Hmm... In general I agree with you, but your statement is very vague and I don't think it properly expresses your sentiments. But you do have a great point in saying, "Hey some of these weeds make really pretty flowers and the wildlife really dig them," and, "It's my yard and I like to have these plants growing here; I will decide what is a weed to me." Applause! The exclusion of unwanted plants on one's property is definitely tradition, and non-negotiable for almost everyone. Deciding to like the wildflowers that showed up is one thing, but as you said yourself, "...except for anything that I consider invasive." The definition of weeds varies depending on current fashion, priorities, location on the globe, and many other factors. Until lawnmowers were common and inexpensive, lawns were uncommon and around buildings was packed bare earth, swept often. Currently, in the US, weeds are most commonly defined by entities such as agriculture, golfing, and the government entities responsible for maintaining parks and forests. They tell people which plants are weeds and how to kill them, so people follow the plan. This is an interesting phenomenon when we consider the dandelions which were brought to this continent as a food source and now there are packages one can buy for the specific reason of killing this plant. Since most of the currently-defined-as-weeds-in-most-places plants are also too vigorous, unattractive, short enough to be unappreciated, or have some other undesirable attribute that causes most gardeners to agree with the definition, it's unlikely that vast numbers of people could suddenly start welcoming current weeds. A lot of them genuinely are enemies to most people's priorities when the "weeds" take over the space where they want something else growing. The poisoning of weeds with fabricated chemical concoctions is a fairly new idea, not in practice long enough to be called a tradition, IMO, but not likely to end. Hopefully there will develop safer, smarter, more natural ways to do it more precisely when truly necessary. I don't own/use any of that stuff, but, for example... if I moved into a new place and discovered a huge poison ivy vine, I would want to make sure something killed it to the roots. Anything less dangerous than that I will handle manually or, as in the case of the berry vines along 1 side of my fence, just let them grow and enjoy the 47 berries for 3 days each spring instead of getting all torn up battling them. Makes a great sauce! There are other factors involved sometimes in mowing and weeding, too. Although I like some of the weeds I pull, they're great stuff for the compost and I can't have stuff growing densely enough that snakes would want to live there. It's also why although most people around here could care less what is growing in the lawn, it gets mowed often to keep it short enough to see a snake and to not be an attractive home for them. Although I did as much of it as I...

I definitely would like to see more imaginative gardening programs on TV. More about the doing part, and less about the decor of the garden. Maybe choosing plants compatible with each other and with your soil and climate. With the economic downturn, the big concern is selling homes as much as it is about finding another job. So I don't see the program lineup changing much. I do get a lot of good ideas from HGTV which I hope will help us sell my hubby's home up in Massachusetts, one of these days after the market gets back on its feet. ....sigh....Meanwhile, I love gardening with tropicalesque plants in a hot climate.

I have found that not only is there a lack of TV gardening programs, but also a big void finding public gardening information in my county (Henderson County.) Yes, I know the County Extension Services have the information, but why not run something timely in the local papers once a week? Isn't the idea to PROMOTE this knowledge to the public? I know there are a lot of new people in the area and they are chasing all over looking for information (myself included) I just did a search for the Arboretum in Asheville on the GW and came up with nothing!! What??? I have lived in many other states and have always been able to sign up for local county newsletters, but to my knowledge, I cannot do this here in North Carolina. Maybe I am looking in the wrong places? If anyone can find a newsletter (monthly, weekly, or seasonally) for Henderson County I would love to know about it. I know the knowledge is "out there", but I seem to be having a problem find out where "out there" is exactly. I have lived here for a year and am making very slow progress finding information that I need without driving all over the place to get it. Is there any kind of regular newsletter in a local paper or from a good source that I can learn from? If so - I sure would like to know about it. Thanks for any and all help that you may be able to offer to me. I would appreciate it very much.

As much as people might be wondering how in this day & age this is possible to not have a pbs station, it is entirely possible and unfortunate and I feel your pain as I briefly lived in an area that didn't have PBS either. If you want to watch these programs that badly there may be some things you can do. Depending on how far you are from Atlanta, a good outdoor directional tv antenna and amplifier or you could subscibe to satellite programming and lie about your address and say you're in atlanta. Of course even in atlanta with a dish you need to have two dishes and apply to get the second dish and that's assuming you're still not too far away as the local channels are spot beamed and it's not always possible to pick them up if you're too far away.