Wellspring, it's pretty much a given that regarding point #2 you make, my name would come up as a primary culprit! However, I disagree that it is an imposition of solutions. It is always an offering and always in competition with anyone else who may propose a different offering. This is not to say that an offer will go undefended. If challenges are made, I always feel an obligation to defend what I offer since it is the result of reasoning, not whim. I've said that the 25 mph view is very important, but not that it's the ONLY important consideration. I've examined landscapes that are extremely interesting to explore at the slowest possible pace, but that fail in being quickly perceived and in their overall curb appeal. I love to walk around and look at these, but find they are usually dominated by gardening. This is not a dirty word in my book though some may think that's what I'm implying. But gardening rarely solves that problems that are demanded by the need for landscaping. My thinking is that landscapes should appeal at 25 mph AND at 1/2 mph. Regarding "what the poster wants"... My area of interest is landscaping, not gardening. And even though all the design forums here on Gardenweb are lumped together, I always click on Landscape Design and believe that's what I'm here to talk about. (I see this as a Gardenweb failing, lumping all these design categories together and not properly defining them.) For the most part, I believe that what posters come here looking for is landscape help because they lack sufficient knowledge in that department. Yet they often come with preconceived ideas about how to solve their particular dilemma. From the perspective of landscaping (not gardening) these preconceived ideas can range from underwhelming to atrociously bad. This is not uncommon. For the most part, lay people pick up their "ideas" about what to do from what they've already seen done. There are plenty of bad ideas out there to copy from and they are copied and proliferated ad infinitum. Usually when I explore subdivisions I notice that the preponderance of landscapes are modeled after bad examples; the "builders design" is what prevails. So when a poster proposes one of these underwhelming or atrocious solutions for their own yard, I feel a strong duty (again, entirely from a landscape perspective) to inform them that they are likely either leading themselves "down the garden path" or other posters are encouraging them to go there. Sometimes it's difficult to explain the importance of doing or not doing something a certain way and can't be accomplished in a single post. So generally, I might make a couple of stabs at it if I don't feel my point was properly comprehended. (I try not to use berating language, a nasty tone or anything like that... but as has pointed out, I can succumb to sarcasm! But it's intended in good nature.) If the OP is determined to go a wrong direction even after my couple of tries, I give up on them. Yesterday, I visited a homeowner who told me right off the bat that they wanted two newly planted oak trees (located mirror image on opposite side of a drive in front of a very traditional architectural style home) removed. In those same planting holes they wanted a pink crape myrtle on one side and a white crape myrtle on the other side. Well, gag me with a backhoe. Could I really just do as the owner asked without trying to counsel them out of that bad idea? I don't think so. But if said owner can't see the light, dammit, I will plant a stinking pink crape myrtle on one side and a stinking white one on the opposite... and hope that my name is never mentioned in connection with them. It is duty that requires me give an extra effort in an attempt to keep people from making mistakes. (Again, ALL from a landscape perspective... which I keep repeating as I believe this mixed forum structural arrangement inherently invites disagreements.)

While I think that the "FAQ" as outlined by swanoir was presented tongue in cheek ('the humus'), many of the subsequent comments and/or links to threads that could/should be included in a FAQ were presented in a more serious tone. And maybe they do make sense as a foundation to a real LD forum FAQ. But I've also sensed something else in these comments that may contribute to the apparent lack of communication between new posters seeking advice and those that regularly frequent this forum and offer it. And that is that the long checklist provided by Miss R must be (or should be) answered in detail before posting. Well, of course not! But it is definitely something worth reviewing and giving some thought to. This checklist, or something very similar, is what most designers utilize when first meeting with a prospective client. It gives them a feeling for what the client wants to do with the property, how they intend to use it, what they hope to get out of it and how much effort (time/$$) are they are intending to put into it. Hopefully, reviewing an outline or checklist such as this could help to refine and focus some of those blank slate questions and even educate those new posters totally unfamiliar with the process the degree of complexity, the number of variables and exactly what is involved in the formulation of a landscape design. Even DIY landscape texts intended for the homeowner with no previous design or landscaping experience offer similar checklists to get one started thinking about the process. Obviously, this is overkill for those questions that are more issue-specific, but I think very appropriate for those that are much broader and far less focused.

As ltilton and noogy has mentioned, there are a myriad of restrictions for many states, both in shipping in and out of all fruits and vegetables. And all politics aside - diseases can threaten some of our very important commercial orchard industries. These companies aren't all "fat cats". In fact, most of our commercial growers are smaller operations. Many are multi-generation family enterprises. Some have been in their communities for over a hundred years and employ large numbers of that communities' residents. We have to be very careful not to fall into the political rhetoric and say stuff that sounds right, but in fact, is not anchored in fact. Personally, I'm not for big government either, my politics lean to states' rights and less big government. But, there IS a place for government overseeing, and when it comes to our United States commercial food industry, those restrictions and inspections have actually kept HLB from spreading at pandemic rates. That's what happened in China - not enough government overseeing and inspection and it has decimated their cherished citrus industry. We got caught with our pants down in Florida. The Dept. of Agriculture in conjunction with each citrus states' own depts. of food and agriculture (the CDFA for me here in California) are not going to make that same mistake. We can't stop HLB. But, we can slow it way, way down. And hopefully enough to allow those researchers around the world to either develop resistant cultivars (several have been developed that look promising, but there are over 3,000 different citrus cultivars!), or find a way to treat the disease or better, inoculate existing citrus trees (this research has shown some very, very exciting results). We're just trying to keep ahead of the floodgates right now. Just to give you an idea of what the state of California is considering for trying to stem the spread of HLB: if they find that it has spread from the original discovery site (border of Los Angeles and Orange County), one of the control methods they are considering and is on the table, is forcing every homeowner who has citrus trees growing in their yard to cut them down. I can't tell you the reaction this news had at my local CRFG meeting. Nearly every single member of my local CRFG has at least one citrus tree in their yard. Most, like myself, have many. Hopefully it will not come to this, that would be the end of an era for us here in S. California, where cities were created on our citrus industry (Riverside, San Bernardino, many cities in Orange County.) Folks, I don't mean to jump up and down on a soapbox, but we just have to be so very careful what we say, and the rhetoric we espouse on a public forum. I'm glad you've all given me the opportunity to enlighten folks, and not get slammed for it. I am a native-born Californian that literally grew up in a Valencia orange orchard. Many of my family friends grew citrus here for commercial use (mostly navel oranges for in-hand eating, and some juice oranges as well.) I have become good friends with Clausen's Nursery here in Vista, that moved from growing citrus commercially to growing citrus trees for the wholesale market, and kindly open their doors to us retail customers. They're concerned that their three generation family business is in jeopardy. HLB may put their entire family and extended family, as well as all their employees out of business. I look over their beautiful 20 acres of lovely citrus trees and just cried the other day. All that could be lost due to one person's selfish interests. It really put things in perspective for me. They are the nicest people, they don't make a huge profit, and they do it because they love it. So, better that you "spread the harvest" within your neighborhood. Share your citrus with your close neighbors. Be sure they don't propagate citrus from any of your seeds and just eat the lovely fruit. Hopefully we can find a control method soon. The clock is ticking for us here in California, Arizona, Texas, and all the other citrus belt states. We don't want to end up like Florida. Patty S.

I don't know, jane, I think you may be underestimating the average person's ability to filter out familiar noises. Out last house was next to a train track. There was a major intersection nearby, so the trains would generally blow the horn as they approached. It didn't bother any of our babies (or our dog), but it did bother anyone who slept over at our house. I find it interesting that my husband (a firefighter) never misses a night alarm at the firehouse, yet never stirs if our dog barks or the kids wake in the middle of the night. I never fail to wake for the kids, but sometimes sleep right through a ringing phone. I think you are wise to check into how this will affect your property value, but you might find that the noise doesn't bother you as much as you'd think.