Gardengal48 first, the original question asked about moving to an area for gardening, so that is what I answered. Obviously most people cannot move only for best gardening. Second, I could not disagree with you more. Pollinators are one aspect of a very complex system of specific interactions that have evolved together so that every aspect fulfills a specialized niche in the ecosystem. I have a Master’s in both Wildlife Biology and Environmental Education. Did you know that songbirds gain their coloring for specific proteins found in their food sources? Each different protein will create a specific color. During migration and mating season, these proteins are by far the most important food source for each species of bird since a female will choose a male to mate with based first on his color brightness. The highest concentration of the proteins are found in many different species of moth caterpillars. Each caterpillar has a specific host species or genus that it eats, and nothing else. As the native moth caterpillars, that the native birds seek out, only eat native plant species, then without those plants both animal species are out of luck. There are thousands upon thousands of other examples like this, so just because pollinators drink nectar or collect pollen from non native plants that is where it stops. Not to mention many non native species that are used by gardeners end up escaping cultivation and become nasty problems in the surrounding wild areas. In my area, NW Ohio, 3 species that escaped cultivation have devastated many of the last remaining swamps of the Lake Erie Basin - Purple Loosestrife, Phrafmites Reed Grasses, and Asian Honeysuckle bushes and vines (multiple varieties). This has effected the water table, fish species, bird species, soil composition, etc. Every plant we plant as humans has an impact on every species since plants are the base of the food web, so what we chose can either be extremely beneficial, neutral, damaging, or extremely negatively altering. Being educated about each choice and their impacts is very important and can hopefully help save species that are currently on the brink and stop any more from becoming that way.

Chandra, I have tried for years to get our weather here in Love County to cooperate and do what the Farmer's Almanac says it will do, and with very little success. The Farmer's Almanacs, no matter which one of them you use, rely a great deal on statistical averages and also on sunspot patterns, and some years the statistics let you down, and other years it is the sunspots that don't cooperate. I don't know that any forecasting is really accurate more than a few days in advance though. What NWS forecasters can see are long-term trends based on jet-stream patterns and other data, and that's where I find their forecasts helpful. We've lived in our present location long enough now that I at least understand what conditions an "El Nino" pattern give us or what conditions a "La Nina" pattern give us, but even those patterns allow for quite a bit of variation from year to year. The U. S. Drought Monitor map I link is a reporting tool based on observed weather. Actual data observations must be submitted by Tuesday, I think, and the updated map publishes on Thursday of each week. There is a separate graphic forecast based off of it (I think it is called the Seasonal Outlook) and other info, and I'll try to find it and link it, that forecasts whether they think the drought conditions will remain the same, improve or worsen over the next few weeks. I haven't looked at the seasonal outlook at all this fall, but I bet it will show continued drought in most parts of OK and Texas and probably the rest of the south too, because this is a La Nina year and that is what happens in a La Nina. This outlook updates frequently as changing conditions affect the outlook. It isn't 100% correct either (no forecast is or ever will be), but it gives us an idea about what to expect. I read a horrible news story in a Texas paper this morning that went back over the drought/wildfire situation experienced in Texas and Oklahoma in 2005-2006 and it brought back so many horrid memories. Our tiny little volunteer fire dept. went from about 40 fire calls a year to over 240 a year during that time frame, and many of those fires required a day or two or three at the same fire scene. That drought/wildfire situation kept me off of Garden Web (I posted maybe once a month) for almost 18 months because I didn't have any time to get on the computer. All I remember is the pagers going off nonstop and us being gone all the time, never sleeping, and watering our yard like crazy to keep fire away from our house when we were away fighting other fires. The garden suffered mightily, especially after I stopped irrigating it--which is when most of it died. (The eggplants and some Livingston tomatoes survived and produced into October even after receiving no rain to speak of and no irrigation after July 1st.) While Oklahoma is not even close to being back in those conditions just yet, west Texas, western North Texas and southwest Texas already are "there". I read the fire situation reports daily and it is scarey, although the worst fires remain at least a couple hundred miles from OK. As time goes on, though, and conditions worsen, we may find ourselves having a rough spring in OK, especially with regards to spring planting and late winter/spring wildfires. I am not a writer, so haven't written a book, journal, etc. I'm just an ordinary old dirt gardener who loves to play in the dirt and then talk about it. When something goes wrong, I try to figure out why and then share what I know. That's what all of us do here...we share our experiences and our knowledge. I still learn something new here on this forum every single day. We have a remarkable bunch of experienced gardeners here and I am grateful we are able to "talk gardening" and learn from one another here. It doesn't matter how long a person has been gardening, there's a million new things to learn all the time. As Thomas Jefferson said, "Though I am an old man, I am but a young gardener", a sentiment I understand well. When we encounter gardening problems, we all put our heads together here and try to figure out a solution. I wish we all lived in the same neighborhood and could run back and forth from one landscape and garden to another and share our ideas and experiences, but since we can't, we have to rely on our "electronic conversations" and I'm so glad we have them and each other. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Drought Seasonal Outlook--latest edition

The author obviously didn't do his homework or was just doing a puff piece because he neglected to ask Mr. Carl about Viking's recent relationship with Asian juggernaut LG. I see a few problems with their strategy long term: watering down a high line or luxury brand rarely works, you ruin the very thing that got you to the show - quality and exclusivity. while they claim to practice kaizan - I just think those country boys can't figure it out. Many of their products still have quality issues. Their built in fridges still have defects that were in the product from day one. Not good for image as a "quality manuf. " they've done a piss poor job marketing their metal cabinets - I see more LaCornue metal cabs than I do St. Charles/Viking and they cost 5 times as much. Still unclear what their Asian partner strategy is.

Hermitian, who the hell asked you? You're not looking for more company are you? Hermitian is indeed looking for company, but we are the wrong gender! I have seen photos of his place and I think he needs our help though. It's much too nice for one guy. We would need a few weeks for assessment of the place, before we could even give any advice. Hermitian appears to be somewhat of a good cook too, so as long as he feeds us, we will do it out of the goodness of our hearts. Then the postal abbreviation can be changed to MZ, better than MO, which of course is a phonetic reference to one of The Three Stooges. OK, now I will never forget MO as the correct abbreviation. My brother in law is from MO, and well if the shoe fits! A few years ago I saw that arch. It is impressive and the building of it is funny. When they got to the top, it didn't line up! Ha! They figured a way. First thing they did is fire Larry and Curly! They hired some guy named Shemp. Later they added another Curly Joe.