Privacy
What this site collects, which is very little, and what happens to it.
Last updated August 2026
The short version
Gardnicks is a reference site. You can read every page on it without an account and without telling us anything about yourself. We measure traffic with Google Analytics so we can see which entries people actually need, but we do not run an advertising pixel, we do not build a profile of you as a person, and we do not sell anything about you to anyone.
There are exactly two situations in which we hold information about you: you send us a message using the contact form, or you appear in the ordinary server logs that any website produces. One further thing is recorded, but it is about the site rather than about you: the words of searches that come back empty. All three are described below in plain terms.
What the contact form collects
If you fill in the contact form, we store the name you type, the email address you type, the topic you choose, the entry you name if you name one, and the message itself. That record is kept so a person can read it and reply to it.
Your email address is used to reply to your message and for nothing else. It is not added to a mailing list, it is not passed to a third party, and it is not used to send you anything you did not ask for. If you would like your message and address deleted after we have dealt with it, say so in the message and it will be.
What the server logs record
Like every web server, ours records requests: the page requested, the time, the browser’s user agent string, and the IP address the request came from. These logs exist so the site can be kept running and defended against abuse, and they are not linked to anything else or used to identify individual readers.
What the search box records
When a search returns nothing, the words that were typed are stored with a counter, so we can see what people are looking for and not finding. That record holds the words and nothing else: no address, no cookie, no session, and no way to connect one search to another or to the person who made it. Searches that do return results are not recorded at all.
The list exists for one purpose, which is deciding which entry to write next. It is read by the same person who writes the entries and it goes nowhere else. Since it is a list of words, the only sensible advice is the obvious one: there is no reason to type anything into a plant search box that identifies you, and nothing on this site asks you to.
Cookies
Google Analytics sets its own cookies in your browser, named _ga and _ga_<property id>. They hold a randomly generated number that lets Analytics tell a returning browser from a new one, and they expire two years after your last visit. They are first-party cookies: they are readable by this site and by Google Analytics, and by nobody else.
Beyond those, the only cookie this site sets is the one that remembers you dismissed the notice at the bottom of the page. WordPress also sets a session cookie for the handful of people who log in to edit the site, which does not include readers.
If you would rather not be counted, blocking cookies for this domain in your browser is enough, and nothing on the site stops working. Google also publishes a browser add-on that switches Analytics off everywhere.
Advertising
No advertising is served on this site at present. If display advertising is added later, an advertising network will be involved, that network will set its own cookies, and this page will be updated to name the network and link to its own privacy notice before a single ad appears. We are stating the intention here rather than waiting to be asked about it.
Analytics
This site uses Google Analytics 4. It records which pages were opened, roughly where in the world the request came from, and what kind of device and browser was used. Google states that Analytics 4 does not log or store IP addresses; the address is used to work out an approximate location and is then discarded. What we look at is the total: which entries are read, which searches come back empty, and which pages people leave from.
We have not enabled advertising features, audience export or Google Signals, so this data is not used to build advertising audiences. The data is processed by Google under its own privacy policy. Aggregate figures also come from server logs and from Google Search Console, neither of which identifies you.
There is no Meta pixel, no advertising network and no other third-party script on the pages you read.
External requests
Two, both to Google, both for the measurement described above: the Analytics tag is fetched from googletagmanager.com and the measurements are sent to google-analytics.com. Everything else you load on this site comes from this domain: typefaces, stylesheets, illustrations and photographs are all served from here, so no font host, no content network and no advertising network sees your request.
Children
This site is written for adults choosing and caring for plants. It is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 13. If you believe a child has sent us a message through the contact form, tell us and we will delete it.
Your choices
Because we hold so little, the choices are simple. You can read the site without giving us anything. If you have sent a message and want it removed, ask and it will be deleted, along with the address attached to it. If you would like to know what we hold about you, ask, and you will get a straight answer rather than a form.
Changes to this page
When something material changes, particularly if advertising is introduced, this page is updated and the date at the top of it changes with it. We do not quietly rewrite it.
How to reach us
Every request described here goes through the contact form, choosing “Something else” as the topic. It is read by a person.