Greetings, readers and subscribers. Welcome to The Renaissance Garden Guy. John G. Stamos here. I am The Renaissance Garden Guy.
This is the fourth and most current iteration of The Renaissance Garden Guy “About Me” page. I’m including this new and improved version because it reflects some very definite positive changes that have taken place in both the relationship that I have with my garden, and right here on the site.
It’s January, 2024, and this coming spring will mark the beginning of my fifth season as a full-on gardener-cum-garden designer-cum-garden builder here in USDA hardiness zone 5B/6A in Michiana Shores, on the Indiana/Michigan border. My relationship with my garden is better than it’s ever been, and I’m expecting great things this spring and summer from all the green and growing guys and gals that call my garden home. I attribute these facts to my diminishing levels of personal gardening ignorance and incompetence. Don’t get me wrong. I’m definitely still ignorant and incompetent. Just less so. A big part of my gardening gestalt (as I’ve mentioned countless numbers of times here on The Renaissance Garden Guy) has been based on making mistakes – lots and lots of mistakes – and then trying really hard to not repeat them. Since this system seems to be working well, I do assign a high degree of value to my ignorance and incompetence. I owe all my mistake-making to them. I think of my gardening ignorance and incompetence as my pals. As my little horticultural buddies. They’ve always been there for me, and even though I’m seeing less and less of them these days, I’m sure they’ll always be around, at least to some degree, out there among the phlox and hydrangeas.
Here on The Renaissance Garden Guy website/blog, the winds of change have sown the seeds of progress. The name of the site still references the same theme that it always has: diverse subject matter. I, personally, am a lover of the fine, decorative, and performing arts, and of great books and literature. I adore my family and friends. I love my garden, and I really love building things in it. And I dig writing stuff. This has always been the case, and it’s been a hallmark of The Renaissance Garden Guy since day one. The great changes here have come in the form of fabulous contributions by a growing number of brilliant guest writers and contributors. The excellent writing of more and more contributors will be featured here in the coming months. You’ll read great pieces, in every feature category on the site, by a diverse and wildly talented group of writers. Interviews, how-to articles, book reviews, original creative works – you’ll still find those here, but you’ll find them written by an increasing number of excellent contributors, and with increasing frequency. (Of course, you’ll still have to endure my own writing.)
Change has manifested itself in other forms here, as well. The Renaissance Garden Guy Photo Gallery, and the audiovisual-centric Sights and Sounds section were unveiled in 2023. These new RGG site elements offer visitors additional content dimensions to explore.
There’ll be a few more improvements to the function and capabilities of the site itself, and some additional bells and whistles along the way. But I’ll save those for you until the time comes to implement them.
In the meantime, please enjoy The Renaissance Garden Guy. As always, I thank you most kindly for your readership and your interest. They are dearly appreciated.
Cheers, and Happy Gardening!