Ah, this is indeed a resurrected thread! I'm a couple miles north of Biglerville. As it happens, I am actually in the process of working on my PA garden (still a fixer upper!!!) to host a tour for my Maryland (Carroll) garden club in August.--first Wednesday. It is quite a daunting prospect given the current weeds that have infiltrated and I am quite exhausted. Having country gardens is a different thing than the suburban yards that at least have some sort controls on their borders imposed by neighbor's lots. In the countryside, Mother Nature is always taking back and sending in the invading thugs! Dwarcholak, it would be fun to visit your garden-- as described it sounds nice! Yesterday, our club had a tour of a suburban yard--a plant collector with 1/2 acre lot and "garden rooms". He had a lot of shady areas with mature perennials (35 years of working on his yard), a koi pond near his patio and lots of potted plants. He likes Asian perennials and propagates much of his own stuff to plant. The thing about club tours is that we are in it to learn--people talk about their mistakes made, trials and failures--sometimes most evident. Many people are intimidated because some people really have smashing gardens and they go all out, get help to prepare for the tour or have worked diligently on the same one for years. Not everyone can do that or has achieved what they are striving for ( for many reasons)--so they don't have anyone come see their efforts. Not all tours are for showing off, they are to show PROGRESS in a forward direction. People like to see what changes are made over time from revisiting. I was one of the last holdouts because it's a drive to get to my place, but also it isn't manicured like the suburban lots. It's hard for me to keep up because I don't live there year round. And I'm still working on the old house!!! There is a Federated Garden Club that meets in Biglerville at the library, by the way. They meet up with the Gettysburg garden club (some belong to both). For a short time 2 years ago, I was in the G'burg club, but I was also the new President of Carroll GC--the job reqs were overwhelming so I dropped out of G-burg for the duration. I would like to meet some friends that know the PA area-- visit the nurseries or professional gardens like Longwood, etc as well as locals who show what they are working on and give tips. Anyone ever been to "Hosta Hideaway"? Let me know if you want to meet up. I'm in PA half the week or more, typically. You can come to the official tour (10 am) Anyone on FB?

Hi Jayne! I live just across 407 from you, close to Marcus High School. In my quest to find and hook up with other Denton County Gardeners I've just set up a Meet Up group to see if that helps. Since last Friday 3 people have joined who didn't know about this forum and I just got an email from a 4th who is joining the group. I've done no promotion for this group. Why don't you join us? There are 2 meet ups planned right now. One of which is the Plant Swap on Sunday that Carrie mentioned, which is very close to you. I will continue to use Texas Garden Web and use the meet up group for the more local or private gatherings or outings. Here is a link that might be useful: Denton County Gardening Meet Up Group

What kind of system?

Central Jersey here... We installed fiberglass last year. I would never have thought of installing anything else. You'll probably pay more for a fiberglass pool, but you'll save both on maintenance and chemicals. We've got an 18' x 37' fiberglass, and for two years in a row... $49 gets us crystal-clear water all season. What little algae there was trying to cling to the fiberglass when we opened the pool a few weeks ago was absolutely gone with a quick brush-off. Try that with any other types of pools... It all depends on the quality of the installer, as you probably know. Installing a pool is a one-time thing, and you want it done right, NOT for the cheapest price. We set a budget, and overall, we came in right under the budget, and have had zero problems in the two years we've had it. Hope this helped a bit. Best of luck to you!