Saturday, September 26, 2009

Blotties / Early Saturday Afternoon Nina

The finalists for the 2009 Blotanical Awards (or, as I prefer to think of them, the "Blotties") were announced during my hiatus, and I am pleased to be able to say that PATSP is up for four Blotties this year. (Last year, PATSP tied with Soliloquy for best Indoor Gardening Blog, a category which was discontinued this year because not enough people think of themselves as indoor gardeners to make the category competitive, which yes, does take a bit of the shine off of the win -- and it was only ever a tie anyway, which also bruises the old self-esteem slightly because I only just found out it was a tie -- but never mind.)

The categories are:

  • Best Blog Name
  • Best Container Gardening Blog
  • Best Educational Garden Blog
  • Best Iowa Blog
and one can vote here.

I would go on here and list the friends of PATSP who are up for awards of one kind or another, and encourage you to go vote for them as well, but A) some of them are in competition with PATSP and I'm not going to encourage you to go vote against me, even if they were more deserving, which they are not . . . or maybe they are, but they can advocate for themselves if they are so inclined, and what am I, Saint Subjunctive? and B) enough friends of PATSP are in competition with one another that endorsing people quickly gets awkward. (Best Asian Blog, Best Texas Blog, and Blog of the Year were all especially tough choices for me personally.)

Traditionally, and by "traditionally" I mean "I meant to do this last year and forgot for some reason," this is the time of year when I post a bunch of flower pictures in an attempt to bribe the reader into voting for me, but you will notice that I have, instead, tried to buy your affections by not going with the light-text-on-dark-background thing I was threatening before the hiatus, and have instead merely changed the light background to a different (and slightly darker) light background. Which will have to count as this year's bribery, because hey, we're in a recession, and do you think flower pictures grow on trees, etc. etc.

Except then I think, oh, well, maybe there were some people who didn't care about the light-text-on-dark-backgrounds thing. What about them? So here are some flower pictures, never mind what I said before:

Commelina coelestis communis, day flower or blue spiderwort. I assumed, as a child, that my grandmother had planted this on purpose, when I saw a small patch on the side of Grandma and Grandpa's house. It wasn't, of course, but it's an awfully decorative weed, as weeds go.


Stokesia 'Honeysong Purple.' This was quite a few weeks ago, at ex-work. I have no idea whether they would still be flowering now or not.


Nicotiana NOID. From a Home Depot, I think, in the Quad Cities somewhere. The overall verdict on Nicotiana for me at home has been kind of mixed: the one I had did nicely for a while and then kind of fell apart; I don't know whether that's normal. I think I like this color better than the red ones I had.


Coreopsis rosea 'American Dream.' From the Menards in Iowa City. I understand the appeal of Coreopsis intellectually, but I don't much like them. I think it's that being an indoor gardener who picks up his plants a lot, I've developed an aversion to plants that get tangled up in themselves (or other plants) and need a lot of work to separate.


Anthurium 'Florida.' This plant is actually my own: it decided to flower in the living room not too long after we moved. Decent-sized flower and everything.

And then for those of you who are indifferent to text color and unmoved by flower pictures, here is an early Saturday Nina picture:


Which I think should cover all the bases. Anybody who is still unconvinced to vote for me, e-mail me your street address and I will mail you a plant or a pair of scissors or a pony or something.


12 comments:

Frances said...

Oh Mr. Sub, we missed you so. Glad the blotties roused your creativity enough for a post. We do love you so. And here's another so to round it out. Good luck on your categories. Or in your categories.
Frances

Sue Swift said...

Oh well .. here's a "good luck" wish from the competition in at least one of your categories. love that last photo incidentally.

sheila said...

Off to vote. Don't need a pony, or scissors, or even pretty pictures. The new green background is tolerable, but still a bit hard for my eyes to focus on early in the morning, which is when I always read you. It does look nice, I will say that.

"Daffodil Planter" Charlotte Germane said...

Abject thanks for keeping the light blog background!

The flower photos are pretty, but the classic ploy of trotting out the cute kid is what really nails it.

Plowing Through Life (Martha) said...

I voted for you (a few days ago) in all the categories your blog appeared, so I didn't need the bribe. But had I known, I may have waited and sent you my street address. I'm not sure if there is some type of bylaw for owning a pony, though...;)

Anonymous said...

Aw heck, no awards for Most Likely To Make Me Giggle, or Beloved Language Crank? There goes my plan to stuff the ballot box.

Forget the pony, send Nina! No plants please, one of mine pulled a Cleve on me (saw me coming w/shears) and I'm laid up for a bit and having to send some biggies off to new homes. But I still have strength to vote in a somewhat random fashion.

our friend Ben said...

Ha!!!! Gee, if only I'd known you were prepared to offer bribes, I too would have held my votes over your head and tried to presuade you, not to part with Nina, but to find another Nina or two for me! And yes, thanks so much for black on green, it's decorative, topical (GREEN, duh), and easy to read. I don't understand the lack of interest in indoor gardening either, with (pardon the steal) its infinite variety. Hmpf!!! Anyway, best of luck and well deserved!!!

CelticRose said...

Welcome back! :-)

The new color scheme looks nice, and Nina is as adorable as ever.

our friend Ben said...

Forgot to say I love Saint Subjunctive.

Sue Swift said...

PS after your comment back to me. Of course I knew you were only joking. I mean, if I'd really believed in the pony I'd even have voted against myself :)

Kenneth Moore said...

Aha! The "Tentacled alien Mickey Mouse Breeds With Local Flora" flower!

I love that one.

Gah, I have register for Blotanical...? I remember trying a few times, but always at work, and it kept blocking the site.

Fine... I'll go vote :P

lynn'sgarden said...

ROFL! Ummm...old fashion cold hard cash is still good! Great post! Good Luck Mr_Subj!