Two post that touch on the same topic. The first from Amy at Garden Rant about the Seattle Post shuttering it's doors. Amy say's, "The Seattle Post-Intelligencer will be sold or shut down in 60 days. Those of you who don't get to Seattle much may not realize what a remarkable thing it is that the city has two lively daily newspapers--and that BOTH of them have great garden coverage." The second post is from Sarah at Open Register. She tells us what a marvelous opportunity this is for garden centers to pick up the slack by becomming the "new" garden reporters. Sarah say's, " When I travel for business, I always pick up a local paper. What irks me is when you open the Home/Garden section and find a plant-related story that was pulled from a national wire service. Too often the article is offering plant recommendations and tips that don’t jive with the local climate. (And then we wonder why newbie gardeners come into stores so confused. Sheesh.)"
I would add one more idea. Be sure to find out if you have local garden bloggers in your area, and touch base with them. Link to them. Comment at their posts. Ask them to write an article for you. We have a garden blogger in Sacramento that has put together a fabulous web page on the local garden scene. Angela at Garden Bliss also put's out "sacramentogardening.com" Check out the listings for garden centers in the area! We are there, too. See if you can spot us. Keep scrolling, we are the first one you come to with pictures added. What a marvelous resource!
I beleive that in the future we will see a colabrative effort from local nurseries, garden bloggers, bird watching groups, etc. working to enhance the local garden scene. As people start to realize how important the LOCAL ecomony is to our well being, different groups can work together to keep intrest high, and local businesses in business.