Long story which I'll let someone else tell. But basically, we figured if Marylanders left the Mid Atlantic forum the 7 people in Delaware and DC who remained would miss us terribly. Some folks (not all) in Virginia and Pennsylvania and New Jersey felt that the Maryland contingent was dominating the conversations and that more participants from VA, NJ and PA would germinate if they had separate forums. I don't know how that worked out in those forums, but have never noticed any quota on new posts in MidAtlantic, so it never made a whole lot of sense to me. I'd prefer one busy forum to 4 slow ones.

So. You are HERE. This is the Maryland forum!

(AND the forum where people from Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey are also entirely welcome to post, as Cynthia no doubt would have said, had she not had to run off to tend to all of her marvelous seedlings of things I have never heard of, which she will no doubt persuade me at the swap, if she has extras, that I absolutely must have.)

G'Day!

- i for one would like to hear more from folk in other parts of the Mid-Atlantic region. With the mountian elevations to our west and the coast along the east providing such a range of climate, there is little grown in any of these states which can't also be grown in most of the others.

- i just cruised the postings on a couple of the individual state forums. Less traffic than we have. (Well, at least in the middle of February.)

- i have enough keeping up with the MAG forum, Cottage Gardening, and Herb forums that the last thing i would want would be to have to check separate MAG and MD forums. i would be curious to hear form some of those who spend more time in those state forums what they think, and whether they read posts here and in their state forums.

- i really like this NOT have shriveled into just the "Greater DC, oh, and Baltimore too" forum. (It bothers me when TV or radio stations call themselves Maryland when they are really focused just on Greater Wash-imore.)

- If we were going to dice the continent up logically, i think we'd have done it by zone rather than state. Sure, thre's lots of variation in a zone (wet/dry, for example), but most states cover a range of zones, and the zones run through a band of states.

- Unless you're in Hawai'i, which was simply designed as one, big, perfect garden. Yes, even the "rock gardens" of the lava flows.

(- i read some back postings in the Far North forum, as i will be heading to Alaska this summer, tacking a vacation on to a conference. WOW! We zone 7 folk are s-p-o-i-l-e-d!)

- Happy Gardening,
-vlad

Maybe you should be lucky. I have to try and keep up with both the Mid-Atlantic forum AND the Virginia forum. ;-) Not that the traffic is overwhelming on either forum, so I am not complaining. Personally, my climate in Northern Virginia is more on par with regions of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey than with southern Virginia.

I just looked at the State Forums and I see that there are 20. So why does New York have 3 forums (not including this one)?!? I guess Maryland is not the only forum-less state.

- Brent

I, personally enjoy the MAG forum over 4 smaller ones because the climate and heat zones, though similar to other states, is quite different. The Mid-Atlantic states share similar native plants. Lastly, like Vlad stated, I, too, would be interested in hearing from gardeners in the other Mid-Atlantic areas, not just the Washington, DC Metro area.

Sophia
Hope to see everyone at the Spring Swap.

My question derived from the "It's about dead in here" post and I wondered whether there were more people posting in the indvidual forums. There do seem to be more people from MAryland posting in MidAtlantic. Hey-I'm glad for anyone who is willing to take the time to post and I'm especially happy about the Carroll Countians who have emerged in a separate post.

I often hang out in other plant specific forums to ask my questions or contribute, but I think these state or regional forums offer an opportunity to interact with people in our own gardening situation. It is becoming more important to me to actually try to connect with other gardeners than to be an anonymous poster forever.

The other night I got this feeling that the Mid Atlantic forum was dominated by MD'ers. Now I now why and that is OK. I have enough time and interest that I bounce back and forth between MAG and PA Gardening. I met some local PA folks in PA Gardening and we compared notes about Garden Center and Nursery locations (spring fever time) and even may have some get-togethers. I posted a list of gardening events in the PA Gardening forum, etc. so I think both forums have their benefits. Why was it even a problem if MD happened to dominate the MAG forum. I think we have an equal opportunity posting policy (for those living in the MD and DC area that would be EOPP).

I grew up in Maryland, and don't mind "my peeps" dominating the MAG forum. Well, I don't mind except when it comes time to choosing the place for swaps, and then avoiding long road trips trumps family ties. ; )

By the way, I'm in the same zone as Vlad in Md, and his zonal suggestion for separating the forums made a lot of sense to me. I have more in common with Vlad than with mountain-region Virginians. But at any rate, I think the current separation of forums is fine. Both MAG and the Va forum are pretty dead in the middle of the winter - heck, this is the first time I've hopped on here in weeks - but I'm sure they'll perk up as people start turning on fluorescents and breaking out the ProMix.

Now, can anyone tell me why, last year, my Shirley and California poppies did so much better winter-sown in milk jugs on the porch than direct-sown (same time) in the garden? Marauding birds? The reason I ask is that so far this year, I have lazily only direct-sown my (newly acquired by trades) oriental poppy seeds, and haven't gotten around to any winter sowing at all.

Julia

I'd just like to mention that when the folks on state specific forums host a swap, folks from other states can't post on their exchange page. I know, I tried. However, anyone in the M-A is allowed to post on the Mid-Atlantic exchange forum.

I think it's too bad that more people from other M-A states don't post on this forum anymore. I really miss some of the old timers.

Hey, Julia T., where in Maryland did you grow up?

I bounce back and forth between PA and MAG,also (as a lurker), but just bought a house in Fells Point and it supposedly has the "largest garden in the neighborhood" because no house was built behind it, and am very excited to start gardening in Maryland. Although I'm sure it's not terribly different from PA. I currently live in a rural area with a 3/4 acre piece of land in the middle of a development. I'm sure it will be different gardening in an urban setting. Any thoughts, anyone?

Fannychup

Does anyone from MD know when the Garden Show is that is held at the Fairgrounds each year in Timmonium? Since my son moved from Lutherville, I don't travel down that way much from PA. I always had a good time when I stopped by for that show.

John,

Below is a link to all of this years H & G shows.

Here is a link that might be useful: Home and garden shows

John,

Here's the direct link to the show's web site

Here is a link that might be useful: Maryland Home and Garden Show

For us locals on the Eastern Shore there is a Home and Garden show this coming weekend at the Wicomico Youth & Civic Center in Salisbury.

I agree with a few people here. Its hard to choose. While it would be nice to have finer definitions of area whether by state or zone or what ever. I also like that when you post something it doesn't take several months to hear from someone else. It bothers me that you cannot post to other states forums. I would love to join into some of the exciting conversations that happen elsewhere that are relevant to me. It's kinda like everyone else has 'exclusive' memberships and we are open to the public. However, if things were to be divided I would probably want to hang out on the Delaware forum and lurk the MD forum. Being one of the people on the eastern shore I think the Delaware forum would have more in common with my garden.
Ending my rambling I would like to say that I am glad that I have been 'stuck' with you all in the 'open to the public forum' as you are a wonderful bunch to be with.
Lettssee

helllooooooo from Frederick md...... how do I find out my zone??? do I need to know to talk about house plants???
i have some house plant i do not know name of.... AND I am new here.......... HELP!!!!
Hereslooking4@msn.com Can provide pics of plants....
THX!!

Frederick is generally considered to be zone 6. Climactic changes will probably push us into zone 7 eventually. Zone information is most useful for outdoor growing. As far as house plants, it isn't very significant what your zone is except if you put some of your indoor plants outdoors during the warm season. Then your zone gives you an idea when to expect first fall frosts so that you bring those indoor plants back indoors at an appropriate time.
There is probably a forum for houseplants on gardenweb if I recall correctly. You'll like it here--lots of info and lots of helpful garden friends. :-)