How pleasantly surprised I was when Chloris at “The Blooming Garden” nominated me for the Liebster award. What is it? Well, Chloris describes it as a sort of chain letter, with the aim of recognising new blogs, and bloggers that you have enjoyed reading. Put that way, it’s very much an honour, and very rewarding to realise that people are enjoying what you write. So thank you, Chloris!
When you accept this, you have to link back to the person who nominated you, and then you have to answer their set of eleven questions. Then you pass it all on by nominating five other bloggers of under 1000 followers. Do inform them and explain the rules. If they accept, you have to set them all another set of eleven questions. And so on!
So I’ll start with the questions that Chloris set me.
1. Why did you start your blog?
Well, I had recently completed a Garden Design correspondence course, and found that I really enjoyed describing and writing about my proposed gardens. I felt I wanted to start my blog as a way of writing about my garden and “showing” it to the world. And I’ve found that not only am I writing about my garden, but I’m now chatting to so many other garden lovers about their gardens and comparing notes and exchanging tips. I’ve found a whole new bunch of gardening friends! (And I can use Latin terminology!)
2. Which is your favourite gardening book?
The one I’m reading at the time! No? O.K.,tricky one. My RHS encyclopaedias are constantly being referred to, as are my Dr. Hessayon books, but if I must pick one, it would be the first gardening book I bought, that helped me plan my new garden and introduce me to my love of scented plants. “The Garden Book” by John Brookes.
3. What do you love to do when you are not gardening?
Oh, dear! Sorry, Chloris! Please don’t banish me to Room 101 or retract my award! My other great pleasure is watching Rugby Union, and our local team. There, I said it!
4. Describe yourself in 3 words.
Plantaholic, impatient, “saft”.
5. What is your favourite film?
It has to be “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, with the wonderful Audrey Hepburn.
6. Tea or coffee?
Coffee (black, no sugar, please!) 😉
7. Favourite flower?
Roses – the ultimate scented flower!
8. How long have you been gardening and what got you started?
I’ve been gardening for 23 years, since I was first confronted with our first and current garden of 160 ft long. What do I do with it? Thank you, John Brookes!
9. Do you garden organically?
Yes! Or at least wherever I can. Weeds that I can’t remove by hand, hoe or fork, is where I occasionally lapse.
10. How do you deal with slugs and snails?
A 3-pronged attack. Organic slug pellets, avoiding slug “dinners” (I no longer grow their favourite food stuffs such as delphiniums and lupins) and standing on them! And I’m beginning to wonder if copper bands round pots may, actually, work!
11. Do you prefer cats or dogs?
Cats, although I’m allergic to both.
Now for the hard part – my nominations. That is so hard. I love reading all the blogs I follow and enjoy them immensely. But I must choose!
1. Christina at Creating My Own Garden of the Hesperides
2. Angie at Angie’s Garden Diaries
3. Cathy at Rambling in the Garden
4. The Biking Gardener
5. The Tattooed Gardener
I do hope my nominees will accept. If they do, they must pass on the baton, by nominating 5 others. And I hope they enjoy my questions.
So here they are!
1. How would you describe your gardening style?
2. What is your favourite colour in the garden?
3. What is your most loathsome pest?
4. What is your favourite national style of cuisine?
5. Gardening gloves or bare hands?
6. What is your highlight of 2014?
7. And have you any gardening New Year’s resolutions?
8. What would be your “Desert Island” disc?
9. What is your most and least favourite gardening task?
10. What was your favourite subject at school?
11. What is your favourite garden that you have visited, and why?
Have fun with those!
All that’s left is for me to thank Chloris for her nomination, and to all my followers for their comments and support. I would like also to thank all the bloggers I’ve nominated, for the enjoyment their blogs give me. I hope, Chloris, I’ve covered everything and not missed anything. Here’s to another year of blogging (I’ve just marked my first anniversary today – what a nice way to celebrate!)
Happy New Year to you all!
The Long Garden Path 
Should I be thanking you for the nomination 😉 I will accept and put together a post.
Happy First Blog Anniversary and have to say I enjoyed your answers and just hope I can post a fitting response.
Thank you, Angie! I’m sure you will come up with a very fitting post and put me to shame! I’m looking forward to reading it! And thank you too, for your best wishes for my Anniversary! 🙂
Many thanks for the nomination! 🙂 I will put together a post shortly and by the way, great set of questions, I shall enjoy answering those ones 😉
Thank you! Glad you’ve accepted and like the questions. Can’t wait to read your answers! 🙂
Thank you for participating in this Ali. The award is very well deserved.I like your answers. It’ s alright, I won’ t really ban balls when I rule the world. I was only joking.
Phew! What a relief! 😉 Thank you for the compliment and I’m pleased you liked my answers . I hope I covered all the facts. I have enjoyed it! P.s. If you want to come and watch if you’re ever in the area, you’d be more than welcome 😉
Well thanks, I would love to see your garden but I think I will pass on the match.
I fear both might be disappointing!! 😉
Hi Ali – how lovely that your Award and the resultant post coincided with your first blogging anniversary. Well done on both and I am pleased we have found each others blogs. With the award, it’s good to know that other people appreciate what you do and enjoy your blog – so I thank you for nominating me too but I am afraid you are right in that I will decline although I am of course chuffed that I have been nominated more than once. Thanks anyway ps if I remember correctly Anna of Green Tapestry is a rugby fan too…
Thank you so much, Cathy, for your very kind comments. I am flattered! Shame you won’t accept – I would have enjoyed seeing your answers! Never mind!
Here’s to another year of enjoyable blogging!
P.s. Must go and drop in on Anna!
Congrats!
Thank you Stuart! It was a very pleasant surprise!
Hello, I found you through Angies blog, I think we might have more than gardening and being complete plantaholics in common 🙂
Congratulations on your first blog anniversary – here’s to many more to come!
Take care, Helene.
Hi, Helene. Thank you for popping in! Hope you enjoyed your visit. It’s amazing what a set of questions can reveal! I must go and investigate your blog.
I just watched Breakfast at Tiffany’s on Netflix. Fun movie, made me want to read the novel. Congrats!
Thank you! So glad you enjoyed it! Holly is such a charismatic character! The novel is really worth reading too. It shows the tale in not quite such a glamorous light.
Congratulations on the nomination – I only just found your blog today (via Gardening Jules, I think). I’ll look forward to following. I enjoyed seeing your frosty garden and the fork stuck in the ground. I always seem to manage to get a fork in my pictures as well – I see that as a positive for both of us!
Hi, Cathy, and thanks for dropping in! Hope you enjoy my garden! Yes, the garden fork does tend to say “Hey, you! Don’t think you can sit down! There’s work to be done”!