We are living in a golden age of newsletters. Thanks to a proliferation of publishing platforms, putting out a newsletter is easier than ever—and gardeners have heeded the call. Today everyone from the hobbyist home gardener to the most august garden designer in the world is writing a newsletter. So, narrowing down a list of our favorites was no easy task. There were dozens more we could have included here–including many personal garden journals–but we focussed on the ones that we think will have broad appeal to gardeners in a range of climates. You’ll see many names that have appeared on Gardenista before, but if you have a favorite that we’ve missed, please leave a comment.
N.B.: Featured photograph above by Jim Powell for Gardenista, from Landscape Ideas: Jo Thompson’s Very English Garden.
A Way To Garden
Above: Photograph by Erica Berger.
Margaret Roach is a well-known (and well-loved) garden journalist whose newsletter delivers the latest episode of her popular podcast A Way To Garden each week. But it’s more than just a link to the episode: Roach also shares what she’s doing in her own garden, links to seasonal blog posts, articles that interest her, vegetarian recipes, and upcoming events. It’s especially useful to those gardening in the Northeast.
Design Your Wild
If you’re looking for actionable ideas for using native plants in your garden, Design Your Wild is an excellent resource. This newsletter (formerly called Dear Avant Gardener) written by mother-daughter team Zoe and Heather Evans combines visual inspiration with scientific research and then translates both into practical advice. They also answer readers’ questions in a Q&A format.
Grow Like Wild
Above: Photograph by Caitlin Atkinson.
When we asked our garden friends what newsletters they subscribe to, ecological horticulturist Rebecca McMackin’s newsletter was at the top of many lists. Published on a loose, bi-monthly-ish schedule, Grow Like Wild is packed with information whenever it does arrive. McMackin shares links to the latest resources, garden-related news, and upcoming events. It’s a must read for ecologically minded gardeners.
Planted Newsletter
Dr. Jared Barnes’ weekly newsletter dispatches are short, but always interesting. The university professor and plantsman shares links to scientific research, plant trials, and other academic-leaning articles of interest, but he also lets readers know what he’s up to in his own garden, Ephemera Farm in Nacogdoches, Texas.
Prairie Up!
In his newsletter author and garden designer Benjamin Vogt encourages readers to embrace “unlawning America.” Vogt promotes his own classes and events but also shares valuable garden tips, plant news, and more in each edition. Vogt is based in Nebraska but, as he points out, prairie is everywhere, and he strives to make his advice useful to gardeners everywhere.
Dig Delve
Above: Photograph courtesy of Create Academy.
We are not alone in our love for landscape designer Dan Pearson’s evocative writing, which he publishes in Dig Delve, a subscription-based quarterly online magazine. For more regular installments, you can sign up for the newsletter, which delivers a single essay to your inbox most weeks (note that most are behind a paywall for paid subscribers).
The Gardening Mind
To call The Gardening Mind a “newsletter” is underselling what English garden designer Jo Thompson offers through her paid subscription on Substack. Thompson shares her wisdom from 30 years of garden design in newsletters, but subscribers can also take advantage of online classes, webinars, and group chats that Thompson creates for her community.
Bud to Seed
Written as a side project from her day job as the garden editor of House & Garden magazine in the UK, Clare Foster’s newsletter is part personal garden diary and part garden journalism. She has a series on planting combinations and another of interviews with garden designers and nursery owners.
Looking for more? Garden designer Julie Witmer (herself a newsletter writer) has compiled a list of garden writers publishing on Substack, one of the popular newsletter platforms, that is a helpful way to discover garden writers, as Substack does not have a designated garden category.
And, of course, consider a paid subscription to Gardenista to read our weekly Quick Takes columns, in which garden experts (including many of the luminaries mentioned in this story) share their likes, dislikes, favorites, and never-agains.
