And the award goes to ...

The Blotanical Awards have been announced and I'm thrilled to find a lot of my favourite blogs winning major awards. Take a look at these excellent blogs.

First there's Frances from Faire Garden who's made an almost clean sweep of just about every award from Blotanist of the Year to Best Photography and a whole lot more. This is one blog I'll never tire of visiting. All those awards just go to show that I'm not alone in thinking so.

And Meems from Hoe And Shovel whose Best Florida Blog is so well deserved and which also explains how she came in as one of the best in the Best US Blog category. What I find particularly interesting in her blog is that we share almost identical gardening conditions despite living at opposite ends of the world, so I can relate so well to her posts.

Victoria at Victoria's Backyard who has a wonderful way with words won the Best UK Blog.
Trudi, from Yesterday Today Tomorrow In my Garden, who is a voice of encouragement to bloggers, both new and advanced, won Best Oceanic Blog. But then, I always knew she would!

And winning the Best South American Blog is my friend, Helen (who goes by the name of islandgal) from My Rustic Bajan Garden, who also found a place among the Best Landscaping Blog finalists. Way to go, Helen!

Bangchik from My Little Vegetable Garden had a dream run too, winning Best Asian Blog and a whole lot of other awards. I love the way he posts almost every day so there's always something new to look forward to.

Of course there were so many more categories and so many more wonderful blogs but somehow these stuck in my mind. If any of my friends who are among the Finalists don't find a mention here, it's not because I don't think highly of their blogs (oh, I do!) but because there are just too many to name.
And some blogs that I was so sure would win, did not. That was a little disappointing but that's the luck of the draw, I guess.

And what about The Urban Gardener? Well, we bagged First Runner-up in the Best Urban Gardening Blog category, which is so fantastic! I still can't believe it. The winner is The Patient Gardener , do go over and take a look.
The winner of Best Gardening for Wildlife Blog (another category that we were nominated for) is deservedly, Shirl's Gardenwatch . Again, do take a look at her blog. I went over and was horrified to read her exposé on what Strimmers do to the small creatures in the garden.

I've loved this whole Blotanical Award event purely because it has been encouraging to find myself unexpectedly among the top-five finalists in three categories, especially because I was placed there by my fellow garden-bloggers. Thank you!
And thank you to all those who voted for me in the finals.
May your tools never rust. And may it rain or shine just as your plants need it. And may your typing fingers dance more on the keyboard with each passing day!

Now, please do go over and check out the winning blogs. Believe me, you're really going to enjoy yourself!