New for Central Pa. Gardeners

February 22nd, 2011

Make gardening information really, really local, and it’s way more useful to people than anything in a book, national web site or HGTV show (which I call “HHTV” since there aren’t actually many garden shows on that network anymore).

With that in mind, I’m joining forces with three other central-Pennsylvania writers to launch a new online resource called Central Pa. Gardening: http://www.centralpagardening.com/.

We’re calling it a “blogazine” because it’s a sort of combination between the first-hand, earthy postings of local gardeners and the stories, tips and features of a magazine.

Four of us will be regular posters. Besides more stuff from me, you’ll find the musings of:

* Kenny Point, a Lower Paxton Twp. veggiemeister who’s been gardening since the age of 9 and who operates the www.veggiegardeningtips.com web site. His own vegetable garden is so good-looking that it once won a Patriot-News garden contest award as one of the best fall gardens of any type in the Harrisburg area.

* Laura Mathews, blossoming garden writer and former photo editor at the Patriot-News whose www.punkrockgardens.com blog features interesting local garden happenings (Lemoyne’s rain gardens, guerilla gardening in Harrisburg, etc.) as well as Laura’s own in-the-garden experiences (chickens and all).

* Sue Weigel, yes, my wife, whom many of you know from our garden trips and who loves plants and gardens almost as much as I do. She tends to notice the overall beauty while I’m distracted with cultivar characteristics and early signs of septoria leaf spot. Her favorite: taking super-close photos of flowers.

The Central Pa. Gardening site is built with slots for two other guest bloggers, so visitors always will find a total of six posts to read.

Our first guest posters are Lorrie Preston, the former president of the local Audubon chapter who wrote a fun piece about what happened when a Carolina wren got inside her house, and Judi Patton, a retired Patriot-News writer who’s having a grand time seeing gardens all over the world while cherishing plant memories in her own third-generation yard.

Another useful feature of the site is the calendar of events that will keep you up to date on garden tours, talks worth attending, Extension classes and assorted events of interest to central-Pa. gardeners.

Then there’s a button that will take you to a month-by-month list of what plants are in bloom when in central Pa. and a starter library of “Plants We Love” – pictures and descriptions of some of our absolute favorite plants that you might want to give a try. (Spicebush, golden variegated Japanese forestgrass, palm kale and sweetbox are a few you’ll find so far.)

We’ll welcome reader input, too. If you’d like to share a plant you love, check out the format here and send me your nominee (george@georgeweigel.net). Or if you’d like to be a guest blogger, send me your idea and we’ll see about adding it to the schedule.

Got an event for your club or group that you’d like to get on the calendar? Email details to sue@georgeweigel.net.

Interested in advertising (especially on the nifty changing banner that my daughter, Erin, built into the site)? Contact Kenny at kenny.point@gmail.com or Sue at sue@georgeweigel.net.

One other feature you’ll find is a cool garden photo of the week, which you’ll also be able to share along with some of our favorites. (We’re still working on coming up with a clever name for that feature.)

And coming soon will be galleries of photos of our gardens, great gardens we’ve seen and gardens of readers.

It all should be fun, useful and very, very local. Check it out at http://www.centralpagardening.com/ and if you like it, sign up for the free emailed newsletter that’ll keep you up to date on new postings.

Don’t forget, the Pa. Garden Expo is this Friday through Sunday (Feb. 25-27) at the Farm Show Complex on Cameron Street, Harrisburg. Sue and I will have a booth there where we’ll be giving away a gardener’s gift basket for new Central Pa. Gardening signer-uppers. (You can also enter by signing up directly on the site). One entry email per person. Drawing will be March 6.

Expo features 15 display gardens, more than 150 garden exhibitors and seminars that run continuously all three show days. Roger Swain will be there each day, and I’m doing two talks each on Friday and Saturday. More details on Expo are at www.pagardenexpo.org.