinia ‘Red Robin’ when some obscure species from the north slope of a mountain nobody’s ever heard of would probably grow there instead. Plantsmanship is about choosing the right plant to do a job in a garden (regardless of rarity) and sharing your knowledge and experience, not about making others feel inferior.
Who are you? I assume that you are a fairly diverse group of people; you will all have different levels of knowledge and experience, not to mention that you come from all over the world! I make no other assumptions apart from this one: you are interested in gardens and plants. With this in mind I write very much from the heart rather than trying to tailor content with any sort of ‘audience’ in mind. Some of my content might seem rather simple/basic to you, other content might seem a little complex, but I have an unerring confidence that if you are interested in plants that you will find your way here. I use botanical names so that everyone can all be sure which plant I’m talking about anywhere in the world, and a quick ‘copy and paste’ will allow you to search online for more information about the exact same plant. It’s very fashionable to tailor pretty much all horticultural content to new and inexperienced gardeners in the hope of gaining more followers and becoming popular. I don’t particularly want to be popular or famous, so Ben’s Botanics is about sharing my knowledge and enthusiasm with other gardeners rather than trying to teach people how to garden or trying to build a fan base.
Who are we? I love gardens and plants, and I really hope you do too! I’m honoured to have such a following of other gardeners and I hope that the interests I share via my various channels will continue to be of interest to each of you. Sometimes I won’t be able to respond to all comments that are left; as well as doing all this online stuff I’m also a professional gardener so time is sometimes at a real premium!
*Sorry if the title of this blog has just put that Abba song into your head (it’s a line from ‘On And On And On’ if you’re trying to remember which song!), but it just came to mind and was fitting for this post…
I was a landscape designer and contractor for over 40 years. I have gardened on four hectares since 1979 here near Seattle in the PacNW.. Zone 8a I’m 80.
From your writing I believe we have similar ideas about gardening and gardening people. Take a look at my garden at the Website below…Enjoy! ::-)
I visited Devon for two weeks in the Summer of year 2000. Loved it!
Mike.
It’s great to find other gardeners interested in not only growing plants but growing different plants and growing them in different ways.