Well tried to read your post, but after getting rid of the ad video, I then had some other ad covering it and I am required to follow some steps if I wish to remove it. Of course the idea is I will accidently do it wrong and bingo up comes a full page ad.

You know...I just can't be bothered. There are other message boards...

BTW to the owners of this advertizing buisiness message board...any product that gets rammed into my face this way is something I will be sure not to buy.
Deb Kelly

Lets ignore the above post. I think people who can't appreciate that this forum is free and has to be paid for by sponsors, are childish, and greedy expecting something for nothing. I also think people who aren't patient enough to sit through a couple of ads, would never make good gardeners.
I agree about one eyed gardeners. A white garden can be extraordinarily beautiful, but perhaps the chap you spoke to is colour blind? I love colour, and I think well chosen colour schemes can work well, or even just a riot of colours. Sometimes clashing colours can be made to wrok well too.
It comes down to the amount of time the gardener is prepared to spend tending a garden to get the best out of it.
I also don't think all gardens should look like something from a home beautiful magazine. Our private gardens are for our pleasure and entertainment, and should look however it is we want them to look.

Yes, I pretty much agree with both of you. My garden is somewhat eclectic. I am not after a certain style, I just want to like it. I have seen so many wonderful gardens in formal, cottage, tropical, native styles and everything in between. I can enjoy them all but at the end of the day, my garden is for me and my husband, so it has to suit our taste and needs. If other people gain pleasure from it, then that is a wonderful bonus.

Cheers,
Dee.

Yes, WB I also totally agree, I posted a similar point of view some time ago on a different thread, I think it was Artie's. Well, anyway I love all gardens but it does not necessarily mean I could live with every style. I love gardens to the point of visiting at least some gardens when I go to visit family in Europe. Last year I saw Monet's gardens. Both, the flower garden and the water garden are beautiful, however, if I were to choose I would have chosen the water garden with the lily pond, the other one is too busy for me. This said if I had a big block with a creek going through it as I don't I have a mixure of everything bit of native, bit of exotic from warm and colder climates. At present I am planting more fruit trees in place of hibiscus and lettuces and other greens between my anuual flowers. I would like to achieve a similar effect to what I saw on GA in Herenswood on a smaller scale. And yes, I would love to visit Eastern states gardens Herenswood included but this has to wait :-). At least I have something to look forward to.

To quote my mother, 'What sets a garden apart is all in the grooming". Wattleblossum, I think that a loved or tended garden of any style is what makes it a nice place to be. The effort or enjoyment of the owner is what makes a difference. Styles perhaps akin to dress sense or taste in food or wine.

And thinking of cause and effect, gardening is a lovely human past time that crosses all of humanity. The act of gardening is enjoyable, and beneficial in many ways as everyone here could describe I'm sure.

To quote my mother yet again (she inspired me with her gardening). When commenting on any situation that is problematic, my mother will with out fail say "The problem with them is they don't do enough gardening!"
cheers
Andrea

I think you are right Wattleblossom, but gardeners of any type need to be wary of using plants which may have the potential to be weeds, especially if they live near bushland or waterways. It is very easy to use these plants unknowingly, as a lot of them are still widely available.

A gareden is so much more than what it looks like.

Other things to consider are :

smells, touch, insects, birds, colour, maintenance, shape, anything else ?

I think these formal gardens with clipped hedges, and white flowers, with a repetition of the one plant, reflect what is in style inside the house. I have just looked in the paper, (I am inside 'cause its raining and my gardening gloves are saturated and I am cold, tea is needed!), a lot of the modern homes are just like that inside. White walls, horizontal lines all over the place, clear surfaces, modular furniture.

Just a few thoughts to go on with.

Any garden is better than nothing. Even a titchy small patch. There are lots of different styles.

I think a garden is a reflection on whats going on in the owners mind.

Popi

I am indeed fortunate in having a large garden because I would hate to be limited to just a single style. I fall in love with any really great gardens I visit and then feel I must have some of that. So I have my formal parterre herb and vegetable beds, I have (or will have when they get taller) my rose covered pergola, a rainforet under development, native areas with callistemons, wattles, melaleucas etc to attract the birds, deciduous trees for Autumn colour ....etc Looks better than the mish-mash it sounds. I enjoy any garden where a bit of effort has been made and I also enjoy seeing combinations of plants that I would never have thought of. My feelings are that if everyone loved gardening, there would be no wars!

Hi Koeksoetie

Your garden sounds wonderful, you have put a lot of effort into it.

I agree with you "that if everyone loved gardening, there would be no wars!"

On Foreign Correspondence last night, they had a story about Dubai, and I was impressed with the gardens there. Built in the desert, and very lush and green, because they use a lot of water on them. This is water from the ocean via a desalination plant.

Gardens unite all people.

Hi Wattleblossom.. I agree with what you say I love all kinds of gardens too to me all flowers are pretty, but I think variety is the spice of life I have a mixture of Natives, Tropicals and Exotics all different colours and shapes and that works well with me..

Koeksoetie and Popi I agree with you "that if everyone loved gardening, there would be no wars!"

Then why is it that so many members want to make WAR on these forums

Sparaxis you wrote about Peplill reply on top
""Lets ignore the above post. I think people who can't appreciate that this forum is free and has to be paid for by sponsors, are childish, and greedy expecting something for nothing. I also think people who aren't patient enough to sit through a couple of ads, would never make good gardeners.""

Well I have you know its not free as I am still a paid up member and quite a few of us still are we never got any membership money back when iVillage bought it so why should we sit at our computers and look at this garbage so the richest country in the world who wont even look after their own bombard us with their advertisements of products that are not even available in Australia its just greed and I don't want any part of it..

Also Sparaxis whats **Not wanting to sit and look at ads got to do with being a good gardener**
That's a terrible thing to say... as I would imagine good gardeners would rather be out in the garden not waiting for this garbage to go by.

I am beginning to think that Gardens don't unite people.
Certainly not on this Forum any wonder members are leaving. ..Cheers...MM.

MM, wattle blossom started a perfectly interesting thread which required considered response. Her first response was nothing to do with the thread, but just a report of someones frustrations, which should have (like this and your above posting) been taken elsewhere. Since the response causes the initial posting to be bumped down the page, I think that it was a very ill considered reply. Best leave the thread to someone else to add to.
I have never paid GW membership for 2 reasons. I don't get a whole lot from GW, and any possible benefits are aimed at US gardeners. I do put up with the ads, and perhaps I am lucky to find them minimal.
I thought the reason you had gone over to the new forum was to avoid any "confrontational" issues here. Why then, do you bother entering into such? Where people get together in any format to discuss things, there will always be disagreements as well as agreements. Otherwise it would be totally boring. If you take it personally and call it "war" that is your judgement, and most likely not appropriate.

Hi MM,
There is a difference between debating ideas and making personal attacks. When someone can not see the difference between the two there is no where left to go except war.
If Sparaxis was to have said that she feels a loyalty to Garden Web and that viewing the adds is her way of expressing her gratitude to use the boards of this advertising business, that is an idea.
When she says her ideas are different to mine, and because they are different I am greedy, childish and (the worst thing she could think of...LOL) I will never be a good gardener, that is a personal attack.

There is no response to this sort of thing. The hurtful things said can never be changed, the response is one of hurtfulness. Wars begin when the person attacked fights back.

Sparaxis public opinion that I will never be a good gardener and I am greedy and childish will stand as stated.
My public opinion is that the ads are way too much on this board. I am not willing to support it and this is my last post and my last time viewing of the ads for the privilege of using this board will stand as stated.

Deb

I think garden styles probably make it easier to design a cohesive garden, if you stick to a particular style such as tropical plants, or mediteranean plants, roses, native plants, cactuses, all white flowering plants then there's more chance that it will all come together. unfortunately I dont have the discipline to stick to one gardening style, if I take a liking to a certain plant or group of plants I want to add them in, so my garden is developing a bit of an identity crisis. some of my plants are clipped neatly (for practical reasons such as keeping them confined) while others nearby just sprawl freely, there are no rules in my garden but I like to think this type of *freestyling* still fits under the cottage garden style where there are no hard or fast rules that you need to follow.

I think gardens are really an expression of ourselves, and I think you can often see a lot of a person's attitude to other things in life in their gardens

TG

There was no personal attack intended on my behalf whatsoever, but I certainly admit to mischevious provocation. I was just curious to see if those people who repeatedly condemn GW and say they will not come back because there are better places to go, still continue to come back. My curiosity was satisfied. Thankyou.
Lighten up FGS.

I agree totally with trancegemini about our gardens being an expression of ourselves. (That makes me wonder about people who copy other peoples or TV and magazine designs.)
My garden is undiciplined and chaotic, messy and stubborn, and subject to whim. I wouldn't have it any other way.
I sometimes refuse to mow for several weeks when the guy next door persists in coming out with his very noisy brushcutter close to where I am enjoying the solitude of weeding. My excuse is a good one. Since I have been on certain blood pressure tablets, I get vertigo from the back and forth motion of the greenfields mower. I plan to reduce the grassed area considerably over the next 12 months or so.