Sandy
I think this question should be answered by those gardening in Asia. I hope they want to share Asian plants and gardening practices and how they fit into Asian culture with others living and gardening in Asia.
I HOPE they are graceful in sharing their forum with those who do not live in Asia but do NOT want to dominate the Asian Gardening forum and are VERY interested in learning and sharing.
Ignorance about a subject is a lack of knowledge in that subject. I am ignorant of many things! I try to learn somehting new every day.
I hope MANY of those Gardening in Asia will answer your question about what THEY want this forum to be. I want to humbly honor their feelings.
Happy gardening!

I think something is missing here. What about the people from Asia that move to the US that are vary familiar with these species &/or have them in their back yards? If you want to find some of the exotic species you speak of in the US, the best way is to get to know a collector from that country. You need to consider the fact that many in "Asia" may not speak English, &/or English is their second language. This is a forum in English. When they come to the US, English is still difficult for many, & in order to learn gardening tips from many of these ESL individuals, items need to be pointed to or the words need to be looked up.

I donÂt know about Indiana or AZ, but I live near the some of the largest Asian communities in the US. To gain information, the culture needs to be understood, respected, and many times the language differences worked through. If I want to know about an exotic Thai species, the first place I look is a Thai collector in the US. Whenever I go to a Vietnamese market, the women always come up to me and ask me "How do you cook this? Here are some tipsÂ" I donÂt speak Korean, but I learn gardening tips from my Korean neighbor by watching her, and she educates me about the plants she has from Korea. And if I donÂt know the language, I bring a translator along. They donÂt mind it a bit, and are happy to share their culture &/or knowledge of plants with me.

If you exclude those from foreign countries that have immigrated to the US, you lose a bounty of information.

Baci
If you are referring to my previous post, I left no one out of sharing in this forum.
I specifically mentioned Asian culture and practices.
I included those of us not living in Asia who want to share.
I stated my feelings. I will not try to push my feelings in this forum.
I appreciate your feelings.
I wish you and everyone a VERY
HAPPY NEW YEAR January 29, 2006!!!!
And also in the spring for those who celebrate a different date.
Happy gardening to ALL!!!

It's a good question. The umbrella term "Asian" embraces 32% of the world's dry land mass...from the steamiest jungles to the planet's coldest highest mountains...and 60% of the world's human population, representing more than 2000 different cultures. That's a pretty broad premise around which to organize a gardening forum. Is it for talking about

1.) different Asian gardeing styles, e.g. Japanese gardens, Chinese gardens, Persian gardens, etc.),

2.) for talking about plants that are from Asia (that's over half the plants known to science),

3.) for gardeners who live in Asia (again, that's most of humanity), or...

4.) something else?

Since I was the person who suggested this forum, I'll add my 2 cents. What I wanted was a place to discuss gardening for those who either lived in Asia, live in Asia, plan to live in Asia at some point, or are interested in the ins and outs of gardening in Asia. Not really so much to do with "Asian" plants or an Asian STYLE of gardening.

My rationale for this forum was, well, there are forums for gardeners in Europe and Australia to discuss the specifics of gardening in those places, so gardeners in Asia should have one too. I wanted, for instance, to be able to ask someone if they'd tried growing Snapdragons in Hanoi, or where you could find osmocote in Singapore.

That being said, I think it will become what people want it to become and that its character will ultimately be shaped by the people who visit and post in the forum.

Hi Peaseblossom!
Well said and well done!!!

i got some seeds of ginseng plant from a neighbor who is from thailand. it is unlike the ginseng i have found on the net. i have 2 photos -- one with leaves and the other with seeds showing. since i am not savvy about adding an image in posts, if anyone is familiar with ginseng plants, please email me at: dianamagic2000@yahoo.com and i'll send photo.

So far it seems to be very quiet gardening. Maybe some of those who are lurking will introduce themselves now and then? What does everyone grow for the Lunar New Year???
I wish you all ~~GOOD LUCK~~ in your life!

Just realize this forum was just created. I'm glad to be on board. I'm going to enjoy hearing from those of you in Asia and elsewhere.

Thank you so much Peaseblossom for suggesting this forum. I think this forum would be very beneficial for everybody whether you live in Asia or not. If u will read my member's page, i have had quite an experience in Asian gardening and would love to share my knowledge. Happy Gardening to all!!!

A website with countless Asian vegetable and herb seeds is www.evergreenseeds.com , from which I just recieved my order for this season. 3 new eggplants, which supposedly produce in 30-45 days, a smaller wax melon (last year's was 20 lbs - a bit too much for me!), heat resistant greens, and 2 new cilantros, which I never have luck growing here. I may start some of those cilantros inside, just to see how they taste.

Dave

I'm afraid if this forum is guided by dirt dew and peaseblosssom's restrictions it is going to be a very slow forum. I have never been in Asia, never expect to go there but would love to know what is grown in a family veggie garden. How is it used? Can it be stored? What kind of flowers are favored in various countries. Is monsoon normal in most Asian countries or only some. What plants survive such conditions? Why would someone who lives in that part of the world even think of telling those things to me here in the midwest? I'll check in once in a while to see how things are going but I think I will get more info by talking to the owner of the local oriental grocery who has no interest in talking to me at all. Sandy

I have been visiting this forum for quite a while and it seems to be a little bit quiet around here. I hope that it gets more active though...maybe in the next few months. I'm pretty sure that our Asian gardening friends are more than willing to share their knowledge. Unfortunately, I think there are some barriers that would be limiting them. First, the language barrier...only a small percent of the whole Asian population could speak English. Second would be technology. A majority of the Asian household do not have access to internet. If they do have, it is very costly in some countries. So I would suggest to open up this forum to whatever there is to talk about "Asian Gardening" whether you live or not live in Asia...no "ifs" no "buts"...no limits!

Like I said, it will become what people want it to become...if that means just an extension of the Asian vegetables forum, a place to discuss growing "Asian" plants in midwestern gardens, then so be it.

I just want to point out that while the majority of people in Asia do not have access to computer or speak English, it would be a fallacy to think there aren't enough who do to fill this forum.

There is a pretty active forum frequented by Singapore gardeners (not associated with Gardenweb), so my idea was to extend that concept to other countries in Asia.

We'll see what happens here, but I think, in general, Gardenweb is too US-centered as it is. I was hoping that by adding more regional forums it would become more "international."

It's not about limiting who can post about what, it's just the idea of encouraging people from other regions of the world to post that I wanted to promote. If this becomes just another forum about growing "Asian" plants in America, it might not be very attractive to gardeners in Asia. But people are free to discuss and post about whatever they want, so happy gardening!

Hello and Welcome all new ones to this website.

Sorry, I'm not a frequent visitor to this forum due to limit of free time but when I do visit it, I learn so much from everyone. Thanks members! Mainly, I learn names of certain herbs and plants that I'm familiar with in my native language but have no idea what its botanical or English common names are. I'm sure you, new ones, will enjoy and learn/share from this forum too.

To my collection, I just added a Kaffir Lime tree (for the leaves), some common asian herbs, an all white bloom camellia and more sweet kumquat trees. One of which I may plant it on the ground (I'm curious how hight it'll get). The other 2, I'm going to train them as bonsai. Oh no, I'm not a pro, just try to see if I can do it.

I live in Houston and have been visiting JRN Nursery (NW area) for years but more just recently because now I have a garden of my own. They carry so many exotic varieties and the nursery is only minutes away. I must confess, I've been weak lately;-) If you go there, you wouldn't be able to resist buying something neither.

I only have 1 dilemna now, I hope I can find courage to fight mosquitoes in the hot summer when my plants need me the most.

As we say here in Texas: Happy Planting Ya'll :)

May I also add. There are also those of us that love Asian plants, trees, herbs as we remembered when we were much younger but may not know how to grow them as we're older. This forum would be perfect for such learning and sharing.

I agree with Dick_Sonia. Asian plants have a huge variety of trees/herbs/flowers and may be grown mostly anywhere just as long as you provide it the right condition for such plant. Yet, we need to learn from someone... anyone, the right condition.

Also, not all Asian countries have limited technology and English speaking residents as you think. How many of you have visited a small country such as Vietnam and seen that numerous of people walking around wih a cellular phone? Hey, give this forum sometimes and it'll grow as more people find it out.

If you have a question, just post it. Many that learn, also will share. If you hesitate to post it, you have no one to blame for but yourself for we can't answer a posting if there is not one.

Hi ntt_hou! Are you Vietnamese? I grew up in Hanoi (my parents do humanitarian work there), so it's always nice to meet people from "home"--:)

Peaseblossom, please check your e-mail for the reply.

Hi,
I just joined this site. Is this forum still alive? I'm happy to at last find a site that's focussed on Asian gardening. While I love gardening, I'm not very good at it but love to learn abt it. I live in Malaysia. I've been searching website as to how to grow tropical plants in my garden despite being in a tropical country. I try learning abt botanical names but must say I'm not very good at it. I'd love to help wherever I can but I need to warn that my gardening skills are not very good. What I'm keen in is to exchanged ideas between east & west in terms of plants. Thank you.

hi! I'm from singapore and was just wondering if this forum is still alive? it's unfortunate that despite our huge variety of plants grown here we actually have a lack of forums to discuss gardening in asia.

so hopefully, this is alive still

Greetings to all.
I am from Malaysia and just joined today.I love this site. I have moved in to my new house, which has land to practice my gardening skills. I have just started gardening and lots to learn. I have planted long beans,okra, brinjal,tomato,basil,curry leave, Moorangai (do not know the botanical name for this)bitter gourd, pumkin to name a few..... Hoping that this forum will continue for us to share and learn....

I am from Malaysia . Nowadays landscaping is a big business here. More and more people are keen on landscaping .

The government are also encouraging the landscaping industries to fluorish by setting up National Landscaping Department.

I hope this forum will continue to attract participant and reader so we can share information from each other. Please visit my website for landscaping in Malaysia and South east asia generally.

Here is a link that might be useful: Landscape, architecture and natures