Privacy Policy

Last updated: 28 September 2026

Garden Design Co. (“we”, “us”) publishes The Outdoor Living Journal at gdcgardendesign.com. This page explains what we collect, why, and what we do with it. We have tried to write it the way we write everything else here — plainly.

Who we are

Garden Design Co. is an independent editorial publication based in Aruba, Dutch Caribbean. Our contact address is hello@gdcgardendesign.com.

What we collect

If you subscribe to the newsletter: your email address, and your first name if you give it. Nothing else is required.

If you send us a message or a request: whatever you choose to include — typically your name, email address or phone number, your location, and details about your project.

If you simply read the site: standard technical information that almost every website records. This includes your IP address, browser type, device type, the pages you visit, and the site you arrived from. This is collected automatically by our hosting provider and analytics.

If you leave a comment: your name, email address, comment content, and IP address.

We do not collect payment information on this site.

Why we collect it

  • To send you the newsletter you asked for
  • To reply to you when you contact us
  • To understand which articles people find useful, so we write more of what works
  • To keep the site secure and functioning

To show advertising that helps pay for the writing. We do not build advertising profiles ourselves. Our advertising partners may do so, as described below.

Who else sees it

We use a small number of third-party services to run the site. Each one holds only what it needs:

  • MailerLite — newsletter delivery. Holds your email address and name if you subscribed.
  • Hostinger — website hosting. Holds server logs.
  • Google AdSense — advertising. Sets cookies in your browser and may receive your IP address, browser and device type, and the pages you view. See the Advertising section below.
  • WordPress — the software the site runs on, including comments.

Each of these has its own privacy policy. We do not sell your information to anyone, ever, for any amount of money. We do not share your name, email address or messages with advertisers or data brokers.

We may disclose information if legally required to do so.

Cookies

The site uses cookies — small files stored in your browser. They do two things here: remember your details if you leave a comment, and help us count visits so we know which articles are read. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. The site will still work.

Advertising

This site carries advertising, which is how the writing is paid for.

Google, as a third-party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on this site. Google uses the DoubleClick DART cookie to serve ads based on your visits to this site and other sites on the internet. Third-party vendors and ad networks may also use cookies, web beacons or similar technologies to collect information such as your IP address, browser type, device type and the pages you view, in order to show ads that are more relevant to you and to measure how those ads perform.

We do not control these cookies and we never receive your personal details from them.

You can opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings. You can opt out of third-party vendor cookies more broadly at aboutads.info or the Network Advertising Initiative. You can also block or delete advertising cookies in your browser settings.

For more on how Google uses data when you use a partner site, see Google’s partner sites policy.

How long we keep it

Newsletter subscribers: until you unsubscribe. Every email we send has an unsubscribe link at the bottom, it works immediately, and we do not ask why.

Messages you send us: as long as needed to help you, and for our own records afterwards.

Comments: indefinitely, unless you ask us to remove them.

Your rights

You can ask us to show you what we hold about you, correct it, or delete it entirely. Email hello@gdcgardendesign.com and we will do it. There is no form and no process — we will simply do it.

If you are in the European Union or United Kingdom, you have these rights under the GDPR. We extend the same rights to everyone regardless of where they live, because it seems obvious that we should.

Children

This site is not directed at children under 16, and we do not knowingly collect information from them.

Links to other sites

Our articles sometimes link elsewhere. Once you leave gdcgardendesign.com, this policy no longer applies — the other site’s does. We choose our links carefully, but we do not control what happens on them.

Changes

If we change this policy, we will change the date at the top. Material changes will be mentioned in the newsletter.

Contact

Questions about any of this: hello@gdcgardendesign.com