Hi Eggo-Interesting idea for a post. In 2002, we made a decision NOT to buy the Townhouse and Association restrictions where we were on a lease option, and to embark on building our own home giving me my own gardens to create and not just patio and containers. It was a huge blank canvas! I had a blank slate and did not know where to begin. I started by searching the web, via google, on trees, plants and shrubs that I liked and that led me to GardenWeb. Having lived in Florida 1/2 my life I really did not know how to garden here. I have always loved gardening, fresh veggies-my father's influence growing up in Michigan. Consequently, trying to apply all I learned from him was a waste. The great folks on the Florida Gardening Forum eased me into gardening in Florida as a way of life. I often visit the Tropical, Affrican Violet and House Plant forums just to lurk-rarely speaking up much. But on the Florida forum I am a big mouth! I love Garden Web. I have met such wonderful people, gained more knowledge than books can tell me. I made many mistakes (zone 10 CA and 10 FL ARE different) and I have to admit, I am now a more than average gardener since 2002!

Eggo: coincidentally (if this word exists) with your post, exactly 1 year ago I found gardenweb!!! I have no idea how was it, but I believe I was referred to this by someone, I was looking for personal experiences on how to grow durian, jackfruit and breadfruit in semi-arid regions. Just yesterday found a "breadfruit" in my region, it was very nice looking tree (shaded and well watered), jackfruit also does well in here I found in my own experience (shaded and lots of water). Durian stills being a mystery, and soon will find out if my only damaged durian seedling survive this winter on its own.

Hi Eggo.

I purchased some dwarf conifers. On the back of the identification tag stated that for more information on this plant please contact the Conifer Society at some website address. That address led straight to the GW Conifer forum and the rest is history.

Bob

I found GW while looking for info on fruit trees. I quickly got hooked on reading all the posts, and learned a lot.

It is now my most visited site, and I depend on my GW friends for the very best entertainment, knowledge, laughs and gorgeous photos.

Through GW, I got to go to a plant swap, which was terrific fun! I met lots of wonderful people there and came home feeling like the world is *really* an okay place, as long as there are people as kind and generous as gardeners can be...

GW gives me an escape from the stresses of my job, the exhaustion/frustrations from the storms, and a way to share my successes and failures with people who understand.

Lisa

I found GW by looking for seed trading sites. It didn't take long for me to become addicted. I would visit several times a day and added to my seed collection and met so many great people/gardeners. Eventually, I started visiting other GW forums but I still can't believe it took me over a year to find the Tropicals Forum. I truly believe I lived in the "tropics" in another life. I have learned so much since I found this forum. I can't wait to see the new posts each day. Mr. Green Thumbs/Magic Fingers, you have become a "tropical fruit mentor" to me and several others, I'm sure. :)

Leona

I got the word on the street.

I was invited to GW by a member way back when. Her name was/is MzMunchken and I will be forever grateful to her. I have met some of the finest people in the world here and have become exposed to plants I never knew existed. I love this place. I hope IVillage doesn't change it.

I am rather new to this web sight. Have read lots of posts and this in only my second one. I found this web sight looking for tropical plants that I can grow in Zone 9 N. CA. and also info on greenhouses.
There is so much terrific information and I have learned so much. I feel like i am missing something if I don't visit GW every day.
Linda

I guess I came at the GW from a different direction and for more personal reasons than a lot of you. I had never frequented forums until just over a year ago, when my husband's newly diagnosed illness prompted me to go online and try to find others who were going through what I was. I got so much comfort out of talking to others on medical forums that I decided to branch out and see if I could find similar communities of people who shared other interests. I've been in horticulture all my adult life, so I googled plant forums and the GW came up.

I've since become a total cyber-addict. ;-) I can barely let a day go by without checking the tropicals, ginger, bromeliad and Hawaii forums just to see what everybody's up to.

I'm still hoping to find more people who enjoy hybridizing tropical plants (particularly bromeliads, gingers, heliconias etc.). I've visited the hybridizers forum, and there's some interesting postings, but most don't involve tropicals. That's just about my favorite topic!

Living in Michigan now, I can only grow my tropicals outdoors in summer, and indoors in winter, and not having a greenhouse , it can be a real challenge , though I've had mixed success with a number of plants I thought might be impossible, considering my lack of lots of room and lots of very sunny windows. I have been a member on another site for a long time , but in general find just a few members from the warmer climes of the U.S. and it just seems in general there wasn't lots of interest in my posts on their tropical "topics", and figured there be more interest and advice here. Hopefully some day , if I don't move back to California, where I lived for quite a few years, or perhaps Florida where I lived for a short time in Key West, I'll have a greenhouse here, so I can get "almost" the max out of my tropicals , though space is always a consideration when growing many of those very large growing tropicals, especially those vines that can take over a whole greenhouse in short order. Nice folks here as well!!

I've been a member since August 2002 and am pretty sure I ended up here from a search about hibiscus care.
Whernever I can, I check out my favorite forums, then cruise thru some others.
I've learned a LOT and have greatly expanded my plant interests based on info I found here.
Love it!
Barb

I found this place thru a friend on the bromeliad forum..i was looking for other bromo collectors to talk to and trade with

I can't remember back that far.... :o)

Well ... being active in gardening, especially exotics, I got rather tired of another forum with all it's in-fighting and bad blood. Here there's a bit of assurance that if these types of postings get out, they'll be dealt with accordingly. I have no time to waste on such matters. If I'm not gardening, I'd rather be cyber gardening.

Cheers, Barrie.

I found this site quite a few years ago while "Google-ing" for sources of citrus plants. I started out in the citrus forum, and went from there. (By the way, what would we do without "Google"?) About a year or so later, I found myself corresponding with a wonderful fellow who shared my love of tropical plants. We became very good buddies, and eventually, a group of about a dozen of us formed, scattered across North America. The group has quite a bit of diversity, culturally, politically, etc., yet we have a lot of respect for one another, share humour, tragedies and thoughts, along with some pretty intense horticulture! We correspond by email every day of the year, yak on the phone, and once a year we all get together somewhere sunny and warm where we can indulge our love of tropical plants. We laugh until we are sore. I have to say that it is a mighty uncommon thing for a bunch of guys to form this kind of bond, but there we are. We regard one another as both brothers and best friends. We talk about everything, help one another out, and we have some AMAZING gardens. Our friendship says some of the best things about what the internet can do both for our hobby, and for communication. So....THANK YOU to GardenWeb!

I got sick of a Carnivorous Plant forum that I can't mention because the name has been banned from GW (something about them spamming GW??).. so I came here on the reccomendation of some friends. I was looking for somewhere to connect with other plant people but without the drama of more kid-orientated forums.
I love the variety of topics here!

I found gardenweb about 5 or 6 years ago, I don't remember how I came across it. I've had four different user names (sequentially, I never have more than one at any one time).

Ryan

"I can't remember back that far.."
"I got the word on the street."
LOL. I got a good ol belly laugh from Heathen and Eric.

I too have enjoyed the diverse topics available on this site. Just the knowledge of everybody from all parts of the U.S. and the world has made this such a great site.

Sorry, I just can't resist.

I heard it through the grapevine.

I won't do it again.

I bought 250+ seeds from seedrack and had less than 5% germinate, then I bought another $30 plus seeds from Burpee which turned out to be 5 packs of maybe 15 seeds. I thought there has to be a better way...and there was! Thank you GW and all the GW'ers who make this such a great place to learn and share!

I googled Cherimoya looking for some info on it and what do ya know one of your posts came up! I may not be a frequent poster but stop buy for lots of info on the plants i love.

I found GW last spring after buying a dwarf citrus tree. I planned on growing it in a container and wanted info on everything from transplanting to soil, feeding, watering etc. I found the info I was looking for on CRFG and on this site. Since then, I've added more citrus, Feijoa, Banana, Guava, Strawberry Guava, Passionfruit, Blueberries, & Papaya...mostly in containers.
My love for growing tropical/sub-tropical fruit has expanded to tropical flowering plants and trees. I've had my first successes with Fuchsias (and can even spell it now)...and I've transformed a particularly difficult arid slope into a (so far) successful Hummingbird garden, using Calif. native Plants...all with a lot of helpful advice from a lot of GWers who took the time to answer my silly questions.
This site has also been therapeutic for me, since I've had two back surgeries in the last six months, and can't always get out in the garden.
My most recent discovery was the seed exchange section, which has kept me busy trading with a great bunch of people.
Thanks to you all for your advice, wisdom, and generosity.

I came on the recommendation of a friend. She loved the site, but doesn't come here anymore, because she started her own forum and is busy with that.

I found the Florida Gardening forum first, then when it went all free, I got into the Garden Party. Just came here today, looking for advice on something.

I am a member of woodworking forum and one member of that forum told me about GW. I'm looking for advice(at that time) regarding Hypertufa, and sure enough, there's an active Hypertufa forum in GW. Then got hook on Florida, Brugmansia, Orchid, Rose, Tropical......Great site.

Don't recall how I was directed here, but am so glad that I found GW! The variety and amount of information is fantastic, as well as all the wonderful trades. Watching photos of others' gardens inspire me to go out and garden! Thanks all.

now that I think about it, it must have been about ten years since I found this place. they've added so many categories since then. it was just as great back then as it is now.