Bumblebee Blog

But a black and white pest with a stripe on the rear.

Thankfully, I saw him before letting the little dogs out.

Robin

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Filed in: Wildlife

I have to tell you that I was entirely skeptical about social networking sites such as Twitter or Plurk.

But now that I have dipped my virtual toe into the virtual waters, I must tell you that I am hooked.

One of the beauties of these sites is that they limit the number of characters, so you don’t have to read through lengthy messages. It’s a great way to share resources and little observations that don’t merit a full blog post, but which you want to share with others. People share about things as mundane as the weather and how they don’t really feel like working today to news of their blog posts. Sometimes there are big announcements. One Twitterer shared that her son had decided he would now be her daughter!

Twitter is a far more simple interface, with all your little messages in a single column stream. As a result, though, it can be difficult to have a real conversation and people often seem to be talking past each other. You can find people with like interests on Twitter and friend them without their permission, meaning you follow their Twitters. If you want, you can set up a private Twitter so that only people you approve can participate–a great feature for families or friends.

The Twitter interface flows all messages according to time.

I prefer Plurk. Plurk has a more complicated interface but allows for threaded chats so that you can follow conversations. I think it is this feature that encourages far more dialogue among fellow Plurkarians. You can choose to make your Plurks visible to the whole world or just a few people. As with Twitter you can have private Plurking.

Plurk also rewards good “Plurking” with karma points. From what I can see, you get a higher karma rating by Plurking not to much, not too little and by responding as well as initiating Plurk messages. You are rewarded for your high karma with little things such as the ability to customize your screen display and–most popular of all–get emoticons, such as dancing bananas and little Nixon-giving-the-peace sign emoticons.

The Plurk interface is more complicated, but allows for mini-chats.

To be sure, you can go overboard in chatting with your pals on these services. I have learned to discipline myself to checking a few times a day and perhaps having a more extended chat from time-to-time, usually in the evening.

If you follow gardening blogs, you might find some people that you know in one of these places. And it’s a great place to ask questions, get quick advice and share the thrill of victory and agony of defeat in your gardening exploits. I also enjoy keeping up with my younger brother’s daily activities, which seem to involve a lot of eating.

You can find me on Twitter as BumblebeeGarden and on Plurk (click here) as Bumblebee. Care to join us?

Robin

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Filed in: Social Networking

When I was a (more) novice gardener, I made the mistake…

…of thinking that the tiny butterfly bush I dragged home from my local garden center couldn’t possibly grow to be 12 feet high as the tag described. I though that perhaps other people’s butterfly bushes might get that big, but mine surely wouldn’t. The hardpan Maryland clay, my relative inexperience or a host of potential perils would surely prevent 12 feet of unfettered growth.

Five years have proven me quite wrong.

I have spent three years staring at amazement as the bush that I religiously hack to about three feet of sticks in the fall burst back to life and grow to nearly 12 feet by June. The butterfly bush has been threatening to overtake the two Nikko Blue Hydrangeas planted on either side.

In fact, the butterfly bush has grown so unwieldy that I planned on having Walter, my sometimes handyman, dig up the beast and move it to a more suitable location. Unfortunately, Walter was a little late in arriving this year and the bush was already in full leaf–not a good time for a major move.

We’ll be living with the monster butterfly bush again this year. The beauty of it, though, is that with all the blooms, the bush attracts dozens of butterflies at any time. The don’t call it a butterfly bush without a good reason. I can look out my kitchen window and see butterflies any time of the day.

It’s hard to beat that. And I’ll certainly miss that nature show when the butterfly bush is finally moved to roomier quarters.

Robin

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Filed in: Flowers, Garden Design, Uncategorized