It is hard to believe that I have been writing this blog for over a year. I have written 60 articles and answered by email over a hundred of my reader’s landscaping and plant care questions.
Up until now, my blog has been branded under my personal name. I did this to promote myself and to help my clients with their landscapes.
Behind the scenes of Jimanderson.net
For about the last 6 months, I have been receiving email questions from all over the country (world actually) asking for advice in helping people with their Japanese or similarly styled gardens.
My background as a gardener at a top Japanese gardens in North American combined with my background in Landscape design and arboriculture lead me to often write posts related to this “garden sanctuary” styled landscape. These posts often brought me the most traffic as well as follow up questions. This was great, except that helping people that would never be my clients was straining my ability to help the clients I was using the blog to attract.
At first, I decided I would just place this problem on the shelf and help as many people as possible. But as I continued, I saw it as something I was going to need to address.
What finally pushed me over the edge were two thoughts:
- I was thoroughly enjoying helping people by answering their questions and problems.
- I loved the process of learning new things I did not know and sharing this others.
Once I really began to connect with the above two statements, what I needed to do became clearer.
What will yourgardensanctuary.com be all about?
First of all, I am not abandoning my current clients. I will continue to work with them and help to solve their garden related problems. If anything, they will get more resources to help them create their ideal garden space.
That being said, yourgardensanctuary.com will be focused on solving the following problem:
People want to have a sanctuary where they can connect with nature in their daily lives and want to create it themselves, but don’t know how to make their yards look like the photos they see in the magazines or books.
Yourgardensanctuary.com will be focused on helping my readers solve that problem by finding and providing them the information they need. I don’t pretend to know everything or even a lot, but I will look for the answers for my readers as best as I can and learn with you.
Here is a short list of what you can expect from this blog in the months ahead:
- All of my current email subscribers were automatically subscribed to my new blog site. The emails will still be from me, the only difference is that it will be from jim@yourgardensanctuary.com
- As a bonus to all my current and future subscribers, I have put together the Eight Gardening Tools for the Professional. New subscribers will get it when they subscribe.
- I am continuing to tweak my new site design so that it will load faster and be easier to navigate through. I will be making incremental changes to improve it.
- My articles will be more targeted to planning, planting, and pruning your garden sanctuary. I plan on experimenting and trying different kinds of posts. Let me know which ones you like and which you don’t. That way we can create what this site becomes together.
Final Thoughts
I hope you can feel the excitement and passion that I have for the days ahead. Consider signing up for my site update so you can get a weekly snapshot of the content and resources that I have planned for you.
Question: What would you like to see covered on the new YourGardenSanctuary.com blog?
Please answer in the comments below.
Hi Jim,
I look forward to all your posts!
I am curious as to which prominent Japanese Garden that you are referring to. Is it by any chance the one in St . Louis? I live in Libertyville, IL and there is also a Japanese Garden in the Botanical Garden here in the Chicago area which I have visited. However, last fall I had my first visit to the one in St. Louis which I have wanted to see for myself for many years!
Back in the late 80s when I lived in the LA area I was in the Interior Design school at UCLA. One of the elective courses I took was Landscape Design and the professor was Koichi Koana. I was thrilled to find that his specialty was Japanese Gardens, as I had live in Tokyo for a couple of years in a house that had its’ own authentic Japanese Garden with Koi Pond. I loved living there and toured some fabulous Japanese Gardens in Japan. My experiences living there left me with a great love of Japanese Gardens as well as art and architecture. After graduating in Interior Design I moved to Kauai and designed homes there. My pet project was my Japanese flavor house where I designed the house with a Japanese Garden with pond and water falls as the central feature. Koichi Koana’s landscaping class had been so special to me and most of the time in his classes were spent showing us slides of his pet project in St. Louis. I feel so privileged to have taken his class as his St. Louis garden is so beautifully designed!
I am wondering if you too have met this talented man. I understand that he died and is no longer wit us, but it was such a thrill to tour his Japanese Garden in person last year!
When you have time, I would love to hear back from you!
Sincerely.
Beverley Bonner
Hi Beverley,
Thanks I am glad you enjoy them.
I am a gardener at Anderson Japanese Garden in Rockford, IL. This garden has been designed over the years by Mr. Hoichi Kurisu. I believe you will enjoy it, may I suggest you drive out to see it. Fall color should probably great in a week or two. Do be sure to check the website for hours as we close at 4:00 pm on the weekends.
I never did meet Koichi Koana and actually the only time I have seen his garden in St. Louis is in the fall too. I have been to his garden at the Chicago Botanic garden lots of times, including this summer. Here is a picture from my last trip to his Saint Louis garden.