2016 Garden Bloggers Recap

The 6^th annual 2016 Garden and Design Bloggers Conference was held Atlanta last week. This two- day conference packed in amazing speakers, great sponsors (Including The Davey Tree Expert Company) and leaders in the garden and design world. Stacey and Katie attended, took copious amounts of notes and wanted to share their top 3 takeaways. 

1.      Be Authentic, Which Doesn’t Mean Being Perfect

One of our all-time favorite bloggers, Justina Blakeney, gave a fabulous presentation. Designer, blogger and author of the New York Times best-selling book, The New Bohemians, she was the crowd favorite for sure. Her passion was contagious when she took command of the stage. She told us the biggest elements to her success were clarity and authenticity. Key takeaways:

• If you’re not on Instagram stop what you’re doing and make an account. And change your profile link every other day.
• Don't be afraid to speak your mind, ask questions or accept that you don’t know everything.
• Create first and Google second. Make whatever you create different and original enough.
• Just be real. Be yourself. Everyone can relate to someone who’s putting their heart out on the table, trying to be honest and doing the best they can. That’s what I do, and it’s worked so far!
• Once you have a North Star, you have something to work toward. 
• Whether it’s writing, sketching, blogging or working out, having clarity in your end goal is critical to success.
• She even color-coordinated her Pinterest profile to look like the rainbow. 

2.      Everything You Do Should Be Intentional

 Connor Dwyer, a design student at SCAD with 78,000 followers on Instagram, gave a talk about branding. He stressed that everything about the content you create should be intentional. Hashtags, titles, captions and even filters play a part in creating your brand and voice online.   

Additionally, all of the speakers touched on the fact that they look at their analytics daily! This is something that we don’t spend enough time doing. Since then, we have taken a hard look at all of our analytics. We discovered one of our Pinterest boards is way outperforming the others!

Justina suggested using Ink361 to track Instagram. It’s simple way to see what posts are working, and which aren’t resonating with your audience.

Overall, posting great content is important, but sometimes what that content is may surprise you. Analyze, analyze, analyze! 

2.   Trees Protect Us From The Sun, And They Need Our Protection, Too

We were there to learn from and meet top bloggers, but we were also there for Davey Tree. More than 80 bloggers took Davey’s Nature’s Sunscreen pledge to treat tree care like health care. We educated them on why tree care is important and what they can do in their yards to protect their trees.

Here is how YOU can give the trees in your yard a check-up:

1.                  Inspect trees and shrubs from the bottom up. Check for brittle or dead branches, soft or decaying wood, small holes in trunk, or shallow pits in the bark.

2.                  Apply a slow-release fertilizer to keep trees growing strong. This replaces nutrients and improves resistance to damage from disease, insects and stressful weather.

3.                  Water trees to keep them well-hydrated throughout the year. A subsurface watering method to quench their roots is ideal for all trees and shrubs, especially those suffering from drought stress.

4.                  Plant the right tree in the right place to maximize both your trees’ lifespan and your landscape’s economic rewards.

5.                  Schedule a check-up with a certified arborist to ensure the best care for your trees. An arborist will spot hazards, explain potential concerns and may find something you missed. 

Take the pledge here.

Overall it was a fantastic conference where we learned from the great, met a lot of new friends and had the opportunity to hang with familiar faces. See you next year!