Tips for the Gardener: 5 Reasons for Gardeners to Read GreenPrints Magazine

Are you a gardener who loves to read about gardening? Well, of course you are, because it's in a gardener's blood to longingly flip through seed catalogs, print off gardening articles, and pore over garden implement descriptions. So, with all of those choices, why would any gardener need to read GreenPrints? Here are five reasons why this reader thinks you'll love the magazine.

1. GreenPrints' Publisher/Editor: Obviously, Pat Stone is a man with a sense of humor and imagination, publishing a magazine with a catchy name like, GreenPrints: "The Weeder's Digest." In addition, years ago (back in the 1980s) Pat worked as the garden editor for the Mother Earth News magazine. If anybody knows about gardens and the stories that gardeners enjoy, it would be Pat Stone.

2. Timeless Articles: Not your typical how-to garden magazine, GreenPrints contains stories of the heart. Tales for and about gardens and gardeners. Stories to read on a cold winter's night, or a cool summer's eve, that remind the gardener why he/she loves warm, dark earth; cool, round vegetables; and flowers that perfume the stars. Most issues include a classic gardening story as well as ones by modern day gardeners. To quote Pat, from the GreenPrints website, "There, in a cluttered office looking over our garden, "The Weeder's Digest" comes to life. Stories by gardeners from Florida to Alaska, art from 16 different illustrators, photos, letters, quotes-it all blooms together to form an honest, intimate magazine, a heartfelt dialogue among gardeners and friends. An 80-page quarterly journal that shares the best personal garden writing, old and new, from all over the country."

3. No Advertising Postcards: You'll find it hard to believe, but the ads in GreenPrints usually are at the beginning and the end of the magazine. Typically, you won't find a single one of those annoying postcard ads in the middle of a story. You know ... those cards that require the strength of Superman in order to rip them out and that take half of the magazine's pages with them in the process. Or for that matter, none of those postcards stuck in the middle that fall out as you sit on the throne, contemplating life as a gardener, and that you then have to pick up off the floor before leaving the bathroom.

4. Back Issues: One of the great things about GreenPrints is that back issues of the magazine are available for a reasonable price. Once you read an issue, you're bound to want to read what came before.

5. Price? It's probably true that there are cheaper magazines, but none that you'll find come close in comparison to the value-to-cost ratio. Currently, a year's subscription costs $19.97 and there are four issues a year. However, it's safe to say that loyal subscribers wait impatiently for the next one to arrive.

If those five reasons aren't convincing enough, there's one more. In the interest of integrity and disclosure, I'll mention that I had an article accepted by GreenPrints. Only one. It ran in the "Spring 2010, 20th Anniversary Edition," and of all the places that have accepted my articles and stories, that's one of which I'm the proudest. GreenPrints is such a high quality garden magazine that any author would be honored to have an article included in it.

Also, in the interest of disclosure ... I'm not receiving any compensation from GreenPrints for this article, and my opinions are my own. I've had my share of articles rejected from GreenPrints and despite that fact, I continue to read the magazine, long ago spending the small sum I received on my one acceptance by putting it into subscriptions. In addition, I continue to give gift subscriptions to family members. Why? Well, to put it in terms that will make gardeners everywhere smile and nod their heads ... it's one fine garden magazine that's doesn't hand out any danged manure.

Sources:
Embedded links as listed above.
GreenPrints.com.
GreenPrints, "Spring 2010 20th Anniversary Edition," GreenPrints Enterprises, Fairview, NC.