Blogaversary seven years

by Diana Studer
- gardening for biodiversity
in Cape Town, South Africa

Because a blog is virtual, I am editing my way back thru old posts. Presenting my First Post from 2009 with its face and hands washed, hair brushed, with a red ribbon. My surviving blog posts have all been checked against the invitation list.

The black stork swooped in to Ungardening Pond in our Porterville garden. Imagine flying over and seeing A Frog for lunch!

Black stork 2009
Black stork 2009

I have used Blogger for both the original and the active blogs (preferring to avoid WordPress issues around security hacks).

Fever tree post from 2010 remains popular, altho I feel a bit sheepish as the trees in our old garden sulked off. I still love the shimmering lime green bark, a little like Northern silver birch trees.

Thorns of a fever tree 2010
Thorns of a fever tree 2010

I battle with Google Analytics as I cannot block my own random IP address so prefer StatCounter where I find the information I need and understand.

2011 I enjoy identifying sections of my garden with names, themes, stories. Come and take tea in Paradise (once was an And Roses garden)?

Rest and Be Thankful 2011
Rest and Be Thankful 2011

I have an embarrassment of photos to choose from for each post, so I wimp out with collages. PicMonkey skills.

Truly wild in 2012, flowers for Wildflower Wednesday from a hike in the Groot Winterhoek Wilderness Area

Everlasting at Groot Winterhoek 2012
Everlasting at Groot Winterhoek 2012

ID our wild flowers with PlantZAfrica (new site - today I updated the links on my sidebars) or iSpot Southern Africa


Cape mountain leopard 2013
Cape mountain leopard 2013

2013 Mountains for me please as I lift my eyes to the quiet hills.

Buchu photo using Macro in a Mason jar 2013
Buchu photo using Macro in a Mason jar 2013

Exploring our National Botanical Gardens or SANParks (South African National Parks).

2014 We miss our weavers' nests (but they are chatting in the carob here. Oh she NEVER, and then what did you do ... NEVER, then ... on an endless loop!), Ungardening Pond and our mountain Elephant's Eye.

Masked weaver bulding 2014
Masked weaver bulding 2014

2014 Travelling across South Africa in our little yellow Land Rover.

The road less travelled Baviaanskloof 2014
The road less travelled Baviaanskloof 2014

The ClustrMap on my sidebar shows with yellow dots where my readers are NOW.

2015 Crossing False Bay circling along the coast road.

From the Strand looking across to our new home 2015
From the Strand looking across to our new home 2015

(If I Google - gardening False Bay - my blog posts fill the first page, and I hope to find other garden bloggers here!) At DuckDuckGo I get a wider view with Privacy, of False Bay, but still NO other gardeners.

2016 Each week as I write my blog post, prepare the photos, write the accompanying text, then publish - I don't copypasta A Template. I consider each bit as I go and tweak as ideas and practices change. The latest tweak - the last sentence prompted by Pam at Digging.

Seven steps (2012)
Seven steps (2012)

I wonder if I will still be blogging with such grace and charm as YarnStorm Press (dead link in 2022 sadly)  after a decade?

'I like the fact that knitting was the way in for many bloggers. I would never have imagined that two sticks and a ball of wool could lead to so many talented people writing funny, clever, interesting blogs. All those knitters who hadn't previously connected joined up and started a huge conversation'

My blog niche would be echoing silence without the garden bloggers I have found around the world's 24/7. Thank you for reading mine and writing yours!

I invite you to join us at Elephant's Eye on False Bay. Please subscribe as you prefer
via Feedly,
or Bloglovin,
or Facebook

Pictures by Jurg and Diana Studer
(If you mouse over teal blue text, it turns seaweed red.
Those are my links.
To read or leave comments, either click the word Comments below,
or click this post's title. If you are in email or a Reader, first click thru to the blog)

Comments

  1. Congratulations :) I am currently into my 6th year - which is being completed in fits and starts. Did I have so much to talk about an share then, that I am missing now?

    Whatever.

    Your pics, as always, are incredible - thank you for inspiring me to take better pics, and for sharing the last 7 years (both in Porterville and False Bay) with all of us :)

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    1. I do find it easier to do a weekly blog post, weaving together bits of this and bits of that.

      Hope we will get our promised rain today!

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  2. Many congratulations on seven years Diana. I love sharing a peek at South Africa through your eyes, a country I loved from my one and only (so far!) visit.

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    1. As I enjoy gardening on a slope in a thatched cottage among trees - with you in SW England.

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  3. I enjoyed this step back in time, the weavers nest is amazing, it always astounds me the agility of these birds,,

    its fun to look back, you have a wonderful blog, I enjoy each of my visits here and come away all the better for visiting,

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    1. Your paintings delight me, and your stories of life in Canada.

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  4. Congratulations Diana! Your record of biodiversity in the Cape is fascinating to me now and will be an important resource for research in years to come. I know how much scientific information is gleaned from old paintings and diaries so just imagine how important a blog with photos and a time stamp could be. Thank you also for the happy memories of our times in Stellenbosch. Bring on the next seven years!

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    1. Thank you - a blog as a historical resource, as once the diaries and letters and journals on paper.

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  5. Happy blogaversary Diana and what a neat idea to review your here and now via previous posts. I'm a huge fan of Pic Monkey - so easy to use and great results. I'm getting some of my clients to use it too!

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    1. Still floundering along baby steps with PicMonkey - but I do prefer the results.

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  6. I also meant to say that I uninstalled Stat counter about 4 years ago when it was linked to malware but I missed the helpful analytics.

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    1. They have had some server battles and glitches. But all seems to be working over the last few months.

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  7. Congratulations to your anniversary! Your garden is always so interesting!
    Elke

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    1. with your blog I keep my German alive, and giggling!

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  8. Happy seventh anniversary, Diana! Many of your photos - especially the travel pics - are exotic to my eyes. I enjoy seeing what you see half a world away, so very different from my own urban jungle. I also appreciate hearing your experience with some of the same plants I manage to grow in this urban jungle. Thanks for your posts and you visits to my blog!

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    1. It takes Californian eyes to make me cherish some of the plants I take for granted.

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  9. Seven years! Congratulations. And thank you for sharing all your knowledge, not only about gardening and South Africa but also about blogging and internet. I learned so much from you over the past years.

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    1. With you I can walk in a garden in Japan, then in your own interpretation at your home.

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  10. Congrats Diana. The blog world is amazing, so many interesting people and blogs.

    I'm glad I came across yours.

    Happy Gardening ~ FlowerLady

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    1. We go back all 7 of those years to Blotanical roots.

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    2. Ahhhh, we really benefitted from Blotanical didn't we? It's much tougher for new garden bloggers to find like minded people (or not if you also enjoy different viewpoints or places in the world) to hang out with these days.

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    3. Having kind comments and friendly engagement from my first post - thanks to Blotanical - has coloured my whole experience of blogging!

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  11. Congratulations! It's been such a joy getting to know you and compare gardening stories across continents. It's like peeking into S. Africa and imagining what it would be like to live there. We have similar interests (gardening, hiking, travelling), so I feel like I have a good picture of what I'd do if I lived there. Best wishes as you launch your next seven years of blogging! :)

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    1. Hiking in Wisconsin - yes I could see that too!

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  12. Happy Anniversary Diana, I enjoy my visits via your blog to your garden and South Africa, there is so much to learn from different continents!

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  13. Herzlichen Glückwunsch Diana, for all these amazing photos and your descriptions of an exotic world. Exotic to me as someone who never got further than to North Africa in rela life :-). Keep going, Diana! Especially as I soon will have more time to read all your postings regularly ;-)Also thank you for your comments and helping hints on my blog to solve technical problems! Liebe Grüße aus dem Fließtal
    Sisah ( Sigrun in real life!)

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    1. From you I remember 2010 - one of the earliest blog posts I read - looking for butterflies in the nature reserve where the Berlin Wall once stood!

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  14. Congratulations, I missed the passing of my 6th year, time flies! Thanks for sharing your gardening and life experiences with the blogging world. It is always a pleasure to read your posts.

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    1. Here I can 'harvest olive oil from my own trees' as I read about your garden in Italy.

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  15. Happy anniversary!
    I think I am just a few months behind you as I began in November 2009.
    It's a lovely round-up and I particularly like the thorns of the fever tree and the lovely subtle pink of the everlasting.
    Keep up the great blogging :)

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    1. With you I learn to explore the meaning of words.

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  16. Happy Blogaversary, Diana! I enjoyed the way you organized this around a review of blog posts from each of those seven years. (I may "borrow" that idea when my own blogaversary comes around in a couple of months.)
    I wonder if those of us who began blogging about the time Blotanical was at its peak were more likely to stick with it? You were one of the people who encouraged me there. -Jean

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    1. Very welcome to borrow the idea!

      I Googled seventh blogaversary - and I think we caught the right moment to start blogging. Special thanks to Stuart Robinson for giving us Blotanical.

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  17. I started blogging before I found Blotanical, but that is where I made most of my blogger friends -- including you, Diana. I love your 'names, themes, stories, idea for sections of your garden and do it a little here. Happy blogaversary. P. x
    BTW -- I made my 'Dozen' pick for June early.

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    1. Way ahead of me! I'm still thinking about my June plant for Wednesday - but this time I can put yours in the current post on my home page.

      Waves hullo to Bluebell Creek :~)

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  18. Congratulations, Diana! I've so much enjoyed seeing South Africa and gardens through your eyes--and discovering surprising similarities to New Mexico sometimes amid the differences. I clink a glass to you today.

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    1. Your Microcosm blog helped me adjust to a smaller garden.

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    2. Congratulations on your seven years of blogging Diana, I have been blogging for nearly a year, and in that time I have enjoyed so many of your posts about the Cape, especially since my mother grew up there, and she was a natural gardener, and plant lover.

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    3. With you I explore the green side of Canberra.

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  19. Congratulations, Diana! I remember those old posts. I originally found your blog through Blotanical and have followed you almost from the beginning. I knew almost nothing about South Africa and so enjoyed learning about your wonderful land. It will soon be seven years for me, too. I never dreamed I would be writing a blog for that long. Now I think maybe a decade will be enough.

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    1. the blue bridge in Alabama!

      I have been fascinated by discussion around blogging (blogging is dead, no, dead, no!) down the years. The people change (life happens) but blogging seems to live on.

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  20. The stork is one of my favorite birds but I've never seen a black one. Cool.
    Amalia
    xo

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    1. my Israeli link to the capital M Mediterranean.

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  21. It was lovely to see some of your images from previous posts. The wildlife and fauna are so different.The last view is amazing it takes my breath away. Sarah x

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    1. from Dorset by the sea. A friend captured a perfect bird's feather in the clouds recently. Right place, right time!

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