Hard to believe we here at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden have been doing the Gardening Blog for almost five months now.

What started as a three-month “experiment” has become an important means of communication. Recently, when two months worth of entries were accidentally erased (not by me!), it was disheartening.

I couldn’t help but wonder “Is this really worth my time?”

And then, I read the comments – like the one under December 13. A reader was “underwhelmed” by GardenFest of Lights. I’ll admit, my first impulse was “Oh no, get that comment off!”

But then I realized it demonstrates the value and the power of blogs. This is truly two-way communication. You, the reader, can tell us what you think and we, the bloggers, can answer directly without having to go through other channels.

So, if I might respond—we know GardenFest is not going to appeal to everyone. We’ll have about 50,000 visitors and I think it’s safe to say no two people are going to have exactly the same experience—especially since the displays change every year. What makes this light show different is it has a botanical theme—because that’s what we are, a botanical garden.

Response to GardenFest has been overwhelmingly positive, but that doesn’t mean we don’t listen carefully to all of the feedback. The blog just makes it much more public than ever before! A good blog is one that really engages readers and has them commenting. So please, continue to let us know what you think.

Beth Monroe is public relations director at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden.

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