Privacy Policy

Last Updated: May 11, 2026
Welcome to gardenbine.com. Your privacy matters to us, and this Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and the choices you have. By using our Site, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy. If you have any questions about this policy, please contact us using the details at the bottom of this page.

1. Introduction

gardenbine.com is a gardening and outdoor living content website providing articles, growing guides, plant care advice, and seasonal inspiration for home gardeners. This Privacy Policy applies to all visitors, users, and others who access the Site. We may use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our Site. These companies may use information (not including your name, address, email address, or telephone number) about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you.

2. Information We Collect

We collect information in two main ways: information you choose to give us directly, and information that is gathered automatically as you browse. The sections below explain both, along with the tracking technologies involved.

2.1 Personal Information You Provide

We may collect personal information that you voluntarily provide to us, such as when you:
  • Subscribe to a newsletter or mailing list
  • Leave a comment on an article
  • Contact us via a contact form or email
  • Submit a gardening question, photo, or reader tip
  • Enter a giveaway, contest, or survey
This information may include your name, email address, and any other details you choose to share with us.

2.2 Information Collected Automatically

When you visit the Site, certain technical information is collected automatically by our servers and by the tools we use. This information includes:
  • IP address
  • Browser type and version
  • Device type and operating system
  • Referring website or source
  • Pages visited, time spent on pages, and click activity
  • Date and time of your visit
  • General geographic location (derived from IP address)

2.3 Cookies and Tracking Technologies

Like most websites, we use cookies, web beacons, pixel tags, and similar tracking technologies to collect information about how visitors use our Site, to remember preferences, and to serve relevant advertising. A cookie is a small text file stored on your device by your web browser. Cookies allow a website to recognise your device and store some information about your preferences or past actions. You can choose to disable cookies through your browser settings. Please note that disabling cookies may affect the functionality of this and other websites you visit.

3. How We Use Information

The information described above is used to run the Site, improve what we publish, and communicate with readers who have asked to hear from us. Specific purposes include:
  • Operating, maintaining, and improving the Site
  • Understanding how visitors use our content so we can improve it
  • Responding to comments, questions, and requests
  • Sending newsletters or updates, where you have opted in
  • Serving relevant advertising through our advertising partners
  • Detecting, preventing, and addressing technical issues, fraud, or abuse
  • Complying with legal obligations

4. Advertising and Third-Party Vendors

This Site may display advertising served by third-party advertising companies, including Google and its advertising partners. We may participate in advertising programs operated by companies such as Google AdSense, and we may work with additional advertising networks in the future. These companies may use cookies, web beacons, and similar technologies to collect information about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services that may be of interest to you. Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user’s prior visits to this website or other websites. Google’s use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visit to this Site and/or other sites on the internet. You may opt out of personalised advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings. You may also opt out of a third-party vendor’s use of cookies for personalised advertising by visiting www.aboutads.info.

4.1 Google DoubleClick DART Cookie

Google is one of the third-party vendors on our Site. It also uses cookies, known as DART cookies, to serve ads to our Site visitors based upon their visit to gardenbine.com and other sites on the internet. However, visitors may choose to decline the use of DART cookies by visiting the Google ad and content network Privacy Policy at the following URL: https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads

4.2 Our Advertising Partners

Some of the advertisers on our Site may use cookies and web beacons. Each of our advertising partners has its own Privacy Policy covering how it handles user data. For easier access, we have linked to the relevant policy below, and this list will be updated if additional partners are added.
  • Google: https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads
If we begin working with a managed advertising network in the future, this section will be updated to name that partner and link to its own privacy disclosures and data collection practices before those ads are served.

Mediavine Programmatic Advertising (Ver 1.1)

The Website works with Mediavine to manage third-party interest-based advertising appearing on the Website. Mediavine serves content and advertisements when you visit the Website, which may use first and third-party cookies. A cookie is a small text file which is sent to your computer or mobile device (referred to in this policy as a “device”) by the web server so that a website can remember some information about your browsing activity on the Website.

First party cookies are created by the website that you are visiting. A third-party cookie is frequently used in behavioral advertising and analytics and is created by a domain other than the website you are visiting. Third-party cookies, tags, pixels, beacons and other similar technologies (collectively, “Tags”) may be placed on the Website to monitor interaction with advertising content and to target and optimize advertising. Each internet browser has functionality so that you can block both first and third-party cookies and clear your browser’s cache. The “help” feature of the menu bar on most browsers will tell you how to stop accepting new cookies, how to receive notification of new cookies, how to disable existing cookies and how to clear your browser’s cache. For more information about cookies and how to disable them, you can consult the information at All About Cookies.

Without cookies you may not be able to take full advantage of the Website content and features. Please note that rejecting cookies does not mean that you will no longer see ads when you visit our Site. In the event you opt-out, you will still see non-personalized advertisements on the Website.

The Website collects the following data using a cookie when serving personalized ads:

  • IP Address
  • Operating System type
  • Operating System version
  • Device Type
  • Language of the website
  • Web browser type
  • Email (in hashed form)

Mediavine Partners (companies listed below with whom Mediavine shares data) may also use this data to link to other end user information the partner has independently collected to deliver targeted advertisements. Mediavine Partners may also separately collect data about end users from other sources, such as advertising IDs or pixels, and link that data to data collected from Mediavine publishers in order to provide interest-based advertising across your online experience, including devices, browsers and apps. This data includes usage data, cookie information, device information, information about interactions between users and advertisements and websites, geolocation data, traffic data, and information about a visitor’s referral source to a particular website. Mediavine Partners may also create unique IDs to create audience segments, which are used to provide targeted advertising.

If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices to opt-in or opt-out of this data collection, please visit National Advertising Initiative opt out page. You may also visit Digital Advertising Alliance website and Network Advertising Initiative website to learn more information about interest-based advertising. You may download the AppChoices app at Digital Advertising Alliance’s AppChoices app to opt out in connection with mobile apps, or use the platform controls on your mobile device to opt out.

For specific information about Mediavine Partners, the data each collects and their data collection and privacy policies, please visit Mediavine Partners.

4.3 How Interest-Based Advertising Works

Our advertising partners, and companies working on their behalf, use technology to collect information about your use of this Site and other websites over time, in order to serve you advertisements that may be relevant to your interests. This is sometimes referred to as “interest-based advertising” or “personalised advertising.” This may involve the use of first-party and third-party cookies, device identifiers, and similar technologies. Rejecting cookies does not mean you will stop seeing ads on the Site. If you opt out, you will generally still see advertising, but it will be non-personalised rather than tailored to your interests. To learn more about interest-based advertising or to manage your choices, you can visit the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out page or the Digital Advertising Alliance website. You may also download the Digital Advertising Alliance’s AppChoices app to opt out in connection with mobile apps, or use the platform controls on your mobile device.

5. Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics to help understand how visitors engage with the Site. Google Analytics uses cookies to collect standard internet log information and visitor behaviour information in an anonymous form. You can learn more about how Google collects and processes data by visiting “How Google uses data when you use our partners’ sites or apps.” You can opt out of Google Analytics tracking by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.

6. Affiliate Links

This Site may contain affiliate links, meaning we may earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase, at no additional cost to you. Affiliate partnerships may include, among others, the Amazon Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Any product recommendations, including tools, seeds, soil, and garden equipment, are based on genuine editorial judgment, and affiliate relationships do not influence our opinions.

7. Your Privacy Rights

Your rights depend on where you live, and the sections below cover the main frameworks that apply to our readers. Wherever you are located, you can contact us using the details at the end of this policy to ask a question about your information.

7.1 European Economic Area, United Kingdom, and Switzerland (GDPR)

If you are located in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, you have certain rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and equivalent UK legislation. These rights include the right to:
  • Access the personal data we hold about you
  • Request correction of inaccurate personal data
  • Request erasure of your personal data
  • Object to or restrict our processing of your personal data
  • Request a copy of your data in a portable format
  • Withdraw consent at any time, where processing is based on consent
  • Lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority
Where consent is required for cookies or personalised advertising, we rely on a consent management mechanism to obtain that consent before non-essential cookies are set.

7.2 California Residents (CCPA/CPRA)

If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act, gives you a set of specific rights over your personal information. These rights include the right to:
  • Know what personal information is collected, used, shared, or sold
  • Request deletion of your personal information
  • Correct inaccurate personal information
  • Opt out of the “sale” or “sharing” of your personal information, including for cross-context behavioural advertising
  • Limit the use of sensitive personal information
  • Not be discriminated against for exercising these rights
Our advertising partners may be considered to “share” personal information (such as cookie identifiers) with third parties for interest-based advertising purposes under this law. We honour Global Privacy Control (GPC) signals as a valid method for California residents to opt out of this sharing where our tools detect that signal. You may also submit a request by contacting us using the details below.

7.3 International Readers and Data Transfers

gardenbine.com is read by gardeners in many countries, and the advertising, analytics, and email vendors named in this policy may be based outside your country of residence. By using the Site, you acknowledge that information collected about you may be transferred to, stored in, and processed in other countries, including the United States, in the manner described in this policy. Where local law gives you additional rights over your personal information, you are welcome to contact us and we will respond in line with the applicable rules.

7.4 Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control

Some browsers offer a “Do Not Track” signal. Because there is no accepted industry standard for how to respond to this signal, our Site does not currently alter its data collection in response to a general Do Not Track browser setting. Where legally required, we do respond to the Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal as described in Section 7.2 above.

8. Children’s Privacy

This Site is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 16. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us so that we can promptly remove it.

9. Data Retention

We retain personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law. Newsletter subscribers remain on our list until they unsubscribe or ask to be removed, and comments remain visible on the Site unless you request their deletion.

10. Data Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect the information we hold from unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. However, no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

11. Links to Other Websites

Our Site may contain links to third-party websites, including plant suppliers, tool retailers, and other gardening resources. We are not responsible for the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third-party sites. We encourage you to review the privacy policy of every site you visit.

12. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, our advertising partners, or applicable law. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated “Last Updated” date. We encourage you to review this page periodically.

13. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or how your information is handled, you can contact us at: Website: gardenbine.com Email: [email protected]
Summary of Key Points:
  • We collect information to provide gardening content and improve your experience
  • We do not sell your personal information to third parties
  • We use affiliate links and may earn commissions on purchases at no cost to you
  • We may feature user-submitted garden photos with proper credit and permission
  • You can request removal of photos or content you’ve submitted at any time
  • You can opt out of marketing emails at any time
  • We implement security measures to protect your information
  • You have rights to access, correct, and delete your information
  • We use cookies and tracking technologies to enhance functionality
  • Third-party retailers and services have their own privacy policies
  • Gardening success varies based on climate, soil, and growing conditions
By using gardenbine.com, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy and agree to the collection, use, and disclosure of your information as described. Last Updated: May 11, 2026