Personal pages have a lot of beautiful features. Here are screen shots of mine! See My Page for Anna Looper

The pic above is the header for the whole site and appears on every page. When you change the design of your page that theme is applied but the header remains the same.

This is the middle of my page and shows my profile and what I’ve been talking about today or who has left a comment on my page, photos, or blog post.

Second from the bottom is an area that shows the members of our site and my photos. My photos also appear with everyone else’s in a slideshow presentation on the main page.

And finally below you see my rss feed for the flowergardengirl blog in the center–a blog post from the fgg blog that I inserted using the html mode of my posts–and on the far left you can see updates to the blogs at A Garden Around the Corner. I used the html from a post about my house.

Go on over and join—-make your page beautiful—list your blog in our tabs section….and upload some pictures. You can visit once and make a page or you can visit every day to see what’s new. You are allowed to upload 5 photos a day. I built this site to promote garden bloggers. It’s in a trial period to see how well it does. I’m giving it another 25 days and if it’s popular then it’s here to stay and will cost me–not you—cost me $25 a month. If we get really big—it’s gonna cost me $65 a month. So please help  by spreading the word. You are allowed to advertise your blog, something you have for sale–and do with your page as you wish. All this…cause I love promoting garden blogs.

Non bloggers can join too and post your photos. A blog comes with every membership so if you don’t have one—this is a good and easy way to start.

There will be an online magazine in the spring.

Hope to see you at A Garden Around the Corner. It’s free!

Garden blogging isn’t always about gardening. Sometimes I just want to write about what I’m feeling or what’s bugging me. Sometimes I wonder why I keep blogging. Why we keep blogging seems to be a trend here lately. I think it’s because our energies are being sapped by all the other cool stuff taking up our time. For me, I’ve got a renewed interest to write about other topics so I’m going to start doing that.

Today–I want to talk about sinus pressure. Well I’ve got some but that would be boring. So let’s talk about the comfiest place in your house to sit.

I sit in a big barrel back chair that has a matching ottoman.

There is my family room beyond the kitchen table. I do most of my writing in the family room. I can hear the laundry when it’s screaming to be changed. I can hear a pot cooking on the  stove. I can throw open the French doors across the back of the house that open to the screened porch and hear the birdies.

There are new walking trails at our park over at Tanglewood. I need to get that started so I don’t die come planting season. I need to get out of this comfy chair and put my muscles back to work.

Today I wish someone would stop by my blog and decide to give me a million dollars. I’d open up –A Garden Around the Corner…..garden center/independent book store. I’d sell chewy cookies and Maxwell House coffee. Just plain old coffee. I’ve decorated that store  hundreds of times in my mind. There would be lots of cobalt blue and red. Plenty of yellow…and the floors would be weathered brick. You need a good brick draining floor in a flower shop.

I’d be happy fixing arrangements for all occasions. I would specialize in china arrangements. Using china in large and small containers. Chipped and weathered would find a home in my shop.

We all have dreams when we sit in our comfy chairs. What is your dream? I’d like to hear.

For the next week or so, there will be a construction zone at the flowergardengirl blog. I’m trying out several things for the flea market gardening, best garden blogs, and mason jar projects. Things will come and go as I try them out. Not all software works together and you don’t know that till you try. So just don’t mind me…..I’m playing and being creative. I’ll be back on Facebook and all when I get this finished. Cheers!

This is the year that I start bugging my husband about adding a split rail fence to our property line. The deer have gotten out of control and starting to eat my fancy hydrangeas. Of course a deer can jump a fence this height with very little effort except that I’ve got a few tips that will make it a more successful barrier.

Zigzagging the fence confuses the deer a bit. If they think they aren’t going to land on solid ground then they will avoid the jump. I’ll also add some rose bushes, large rocks, and other obstacles on my side of the fence to discourage them. They will look before they leap. If something is in their way–then they move on.

So I will build a split rail fence and zigzag it adding greenery and obstacles in an effort to move the deer along to other grazing destinations. That is the plan—hopefully.

If that doesn’t work—I’ll add some motion detector sprinklers to the fence. I’ve heard that works marvelously.

I took the photo at the Pioneer Museum in Staunton, Virginia. 

Hey, I’m the garden blog of Flowergardengirl. Today is my 10th birthday. Today is January 1st and I’m a garden blog celebrating 10 years online. I’ve been through a dozen or more changes. I’ve been hosted at 10 different sites with WordPress being my favorite. I’ve grown to include several urls and we have big plans for 2012. We have become a company with tax id and everything.

We have never been anything more than a garden blog or page in our earlier life. We aren’t a professional institution. We came up through the ages the hard way. We aren’t affiliated with anyone. Mostly we just change at the whim of our owner. Sometimes she blogs a lot and then she gets distracted and we go on the back burner for a few days or weeks. We don’t always stay on topic and we love North Carolina. There will be more stories about North Carolina in the 2012 garden blog subjects.

The Flowergardengirl garden blog is going to get a huge dose of creativity during 2012. Read on:

1. It will host another blog for Best Garden Blogs.  Best Garden Blogs is under construction but you can follow the link for a sneak peek. Best Garden Blogs has been around for over a year now and was moved around in an effort to find the best and safest place to host it. The first year it was open—it was hacked and all the files were duplicated causing a nightmare for Anna. There is currently a backlog of blogs wanting to get in and will be included on the new website. So if you have requested to be included—be patient–it will happen. For now–go to our Facebook page and join! Garden Bloggers and Friends

Garden Bloggers and Friends will have a magazine which is part of the ongoing Best Garden Blogs magazine which has 3 issues already published. It too has seen growth and currently has over 1,000,000 views. The first issues are as follows: Toil the Soil, Toil the Soil With Chickens and More, and Toil the Soil March Issue of Kitchen Garden.

There is a spring 2012 issue planned and will focus on garden sheds. If you would like your shed considered then please use the contact form at the top of this website and send flowergardengirl a link to your blog. If you don’t have a blog then send her a photo of your shed and a brief description.

2. Flea Market Gardening is hosted here at the Flowergardengirl blog. Some of you notice when you arrive that the url changes to that address. Right now there are a few posts in the categories which cover the 2011 topics but there is so much more planned for this subject. Starting with—a mini magazine on Mason Jar bouquets. Watch for this to be released the end of January 2012.

If you would like to share your Mason Jar bouquet then email me a photo with your info to annalooper at gmail dot com. No entries after January 15th, 2012.

Subscribe to my site for future topics for these mini-magazines. See our first magazine here! Flea Market Gardening

3. Flowergardengirl will be posting daily again to this blog.

Flowergardengirl is a writer but she is not an English major. Her expertise is in computers, design, gardening, and flea market gardening. Should you find a grammatical mistake or misspelling….move along….and forgive. She wishes to blog and do her best in these areas of weakness but it’s just not her strength. Some folks choose not to write because they are afraid of mistakes. Anna chooses to write and not be handicapped by it.

Anna has a technical degree in electronics and produces her blog, magazines, and books on a MacBook Pro using numerous programs.

What jobs has Anna accomplished in her life:

Wife of 33 years, mother of two grown boys, mechanic on the flight line, cheerleader in high school, biology teacher for 10 years, waitress, owned a Service Master franchise, taught adult education classes to Air Force wives, career Air Force wife, pitcher for the women’s Air Force softball team, self published 4 magazines, built websites and community pages, managed a garden center, made moonshine, driven a race car, worked on a race car, water ski champion, driven cross country, designed a house, designed several gardens, designed container arrangements, won yard of the month in 3 states, podcast producer, produced commercial for local television, and the list goes on….

Some of her stories and photographs are published in known magazines, online publications, and professional materials. She is currently writing a historical novel about gardening and a children’s book about gardening for the deaf.

Looking forward to seeing you every day in 2012 and thank you for following my blog, my projects, my dreams, and my gardens. Hugs to you all—Anna

you can follow me on Facebook

I just read an excellent article by Greg Draiss called,

Garden Media Group Latest to Lavish Praise on Gen X and Gen Y.

I was jumping up and down at Greg’s understanding of so called experts in the field of garden media. Greg points out that we have garden media firms and social media experts who tell us and our customers what is going to be the latest trend. They are usually being paid by someone in the plant industry who has a vested interest in manipulating how and what goes in your garden. For those of us in the field and selling to you the gardener–this is all very frustrating.

Media companies are positioning most of their attention toward the younger crowd just as HGTV did when it decided to decorate and remodel leaving out the gardening part of their logo. The demographics for my blog tell me a lot that back up Greg’s article. Greg says not to discount that the 40 above crowd is still our primary audience. So why do garden media groups care so much about the younger audience and banter to them—-see my chart below….and here is why…..read on.

Young people are on the internet more than any other group of ages. Media companies can’t make money off the older crowd who is more likely to do a search for a particular topic and not be interested in surfing the net. Media companies need to make money to survive so their opinion is slanted if they are a garden related media group. They need to appear as the younger crowd’s best friend in order to lure their attention which is a huge chunk of the internet. Plant companies who get in bed with the media and social media companies are keen they need to go after this crowd in order to make their advertising dollars stretch further.

The Independent Garden Center hears these claims by those who are broadcasting trends and now the irritation starts on behalf of the IGC. They don’t want to be told what to sell—-what will be popular–because the media has construed the evidence. If the IGC is like me—their audience is not primarily the young crowd. It’s not the ‘Save the Planet’ crowd—it’s the folks who beautify the world as their agenda and that more times than not—is the crowd over 40. Statistics don’t often lie.

I just passed the 700,000 mark for visitors so I think I’m a good example to back up Greg’s article. Here is the evidence.

None of my articles are geared to any particular audience. I don’t mention age or sex. Yet, Alexa ranks my blog as overly representing 65+ crowd. Alexa is the go to source for advertising companies so someone selling Geritol would be in love with me when someone selling surf boards would not give me the time of day. I appeal to mostly women but due to my educational material those with children seek me out. So you be the judge. Read Greg’s article–and you tell me if you think trends should be set by the younger crowd?

Enter to see beautiful fireplace mantle decorations…….Click on the image above.

We have a Facebook page now!( Facebook page was removed because—Facebook changed its practices. I got accused of spamming ya’ll while trying to friend you. Errrrrrr….well Facebook sure makes it hard to do business. Sorry ya’ll) We want all garden bloggers and those who love us to be there. It’s that simple. Post your most recent updates on our page. If your blog has a page and it’s garden blog related, we’d like to friend you. We aren’t dedicated to a brand and we aren’t advocating one. We just love garden blogging. So go over to our sidebar here at the flowergardengirl blog–and ‘Like’ our page. It’s going to get you tons more recognition than being hidden in some back alley waiting to be noticed. We’ll notice you. Hugs to the garden blogging world!

!! Make sure you ‘Like’ our Garden Bloggers and Friends Facebook Page!!  Get your blog noticed.

There is something new and exciting in the garden blogging world and it’s being showcased at the flowergardengirl blog. It’s really something I started quite awhile ago with Best Garden Blogs but it has taken on a whole new meaning and importance to our world of crafting and blogging. First off–take a look around my website. Look closely at the sidebar…the header subtitles…and notice that screen shots are now appearing of your independent businesses and blogs. Our first business owner of the day is Jen Vandervoort and she owns Muddy Boot Dreams where she sells custom cards and shares the most incredible flower photos. Patty Hicks from Garden of Discovery is featured today as our garden blogger of the day and then there is Flower Hut Nursery representing our independent garden center.

What else will be added…..books, best plants– of course and other things I think need attention. The selections will be rotated and given plenty of exposure. My desire is that my blog is a resting place where crafters, garden bloggers, and independent store owners ( in our industry) are welcome and promoted. It’s always been my goal to do this and slowly–ever so slowly–I’ve built my audience to respect that I’ll only give them the recommendations I know who will give them service and quality products.

Please come back often and visit the folks being showcased.

What’s up this weekend—well—there’s going to be a colorful festive post on fireplace mantle displays—you don’t want to miss that! Watch for the post on Sunday.

On my to-do list:  Get caught up on blogs that want to be listed in our Best Garden Blogs index. At the bottom of this page or any page–is a list of garden blogs by state.

Merry Christmas from my fireplace mantle and white rocking chair front porch.~~For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. which is Christ the Lord.

It’s magical to light up your home for Christmas. This year’s unexpected piece is my morning room door. A wreath with a royal purple bow and bouquet of Meyer lemons. It is fresh and festive.

The front entry is decorated with deer, two garlands. and the white rocking chair is the focal point. An arrangement of poinsettias sits beside the chair.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Thanksgiving wishes for a happy festive celebration at your house. I hope you’ll have a tasty ham or turkey and that all your favorite dishes turn out just perfect. I’m the cook around here and we will have a traditional meal of turkey, dressing, rolls, green beans, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie. I’ll fix deviled eggs too. I might even fix a red velvet cake. My warmest wishes and big hugs to all who follow my blog—Happy Thanksgiving

Today’s video includes photos submitted by many of my Facebook friends. A big thank you for being such good sports and including your favorite photos. There will be a Christmas video too–so friend me on Facebook and we’ll be doing a Christmas mantle celebration. Flowergardengirl on Facebook

Almost everywhere you look along the back trails of North Carolina, you’ll find an old barn like this. Gives me a strong desire to look inside. Such takes me on a journey to a good story and beyond. I’m in the middle of writing two good stories these days. One will take me the better part of a year to finish and the other is almost done. I’ve always been a story teller and there is a long list of them in my family. We don’t just tell them from made up imaginations—-we tell them from historical truths and juicy research.

For my novel Singing Behind the Trowel, today’s research took over to the theory of energy fields. The main character of my novel is a young woman named Hyacinth Wiles. Hyacinth was raised by Ida Hopper a real genuine Wildcrafter. Hyacinth was raised in a rich environment of mountain medicine and natural cures. Ida has many techniques in which to return balance to nature with one of them being the mysterious field of energy both in plant and people.

Singing Behind the Trowel involves teaching the reader of old folklore traditions and marrying them with the research done today to prove those methods. Hyacinth and Ida live in 2011 but they practice remedies and recipes tried and true from as far back as the 1600′s. Methods brought to this country and saved through the marrying and immigration of generations past. Ida herself is a descendant of Pocahontas. The book is chocked full of recipes and concoctions that cure gout and coughs from the same bottle.

There is real fear by some who believe witchcraft involved as part of the methods used by Hyacinth and Ida but when modern medicine and science prove their results……….fear is removed and acceptance opens a new field of treatments. New discoveries are born and Hyacinth bridges the gap of confusion surrounding the subject. She is the voice that will bring attention to their once quiet life.

While writing this novel, I’ve been lead down a path of remarkable revelation and discoveries. You know you are on to something when the Lord shows up and things fall in place. Knowing what I know about science, mountain life, folklore, wildcrafting, and the skittish approach by some—-I think the timing for this novel is perfect. Technology has revealed and measured some pretty amazing energy activity never before seen. Proof that some have more energy emitting abilities to make a change in things around them. Kinda like you knew a negative person put you on edge but didn’t really know why—–well science can now measure that response. You can actually see the response on a computer screen where the touch of one gifted with gardening talents can provoke cellular activity in the energy of the plant. You can see the glow of energy forces vibrating between the two. Just can’t be measured in someone not interested. There is now scientific evidence that talents and abilities are God given and very real.

I know a great deal about my ancestors and our nurturing character. I’ve known for a long time that I was meant to write down the stories for they are written in my heart. I will reveal in the ..notes about the author section— of this book about how it was written in my genetic code long before I was born. The facts will blow you away. A book you won’t be able to put down.

Follow my blog and you’ll continue to get a few updates every so often. And do be looking for my little book about Oliver to be coming out soon.

When I heard that my neighbors Bob and Alamedia were going to Alaska on a halibut fishing trip, I said take your camera. They go ever year and last year it was for salmon. Bob and I go pick out flowers for his garden beds and he often rewards me with some prized salmon or just recently his famous salmon cheese ball. So I’ll be anxiously awaiting the recent halibut trip. He remembered to take some flower photos for me and now I’m sharing with you. That blue is gorgeous.

Alaska has the most beautiful hanging baskets and flower beds right on their busy city streets. The long sunny days and cooler temps are the perfect ingredient for huge healthy flowering annuals. Sure makes me want to visit.

**** Anna is currently working on a novel called Singing Behind the Trowel and will be doing lots of research about it over the next year. You can read some introduction material about it HERE.

Singing Behind the Trowel will be the next book released by Flowergardengirl. It’s a fictional love story concentrating on the nurturing qualities of the young and beautiful Miss Hyacinth Wiles.

Hyacinth was born in the Appalachian Mountains and raised by a Wildcrafter ( fictionally based on a wildcrafter such as Ila Hatter) named Ada Hopper. Ada is a descendant of Pocahontas.

Tremendous research is done for accuracy and believability where needed. Respect of the folklore and ways of the Appalachian people is preserved and honored threaded throughout the story.

There are times of laughter and sorrow though you will most likely blush a time or two as Hyacinth speaks her mind openly and tenderly. Ada has raised her to be true to self and seek what Hyacinth truly yearns for passionately. Hyacinth’s been raised knowing the heartbeat of nature. She’s been raised on the harvest of the land. Hyacinth never expects to find a man who can match her passion in life because Ada had never been married.

The story tells of how Hyacinth comes to live with Ada. A story that takes you though the growing, canning, drying, and making of mountain medicine. Ada and Hyacinth are loved by the people and unknowingly hold an important secret that impacts the future of modern medicine.

How will the ways of old meet the inventions of today? The book audience is for 18 years and older. Due to the mature nature of ‘mountain talk’ and the rough edges of the two leading ladies, it should be read by adults only.

~~~ This story will absorb most of my time over the next year. It has been fun to write my blog, but I have a yearning burning desire to write this book. See you all next Autumn as the author of…….. I Sing Behind the Trowel………

Warning, viewing this post could cause an elevated heart rate and a serious case of being green with envy. My lime green dried hydrangea wreath of gigantic proportions comes to us by way one hydrangea paniculata cultivar and one grapevine wreath.

Cut the blooms approximately 2 weeks before you want to use them. Let them sit in a vase of water for the two weeks. Remove them from the vase and stick in the wreath. It will look like this indefinitely. I’ve even spray painted them blue, pink, gold. I got the wreath at a second hand store and it was covered in gosh awful flowers. I just pulled off the old flowers and repurposed the wreath. The whole project may have taken 30 minutes.

The colors in my home are always warm and monochromatic. The dog is always sleeping.

Thanks for visiting my home in North Carolina today—the temps are getting cooler and the sun is slanted different in the sky. I think it’s time to get out the decorated pumpkins and make it all autumn-esque.

View from my front porch last autumn

Sunny yellows and blues welcome guest to a hearty breakfast at The Baird House in Valle Crucis, North Carolina. Deede Pope prepared comfort foods like applewood bacon, scrambled eggs, hash brown casserole, and country-style biscuits with fruit preserves. Good food that sticks to your ribs and sustains you through a day of treasure hunting and sightseeing in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Every now and then, I think a person ought to have a big country breakfast. You need to set the table with napkins and pretty place mats. Eggs are easy to fix and biscuits come frozen these days with a quick pop in the oven for just like grandma made.

Pick a sunny place and add shouts of color in the serving pieces. You won’t believe what it will do for your happy gauge. Make sure there is an activity planned afterwards or you’ll drop off to sleep till evening.

If you decide to set the table and serve up a bountiful breakfast, come back and let me know how it changed your day. If you have a breakfast recipe you’d like to share—I would love hearing about it. Just leave a comment for me.

The book will not be released until next year….sorry for the inconvenience but it will be worth the wait.

The newest book in the works at Flowergardengirl is Oliver, The Praying Mantis. Oliver came to live with Flowergardengirl in a fresh flower arrangement. He went undiscovered for more than a week while hiding amongst the monochromatic greens. Anna purchases fresh bouquets from her local grocery store on occasion and they sit on her kitchen table. She’s never seen a living creature suddenly appear.

Being that she is Flowergardengirl, she was delighted to discover that Oliver was actually praying he would find a way to visit her gardens. Anna did not know she could talk mantis language until Oliver started using American Sign Language. Wait till you see his adventure from the flower farm where he was born to his home in the gardens of Flowergardengirl.

Oliver, The Praying Mantis is co-authored by Michael Looper. Michael Looper is Anna’s son and chose ASL as his second language to achieve his degree in Media Studies with a focus on writing from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Michael is a talented writer, award winning actor, and very animated at ASL.

The book is about a little praying mantis who journeyed from a small flower farm, to the grocery store in a bouquet, and then to the gardens of its dreams. The family who tended his birth garden were deaf farmers. Oliver learned to sign by observing their communications.

God cares for every creature both big and small from beast to man. He cares that a praying mantis would pray for a garden so grand. God is full of purpose and set a mantis in the gardens where Oliver could be heard, be seen, and be appreciated. Flowergardengirl gardens organically and Oliver will work his days as an important part of balance in nature.

This book will be out in time for your Christmas gift list. It will be a favorite book that bring together gardeners, grandmothers who wish to delight little ears, people who find a handicap in their life and wish to be heard and seen, mom’s and dad’s who yearn to communicate kindness and love in their children.

The pages are full of high quality digital images showing Oliver in his bouquet and perhaps–most likely–showing his home in the garden. The pages show American Sign Language in its action and beauty.

Please put Oliver, The Praying Mantis on your Christmas wish list. Watch the Flowergardengirl blog—right here—and we’ll announce the minute it hits the market. 

After seeing the little twig fairy chair and little fairy house, I had to find out more. Here is what was written about her in the local paper.

Helen Eyers has been growing and painting gourds for quite a few years and is self taught. She first examines the gourds and then determines the expressions for each piece.

Helen calls these creations the Little Round Ladies. They aren’t for sale. I did ask cause someone reading this is going to go nuts over them. The reason Helen does not offer them for sale is because she doesn’t like repeat work. Helen looks forward to starting new projects and seeing what the gourd says to her.

I was going to buy this immediately if they were for sale! What a gorgeous nativity and true that every face has its own personality.

Sacajawea above is one of my favorites in the album.

A Japanese Kokeshi doll in Helen Eyers gourd style.

Below—–Bliss, by Helen Eyers

Thank you so much Helen for sharing your gourd art with us.

And what does Helen call her garden?

Helen’s Website:

Little Round Lady Creations

This sunny sunflower mix was in a package sold in Kmart under the Martha Stewart name. They germinated well and were various sizes and kinds. Sunflowers really do make a cottage garden pop. If you have a sunflower garden, I’d like to see. Leave me a link to your album and I’ll come take a look. I’m putting an article together for the autumn issue of the magazine and I want to feature sunflower gardens. I’m also looking for scarecrows and pumpkin themed natural arrangements.

Let’s see what you got!