yes.. i have referred peeps there many times ...

the key for me is .. i like the peeps here ... its like neighbors and friends ..

the name that plant forum .. can be at times.. a humorless bunch .. whose only goal is scientific identification ... and at times.. they can be the science teachers/engineers of the garden world ....

here its like cracking a beer with some friends.. there.. it is like sitting down with your science or chem teacher .. and being lectured to and talked down to ..

i think that is why a lot of peeps do their ID'ing here ... they like the beer.. lol

and there are no rules about it ... so chaos rules...

ken

The one time I used that forum (which admittedly was a few years ago) there wasn't much traffic and my plant never did get IDed.

Have the best of all worlds and visit both. I have seen quite a few mis-identifications on other forums, especially wintersowing. But NTP is usually spot on. It's well worth a visit if you have something tricky. Correct id is step one in looking after your plants, however 'humourless' being accurate might appear.

I think NTP is the most heavily visited forum. Would love to know which one is, if I'm wrong.

As far as a final decision of what your plant is, the onus is on the OP. Whatever suggestion you get, it is up to you to do further research to decide if your plant has been positively ID'd or not, and let people know if you want more suggestions or information. If a suggestion was made and not rejected by the OP, other suggestions are unlikely to be made as it would be assumed the OP agreed with the suggestion already made. Not all photos show enough or are clear enough for even the most knowledgeable people to know for sure what it is. The picture supplied is not growing or changing, so if you disagree with an ID later, show another pic and ask again.

Not sure what type of humor is normally expected when trying to ID plants but I can say that I have found lots to laugh about on NTP. And I am often impressed with the restraint on everyone's part when nobody says stuff like "hideously ugly weed" or "who cares what you call that lame flower" in answer to the question "what is this?"

This is interesting. Must admit I'm wrong about the traffic on NTP but don't mind so I can share this interesting link.

That is an interesting link, but I'm surprised. NTP forum gets so many questions everyday, and so many immediate answers that I would have guessed it was in the top 10, at least. On the other hand, I check the Perennials and Cottage Garden forums at least 2x day, and sometimes there's been very little movement. I guess because often there will be a few posts with many responses, but NTP has many posts with, usually, just a few responses. I can be gone almost a week and the same posts are on the front page of Perennials and Cottage Garden, but sometimes one day and all the NTP posts are on the second page. I love NTP...I've learned so much there, and I enjoy the hunt!

After looking at it more closely, I think the above link is counting only actual posts, not just page loads.

bump- cuz' more like posts are rolling in and I don't think everyone got the memo that there was a name that plant forum!
CMK

Not to be argumentative or negative but.....I answer the question if I know the answer regardless of where it is posted. I do not see the problem.

It is the same if my neighbor ask me about a plant I do not tell them to get a book or go to the library. LOL It seems to me to be the friendly thing to do. If I am busy and do not have time I open another subject.

I don't mind answering them either. I do answer them here as well as on the Name That Plant Forum. At the time I posted this well over half of the posts on the first page were "what is my plant" posts. If this were a moderated place, the posts would get automatically moved to the other forum, but that doesn't happen here since there are no day to day moderators. Like I said maybe I'm being nitpicky, but if all the posts are of that nature, then people stopping by will think all we do is post those kind of questions here and not engage in other discussions. I like it is here! : ) I think I might be over sensitive to to too many out of place posts, because I saw what happened to the Upstate NY forum. There used to be a decent amount of posters and then the "I saw Big Foot" Cougars, or what ever else people took over and it dissolved into a barely used forum.
Remy

Remy I see your point. I started coming to GW way back in the old days because of the Container and Balcony forum. I love plants in pots on the balcony and patio. It was one of the best forums on the net at the time.

It turned into the vegetable garden in a pot and soil to put in that vegetable garden in a pot. I have not been to those forums for a long time. It started to be a scientific event for soil.

Maybe the economy is dictating that people would rather grow food than flowers on their patio.

I totally agree, remy. On-topic posts make a forum better. It occurred to me, though, that folks who want to discuss their plant in conjunction with ID'ing it tend to post here vs. NTP. That's understandable since it's nearly impossible to do on NTP. Considering there are no moderators, I think most forums work well.

marquest, I've pretty much dismissed the container forum as useless also because of the same reasons. There is a soil forum, and a veg forum. I've been growing stuff in containers for about 40 years and have never mixed soil via prescribed formula, and don't find it a bit interesting. The folks whining about not being able to find some of the components are excruciatingly irritating to me. It's all dirt to me and the stuff in the yard is fine with me and my plants. Not to mention that I think perlite, vermiculite, and peat are terrible things to put in pots.

But since I seem to be a small minority, I take the onus upon myself to just avoid it. If that's what most folks want to discuss there, I guess it's the right thing to do and the right place to do it. In any case, I am glad that so many more people even have an interest in edibles, and nature in general.

purpleinopp, thank you I feel better. I thought I had missed when dirt changed so much you had to be a detective to find all these ingredients to make it dirt worthy to grow a plant. Like you I have been gardening and growing plants in pots for 40+ years and have not killed a plant. Get compliments and questions of how I have such pretty plants and I have not mixed soil like in a laboratory in all my garden life.

I just do not get the interest.

Hey, there's a Name That Plant forum.