Garden Quotes | A Call for Essays

So many people I know are lovers of words as much as they are garden lovers, myself included. Our Facebook page gets some of its highest number of “likes” per day when I share our favorite garden quotes there. For example, the following quote got 62 “likes!” That kind of online connection lets me know that our garden community is thriving in cyberspace as well as in print, and as the community leader that makes me very happy.

Here’s the quote that generated so much appreciation: “One of the healthiest ways to gamble is with a spade and a packet of seeds.”~Dan Bennett

TELL YOUR STORY
If you’re already a subscriber to Horticulture magazine then you’re familiar with the back page of every issue where we publish the popular “On Gardening” essay. It is on this page that gardeners have voiced their opinions on controversial topics, shared a touching moment from their gardening lives, and taught us a thing or two about the positive power of gardening. Have you ever dreamed of seeing your words there? Well now you have a chance to make that dream come true!

We want to share more of your voices in the magazine—those of you who are active members of the Horticulture Community and who love Horticulture magazine, so many of our online communities (like Gardeners On the Go!), and who preach the gospel of gardening no matter where you are. Here’s what you need to do if you’d like to find your words on the back page of an upcoming print issue of Horticulture:

1. Visit our Garden Quotes page and find one garden quote there that inspires you to write.
2. Using that quote as your writing prompt, create a short essay—no more than 500 words max!
3. E-mail all of the following information to us at edit@hortmag.com with the words “On Gardening Garden Essay” in the subject line:

The deadline to be considered for the September/October 2012 issue is just around the corner. Submit all of the elements outlined above by Wednesday, June 27, 2012. But you may continue to submit as many different essays as you wish even after that date. We will continue to take submissions until Wednesday, September 26, 2012.

WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME, YOU ASK?
The greatest compensation will be seeing your words in print in Horticulture magazine—one of the longest-lived gardening magazines, having been in continuous print publication since 1904. Your name will join other great garden writers, both past and present, who have contributed to the magazine. People like Daniel J. Hinkley, Roger Swain, Tovah Martin, Jeff Cox, Tony Avent, Pam Baggett, Bill Cullina and many more. We’ll also give each writer who is published a complimentary one-year subscription (may be used as a gift or to renew) to Horticulture.

We can’t wait to read your essays, so get writing, my friends!