About

Welcome!???????????????????????????????

This is Jim’s Garden. 

In 2014 I started a blog to capture the ever-changing year on our 2.7-acre property in central Indiana, USA. I stuck with it for a few years but trailed off in 2017, mostly due to the demands of a much busier professional life. Plus, it seemed like the scene became repetitive. Change as it may through the year, the garden each year rather repeats the previous year.

Meanwhile, in 2018 we became much more engaged with the family farm.

As of 2022, I will continue to share pictures of my garden at home, but I am going to focus on sharing pictures of the farm. 280 acres – 10 times bigger than the previous subject of Jim’s garden – still in central Indiana but massively more varied than the homestead. This place has 200 acres of woods, a creek, various meadows, grasslands, and the 10,000 young trees which we planted 10 years ago. And milkweed! Lots and lots of milkweed. My current passion is propagating milkweed. We have, to say the least, a butterfly friendly property.

Plus I’ve discovered the glorious opportunity to plant annual wildflowers by the thousands in areas with plenty of sun.

Thats the new gig.

Enjoy!

Oh, yeah, perhaps you will notice that I am fond of limericks and other simple verses.

Thanks for reading.

Jim

PS – we may still chat with a few fanciful, highly creative, super intelligent garden friends. One should never discount the contributions of Stone Bunny and her friends…DSC01571

85 thoughts on “About”

  1. Aaaaahhhh, looking at the beautiful picture gives me hope! This blog may be better than book club! I love your characters and I’m anxious to read their stories!

    1. Thank you thank you thank you. Or, as the great composer George M. Cohen might have said, “I thank you. The plants thank you. The critters thank you!”

    1. My pleasure. I like your blog and I am definitely taking the ” interesting and unusual” comment as a compliment . Cheers!

  6. the image of lions tackling zebras is tickling my funny bone right now . . . . maybe the squirrels would take to the trees and throw nuts at them . . .. 🙂

    1. The squirrels would have the home field advantage though they may lack certain other desirable attributes . Thanks for the vision!

  9. Thanks for stopping by my blog. I think your approach to blogging is truly charming and I’m looking forward to future posts. Happy gardening!

    1. Thank you very much and happy gardening to you too. I’m looking forward to following your blog as well. See you soon! 🙂

  10. Thanks so much for visiting my blog! I appreciate it very much. I’ve enjoyed my visit here. You have a very nice blog. 🙂

  11. Hi Jim,
    Your photos are wonderful! I love the idea of your blog.
    For five years, I kept a photo-blog about a tiny pond near my home (at the time).
    It was a tremendous experience to stop and really observe nature, to photograph what I saw and to write about it.
    I hope you continue to enjoy the journey of the seasons In Jim’s Garden!
    Mary
    PS If you are curious about my site, it’s at http://www.silverlining-marymcavoy.com/

    1. Hi Mary. Thanks. I’m glad you like the blog. Yes, it has been quite interesting to photograph and document the gardens, much less to make up fanciful stories about them. I’ve learned a great deal in the 5 months I’ve been doing it. I sure learned a lot about my birds last winter. I’m going to check out your site right…….. NOW! 🙂

    2. Hi Mary. After a brief perusal of your site, I’m saying WOW! Nice site and remarkable photos. I especially like the picture of the heron flying over water with the wing tip nearly touching the water, nicely reflected below. Are still maintaining the site? Are you still capturing nature with your photography? I hope so, because you sure are an excellent practitioner of the art. Thanks for sharing.
      Jim

      1. Thanks for visiting SilverLining – writing that blog and posting my photos to it was one of my greatest pleasures. I don’t maintain it any longer, not since I moved away from that area. I was crushed to leave the pond. After five years, it had become a dear friend!
        I see you found http://www.sublimedays.com where I post about my writing and other things – thanks for the follow.
        (I’m following In Jim’s Garden.)
        You might enjoy going to http://www.TheRipestPics.com as my current photography is there and it’s mostly nature photos – well mostly outdoors anyway.
        I also have a site hosted on Fine Art America, where many of my photos are for sale. You might be interested in trying out FAA if you are hoping to sell any of your work. I’ve had some sales there. Not a lot, but I’m not as active as I should be on that site. Anyway, my site there is http://www.MaryMcAvoy-Photography.com FAA is pretty good – since people can order your prints alone, or a matted and framed print with lots of size and framing options to choose from as well as a selection of mattes. Customers get a finished, hangable product and all you’ve done is load your images to FAA. If you’ve done any framing, you know what a treat it is to have someone else take care of that aspect of your photography!!!
        Thanks Jim. I look forward to more of you posts.
        Mary

  12. Thanks for visiting SilverLining – writing that blog and posting my photos to it was one of my greatest pleasures. I don’t maintain it any longer, not since I moved away from that area. I was crushed to leave the pond. After five years, it had become a dear friend!
    I see you found http://www.sublimedays.com where I post about my writing and other things – thanks for the follow.
    (I’m following In Jim’s Garden.)
    You might enjoy going to http://www.TheRipestPics.com as my current photography is there and it’s mostly nature photos – well mostly outdoors anyway.
    I also have a site hosted on Fine Art America, where many of my photos are for sale. You might be interested in trying out FAA if you are hoping to sell any of your work. I’ve had some sales there. Not a lot, but I’m not as active as I should be on that site. Anyway, my site there is http://www.MaryMcAvoy-Photography.com FAA is pretty good – since people can order your prints alone, or a matted and framed print with lots of size and framing options to choose from as well as a selection of mattes. Customers get a finished, hangable product and all you’ve done is load your images to FAA. If you’ve done any framing, you know what a treat it is to have someone else take care of that aspect of your photography!!!
    Thanks Jim. I look forward to more of you posts.
    Mary

    1. Yep. I found your blog. I’ll check out the other site as well. See you soon. :). Thanks for the info.

  13. What amazing photos throughout this blog…the bee on the clover is fantastic! Love the text as well…so glad I found this blog.

    1. Great. I’m glad you found it too. I hope to see you around a lot, so to speak. Thanks for reading and Thanks for your kind and generous comment. 🙂

  14. Jim, you’re nuts … in the nicest possible way. I’m really going to enjoy watching (and listening to) your garden.

    1. Thanks… in the nicest way. 🙂 I’m glad to have you aboard. I’m going to sort out the sound component one of these days. You know the old story……. “one of these days….” Thanks again. 🙂

      1. I got what you were saying. Thank you most sincerely. If sharing our gardens via the blog is a blessing to others, that is wonderful and a blessing for me. 🙂

  17. Jim’s Garden is quite lovely. Thanks for the visit and like of my Weekly Photo Challenge post “Contrasts”. It was taken in my garden.

    1. Oh yes. The white tulip contrasting with the colored tulip. Nice. I especially like the “extra extra” challenge of the one oddball tulip amongst the others, but I think I already told you that. Thanks for sharing. I hope you have a most excellent day. 🙂

    1. Hey, I’m glad you love it. I’ll be checking in on your regularly. Sorry to read of your Turtle’s death. Nice poem, though. 🙂

  19. Thank you for commenting on one of my blog posts. In Jim’s Garden seems enchanting! It was in my small back yard in Virginia that I first hit upon the idea of writing and documenting all of life outdoors. I just happened to move back to a place where there are lions and zebras ;).

    1. Great. That’s wonderful. You really do have lions and zebras in your backyard! Celebrate them. I look forward to reading your posts. And I think you understand what I am saying about the lions and zebras: In Jim’s Garden is about appreciating what we have here and now, not about wishing we had something different somewhere else. Cheers. 🙂

  20. There is a place we long to escape to. We close our eyes and see each tree, each flower, every blade of grass. It is the place that keeps us sane while life runs a muck around us. A place where stone rabbits come alive and drink mulberry tea from cowslip blossoms. You generously share this place.

    1. Thank you very much – what a generous compliment. I think you figured us out. Though I’m going to have to speak with Stone Bunny – has she been drinking mulberry tea from cowslip blossoms again? 🙂

  21. Really this is an awesome place, where each and everyone in my family long to escape. Recently we have visited a similar place in India, Tamilnadu – where we experienced the cold breeze, mist, early morning fragrance of the flowers and few wild animals.Viewing your blog, was such a treat to my eyes.

    1. Thank you. That is a remarkable compliment. We are lucky in where we live and the lifestyle we are allowed to pursue. Being able to share via the blog is a good thing for me and I am glad to hear that it is a treat to your eyes. I hope you come back often and escape in some way through our lucky, little part of the world. Thanks again. I wish you a wonderful day. 🙂

  22. Pingback: Blog Award! | we're all mad here…

    1. You are welcome. I’m looking forward to your excellent pictures of birds, flowers and such. Some of my favorite things! 🙂

    1. You are welcome and welcome. Thank you for your positive, upbeat, we-can-make-the-world-a-better-place blog. 🙂

  27. Jim, I already follow too many blogs–but I can’t resist a beautiful garden. I hope to be back to enjoy your lovely piece of earth.

    Blessings ~ Wendy ❀

    1. Thanks. That is an excellent, succinct comment on the experience of active blogging. Too much but can’t resist. I hope to see you back occasionally, at your convenience. Have a wonderful day. 🙂

  29. Nice blog Jim. I will certainly pass it on to my sister who is creating her own large garden in Cedar Ridge, CA called Lily’s Garden. Thanks for checking out my blog.

  30. Thank you for visiting my blog, especially because this is how I found your very special, beautiful and interesting blog! 🙂 I wish you many happy days in your garden! 🙂

    1. You are welcome. I’m glad you found it. I saw this morning that you will be off-line briefly. I wish you a ‘speedy recovery’ with your computer and look forward to what you have to share when you are back.

  31. Jim, wonderful post! My wife is from Elkhart, IN, and I’ve visited there a couple of times. Love it! Am now following your delightful blog and look forward to visiting your garden through your photographs and writing. Thanks so much for visiting my “Randa Lane…” haiku blog. Drop by any time!

    Ron

    1. Thanks. Thanks for reading and thanks for following. I look forward to more of your blog. I try to capture the essence of the seasons here in Indiana so I hope you and your wife enjoy it. 🙂

  32. Your blog seems interesting, I’m definitely following you!
    By the way, I love the imagery you put on lions tackling zebras.
    I hope your garden continues well and better each day!

    1. Thanks. I’m glad you find it interesting. No lions and zebras here, but quite the jungle of blooms and vegetation. I look forward to seeing you around. 🙂

    1. Hi Ruth. I just saw this comment and I write to apologize for ignoring it previously. It is extremely kind and generous of you to nominate me and here I am such a rude dude, I ignored it completely. OK, I didn’t mean to ignore it, but I managed to nonetheless. I’m sure WordPress probably notified me, but sometimes I skip on WordPress’ demands on my attention. I know. The gall! So thank you for nominating me. Sorry I did not respond in a timely manner. Meanwhile, carry on with your excellent blog and have fun! Cheers. 🙂

        1. Thanks. My pleasure to share my garden. It is interesting to watch it change – which it is doing quite a lot right about now. 🙂

    1. Thank you Annabel. That is very nice. I just went to your blog and read the post. I am honored to be included in such company. I am not exactly sure at this moment what I am going to do about the nomination, but I double-triple, super-duper appreciate the shout-out! And like I said the other day, I just love your blog and am entirely convinced that I would love your cooking. Keep it up! Thanks again. 🙂

      1. Oh, Jim, thank you! And please don’t feel any pressure regarding the nomination. I chose the bloggers that have had a big impact on me in my nascent blogging career … and you were one of them! (I keep worrying about you and your garden now that your winter is setting in, but at the same time look forward to seeing what unfolds!) All the best, Annabel

        1. Thanks so much. I think the locals are worried about the winter as well. Our sense of justice dictates to us a sense that we must pay for the fabulous summer weather we enjoyed this year. There is a general nervousness about the winter around here. That said, I love winter and I hope that comes through in the blog here in a few months. Cheers. 🙂

  40. Hello Jim. Thanks for following my blog. I walked through a bit of yours earlier and like it a lot. I am surprised I had not found your blog before seeing as how you are practically neighbors. We live west of Indianapolis. I don’t have the big yard like yours but my wife spends a lot of time keeping the flower beds going. Otherwise, I do have a couple of nice nature parks nearby to satiate my need to take pictures!

    1. Aha. A fellow west-central Indiana kind of guy. I hope you are enjoying the rainy summer. Its good for the gardens, or at least parts of them anyway. But enough is enough, eh? Have a great day. I look forward to seeing your posts. 🙂

    1. Hi. You are welcome. I followed your blog for a long time last fall and liked it very much. I guess I must have hit the follow button on the ol’ iphone or something, cause I seem to have ceased following. It happens. But I’m back. Looking forward to it.

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