Yup I keep coming back because I can’t find information this good anywhere. Native plants of the northeast is a half decent page with some good posters. I just get nervous knowing one day things will slow down here if we don’t attain new users. Lots of veteran gardeners here with a wealth of knowledge.

Ive been here sine 2012 when I moved from Manhattan to an old house with an old garden an hour north. I had been a gardener before that but now had so many detailed questions to ask (and many of my own opinions to share.) It's been a pretty reclusive decade and I wonder if gardenweb is oartly to blame. Who needs to make friends when you all are so attentive, informative, stimulating and sympathetic?

Suzy Jackson, is that you CAMPANULA??

James, it’s great to see a young gardener. I don’t see a lot of young people getting interested in gardening. How did you get interested in it?

I think what I find here is that some of the members have a formal education in some aspect of gardening. Some of us, me included, simply have our own experiences to share and compare. It’s a great mix.

I do worry about GW slowing down and showing up one day and no one is here. It used to be during the winter there was still a LOT of discussion and the past few winters that has not been the case. There’s barely been a post here for months. Now that spring is here, there should start to be a lot more activity.

Part of the problem from my point of view is the way Houzz manages GW. It’s really not their main interest. I think they bought it thinking they would draw all these gardeners into their home forums. Before they bought it just about all of the GW posts would show up in a Google search and I don’t see that happening any more. I think a hit on Google used to bring a lot of new people in. I don’t know enough about websites to understand what changed.

I admit I've been lured away by social media but still can't cut the gardenweb cord. You can find experts on something like Facebook but there really does seem to be a lot more wanna-be posters there, who are a little light on competence but heavy on pretty pictures and 'influence'. I feel like here though the content and advice shines through. Maybe it's because we can still write and the people browsing can still read? Obviously a picture tells a thousand words but...

Also I'm still impressed by how searchable the site is compared to the bulk of social media. Prairiemoon I see what you mean about posts not showing up but to me it seems like all the shopping results and generic generated posts always cloud my searches more than any competition from other information sites. Results from several years ago pop up when some obscure idiot idea gets into my head and I was wondering if anyone has ever tried it. Posts on other sites just seem to fade away into the past and I'm forced to repeat those idiot ideas ;)

The Spike days are a fun memory, and I'm also one who was never banned for being too interesting. Also don't forget the Idyll posts, they were always a fun read. Way too much for the scrollers but perfect for a morning coffee.

-Frank, 56, Gardenwebbing since before I even met my wife of 21 years.

LOL Katob …. I did not think of that but maybe there is some truth in that. This poor generation that has grown up with the smart phone, etc! They must think we are all very long winded…lol.

That’s interesting that you still use the site for searching. I’ve really given up on that, and I forgot about that. I used to do a lot of searching on GW and then I started running into roadblocks and I just gave up. I always want to search within a certain forum, not the whole site and I can’t seem to do that. I’ve asked before, and people have told me something about having to be signed into GW or Houzz…one of those. I tried that, but I still can’t sign into both. I sign into one and it kicks me back to the other. If you have figured that out, I’d love to hear it.

You’re right, searching is now populated with a lot of ads and don’t we have to filter out the responses that are AI generated now too? Now that you mention it, I think my searches in general have gone down in quality over the past 5 years or so. I use Duck Duck Go, instead of Google too.

Have you ever done a search for the GW post on Gardenias? Ladybug refers to it below. The Suicidal Gardenia thread. One of the funniest threads I’ve read on GW. I tried to find it in a search on DDGo, but had to go to Google to find it. Here is a link to a preservation of the thread…

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/2765922/so-you-want-to-grow-a-gardenia-huh

I was here when Spike was still here too. I never did have any run ins with him, but, you are so right, it was a lot of fun then. Always hearing about someone being sent to Disneyland, always put you in a good mood…lol.

Yup, the Idylls…definitely fascinating reading with a morning cup of coffe and amazing photos of some superior gardens. They moved over to Facebook quite awhile ago.

I miss a LOT of people who were regulars here.

Started reading threads in 2001 and joined in 2006. Mainly came for conifers and compost and then expanded to many more forums.

tj

2015 or so

I will probably keep coming back until they shutter the site. Even with the lower traffic, there is a huge amount of great info on older threads. I do quite a bit of searching here.

I always start at this page - https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/explore-discussions

In the "Explore Discussions" edit field I enter the specific Garden Forum I want to search, such as "perennials". I then click on the link presented which takes me to this page - https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/peren. at the top of this page is a "Search in Gardenweb" search box. If I enter a word such as "blue" it displays these options -

Selecting "blue in Perennials" searches that forum for "blue".

I'm using Firefox, other browsers may get different results. I find this feature to be the most useful element of GW.

I have only been here about 15 yrs. I found Gardenweb when I googled if Mark Zilis would open another Nursery after he shut down Q & Z. I was amazed at the knowledge and fun folks who were on the Hosta forum and was delighted to see the Perennial & Name that plant forums. I never looked back. I am not on FB or any other social media.

Senior Balloon - Thank you! I did get to your start page….but confused about the explore discussions ‘edit field’. So instead I just clicked on your next link to the Perennials forum and typed in blue as you did and voila, results for blue came up! And I don’t see that I got kicked off…I was signed into gatdenweb without having to sign in again.

But if I want to go to another forum….and I’m on the Perennials forum with a search window….what’s the best way to move to another forum to do a search from there?

I do have Firefox as well, so I could try that if I get stuck. Thanks again…

On that start page I see this when I type in "pere" in the edit field under the title "Explore Discussions" -

The link for the Perennials forum gets displayed. If I want to go to another forum I just enter the name of the forum here.

An oddity, some might call it a bug, if you type in text that doesn't match any forum on the site it kicks you out to a page that says "Something went wrong. Please reload the page or try again later." For instance if you enter "px" it bops you out of the search page. It should just display "No Search Results Found" and let you modify the entry. Instead I have to reload the page to enter another forum search term. Annoying.

Ah yeh, Kitaaei, it is exactly so.

I never got banned for being interesting...just sweary (and probably sarcastic) Plus, I don't know any gardeners (apart from the3 cowed and bullied offspring who I mostly just wore down). I only post on here (and a really foul-mouthed leftie forum in the UK (Urban 75)

I am also terribly shy /socially awkward and would hate to lose my forum mates.

Senior Balloon…. I must be going blind. [g] Thank you for taking the trouble to post all that. I saw the list of all forums under that Explore Discussions window and actually another way to do it is to just go down the list and click on any forum. Very easy.

Okay, thanks for the warning on the ‘bug’. Well it wouldn’t be Houzz without a bug. [g]

Thank you !!

I lurked in the late 1990s under a different account that I can't even remember. Met (online) some interesting people like a woman in Fredericksburg, VA who was growing rare for the east coast plants like Arbutus unedo and Genista aetnensis. Wish I could remember her name! I could probably find it in some very old emails, which I still have archived somewhere. IIRC she moved to Florida. Back then I participated more at the old Hardy Palms board on "insidetheweb", I still remember the board ID, 13995.

I became a more regular poster around the time I moved to Maryland in the mid 2000s.

It would be fascinating to see an aggregate graph of user IDs durations over time. I'd guess the 'average' or would it be 'median' participant lasts 3 years or so, if you subtract the fly-by, one night stand type posters hahaha. Nowadays I try not to even wonder about where all the old timers have gone because it's too depressing!

Started posting on gardenweb in the 90's. It was way more active back then. And I think the posters were more informative and polite. Might have something to do with fewer posters, but I think mostly more people hire landscapers to take care of the yard. People have to work more to make mortgage payments now and new houses tend to be built on smaller lots.

I've been on Houzz/Gardenweb since the late 90's also (I think). I know it was before the winter sowing forum was started. When was that? I was a new gardener and had lots of questions. Gardenweb seemed to be the most active of the garden forums at the time. I had shoe boxes full of seeds from trades and I did quite a bit of plant trading as well.

I still have a grudge against fb for scattering all the experienced gardeners so thinly so that there's really no place that comes close to matching what Gardenweb once was. For those who haven't been here as long, imagine if virtually every passionate gardener from every fb page was condensed into just one community. I could post a question and have a dozen or more replies by later that day even if it was something very specific. For learning, there is nothing that even comes close in my opinion.

My grandfather was a gardener. Mainly just bought stuff at auctions and out put it in the ground. Never really had a game plan or took a deep dive into plants. Still was enough to get me interested though. Had a plant less yard until I had my first kid 4 years ago. Started with trees. Posted on a Facebook page looking for info on the best dogwoods and Japanese maples. Then when of those native plant people got to me. They can be a lot and push their ideologies a little too hard but it got me reading. I decided native tree may not be a bad idea. Those groups don’t offer as much info as I wanted for certain trees. I wanted trees with little disease issue, good branch structure, limited surface roots and no much debris. In searching tree forums on google I ended up on houzz and have never left. I now have 2 espresso coffee trees, 3 nyssa sylvatica (afterburner, green gable, wildfire) Appalachian red redbud, a male and female American fringe, and a sourwood. Also a dwarf sour cherry. I probably read every tree post on here at one point. Coffee tree and nyssa posts on here are what got me hooked. These were my bigger trees and I wanted to confident I’d be happy with them in 30 years. The coffee trees get a lot of compliments. No more room for trees so now I spend time reading about certain plants. Just left my local nursery and before every purchase I type the plant name in houzz, saved a lot of money doing this by not buying plants that don’t do well for most.

James, I belong to the Native Plants of the Northeast Group too. A few others you might like are Noth Carolina Native Plant Forum. Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern United States. Florida Flora and Ecosystematics. Southeastern Grasslands Ecology, History and Biodiversity. West Virginia Native Plant Society. South Carolina Native Plant Group, and Virginia Native Plant Society Group.

Viola pubescens, Violaceae

Shortia galacifolia, Oconee Bells, Diapensiaceae

Sanguinaria canadensis, Bloodroot, Papaveraceae

Skunk Cabbage, Symplocarpus foetidus, Araceae

Phlox sp.

Vaccinium elliotii, Ericaceae

Erigenia bulbosa, Pepper and Salt, Apiaceae

Dicentra cucularia, Dutchman's Breeches, Fumarioideae, Papaveraceae.

Claytonia virginica, Spring Beauty, Montiaceae

Mertensia virginica, Virginia Bluebell, Boraginaceae

Trillium nivale, Snow Trillium, Trilliaceae

Pasqueflower, Pulsatilla nuttalliana, Ranunculaceae

Viola sp.

Viola identification is tricky sometimes, and the hybridize easily. Google lens suggested V. missouriensis.

Erigenia bulbosa, Apiaceae, Harbinger of Spring

Erythronium mesochoreum, Liliaceae

Draba verna, Brassicaceae

Corydalis sp. Fumarioideae, Papaveraceae

Hey @Jay 6a Chicago You need to give us some plant names for the above pics. :o)

Since 2012-2013 I think. I’m not here as often as I was because writing messages from my IPhone in the GW web site is super frustrating and has been for years now. There’s a delay every time I touch a « key ». I have to write my messages in Notes and then copy-paste back to the website. I’ve messaged Houzz about this but it still hasn’t been fixed.

I’m also a member of some FB groups, but they are very far from being as useful as GW to get information.

Also I prefer the anonymity of GW.

Frank, how nice that you remember the Idylls I was one-not a founder of the group, but an accepted member. After Idylls lost their place here, we kept going on fb and email. Most of them would meet for Garden tours around the country, but I was still working then, so only went to one. So much fun and a talented, knowledgeable, and delightful group. I quit fb, and sort of dropped out, but kept in touch with a couple of members who live in my area. We met every spring for a "garden crawl" to some excellent nurseries in Maryland. It was great fun.

I've been here since about 1995. I remember Spike, and Disneyland, although I guess I too was too boring to be banished!

Things were hopping back then! Wow there was so much activity. Like Christie said, you could post a question and in hours have dozens of responses.

I learned about wintersowing here on GW. That was a crazy-active forum.

And boy did we have a great group on the New England forum - now it's deadly quiet. The NE forum folks from CT (and a few from NY and MA - and anyone else who wanted to join in) used to have two plant swaps a year, and honestly I think we just met to chat and eat more than swap plants. We also had a field trip or two, like a private tour of Logee's one January, with a group lunch afterwards. A few get-togethers at member's houses. Or helping fellow GWers out when their gardens were on the Open Days tours. Ah yes, such good times. And some really good people.

I'm not on social media, and I have to agree with the posters above - I feel like the FB groups etc., are not as serious about gardening and plants, just about posting pics and getting likes. Hey, maybe I'm wrong, but I have spent 30 years here soaking up the generously shared knowledge and advice of other gardeners, the generously shared plants and seeds of other gardeners, and the generously shared kindness and comraderie (and commiseration lol!) of the great gardeners here. It's the best!

:)

Dee

" I feel like the FB groups etc., are not as serious about gardening and plants, just about posting pics and getting likes. "

Exactly. Just one of several ways 'social media' ruined the internet...but I digress.

I forgot to mention that I went to one of the Northern Virginia garden web plant swaps around 2002 or 2003. But because I was a lurker then, I didn't really connect with anyone in the way I might nowadays...if we could all meet up somehow!

I have been in garden web since around 2001. At the beginning I mainly visited the fragrant forum. I still remember the famous Suicide Gadenia thread, and It was so much fun. Also remember Long River, who was the expert in fragrant plants and hybridizing camellias.

Now most of the forums are no more active.

I lurked here for several years prior, but am a newbie that only joined a year ago. I am retired and cannot under any circumstances be considered young, if we are only counting years. I mostly post on the Roses forum, since that is my main interest, but also grow a good range of shrubs and perennials.

I was one of a group of refugees who abruptly lost our old UK-based Gardener’s World forum. The commercial company that ran it decided we were no longer relevant, despite it being a hugely active site that had also attracted a host of new members that were young and/or inexperienced gardeners during the Covid years. A hugely valued resource and an extensive and precious archive were wiped out overnight.

I agree with much of the sentiment expressed regarding the vacuity and limited use of social media. It has its place, but I much prefer this friendly, supportive community, have loved getting to know everyone and greatly value the wisdom, knowledge and reliable advice from real people with real world experience. Sadly, it seems younger generations don‘t share that sentiment and prefer the instant quick fix provided by SM.

I don’t have any problems typing text or posting multiple photos, but I use an ipad not a phone. Text can lag behind the pace of my typing a little, but my mountain weather often interferes with the satellite signal so that may be the cause.

I am happy that you found these forums after losing yours. It is a fun and knowledgeable group.

Nollie, Very sorry to hear that the Gardener's World forum closed! A whole community of active gardeners and the archives too? What a shame. Glad you're here! :-)

Anyone here using the gardening forums in Reddit? I’m not, because it does not have specialized gardening forums like GW does, but I’m curious to know if others here are using it. It’s a more popular platform, but not as good as GW, in my humble opinion.

Ho yes, vanishing forums, Nollie. Did you ever use Peter Beales forum? Damn, I was p*ssed when that disappeared. Gardeners World too (but was only a sporadic user. Still occasionally loiter on Allotments for All but I get so much grief on my real life site for not growing vegetables I tend to avoid AfA.

I mostly used to post on the ARF, Nollie but got banned (and a bit bored tbh) . Sweary language seems to be a bit of a no-go area...which is unfortunate (as I do tend to be a bit lippy - have managed to slip 'arse', 'bollocks' and' wankers' past the Houzz gatekeepers (who are indeed total f*ckwits)

I think we are all ancient on here apart from James who is barely out of nappies.

Didn't even know houzz existed since the 90s. I've been here since 2016 when I first started my horticulture career. Turning 31 soon. I have to say most of what I know in horticulture is from the people of this forum and not from school or work experience.

Thank you Perin and Prairiemoon, yes it was a blow, but I am very glad to have found my new home, you are all so welcoming.

Suzy, no I didn’t come across Peter Beales’ forum, sounds as if it was a good one. In many ways the roses forum here is more pertinent to me, particularly the advice from hot zoners, given my adopted home in Spain. I never gardened back in the UK, not many opportunities to do so, living mostly in flats in large cities.

Anyone here post or read at Dave's Garden? I used to post a bit many years ago. I mostly use the site to look up vendor reviews.

Senior - yes to Dave’s Garden! I forgot about it until reading your post. I used to follow it & sometimes posted quite a few years back. It changed though & wasn’t so helpful anymore. I stumbled across Houzz & followed decorating topics when we retired & moved here to our new home. Discovered the garden topics & follow many, post often. Discovered KT for the puzzles & lively threads a few years back.

Yes, I used Dave's Garden to look up vendors too. You had to join for a fee if I remember right. Membership? I did that for a short period if time but, it just wasn't my style. It was really a busy place.

I have no earthly idea! I joined Garden Web sometime between 2001 ond 2004 when I still lived in PA. The forums introduced me to photobucket, winter sowing, antique roses and Green Mountain Transplants. I ordered successfully from them for 2 seasons before the year they went off the rails and then moved to Maine. Fortunately I hadn't ordered from them that year, but… Oh, I really wish there was a nursery selling mix and match plug trays like that now… of course the shipping costs now would be through the roof.

That's funny Markay, I drove up to Maine 3 years in a row to get an order from Green Mountain Transplants. That was a long time ago. They did have quite a selection of unusual seedlings that none of my local nurseries were offering and you could mix and match by the cell, not the 6pack, and the prices were great. I tried a lot of plants that I wouldn't have tried otherwise. Out of curiosity I just called them and they are still in business. lol They don't do mail order any more he said. They used to have an order form only and they would list all the cells that were available and you would check off which you wanted. They don't have that any more and you just have to go in the store to order. They are also an Agaway I believe.

Winter sowing is another blast from the past. Do you remember Trudi Davidoff? She's the person who I believe started teaching everyone about winter sowing. She left to go to Facebook and is still there. She used to also send free seeds to everyone.

The Original Winter Sowers

I planted my first rose after lurking at the Rose Forum for quite awhile too. It was all a lot of fun and I learned a lot.

@prairiemoon2 z6b MA, I would never have been able to dredge up Trudi’s name, but I instantly recognized it! I used to hoard take out containers for winter sowing!

I absolutely remember the joy and excitement of filling up the cells on my Green Mtn Transplant order. They had 72 cell trays and 36 cell trays and my mom and I would split one of each. So many happy winter days spent planning out all my pots and planners and figuring out my order!!

Markay, yes, the 72 cell tray and the 52 cell tray. I was curious to see what I still had on my hard drive. I never delete anything. Sure enough I have two orders from them. One from 2005 and one from 2007. Hard to believe it was that long ago. Maybe you'd be curious to know what I bought and how much I paid for it? [g]

.55 Asclepias tuberosa

.75 Delphinium New Millennium Hybrids..the Doddswell from NZ /5 colors x 6

.55 Dianthus deltoids zing Rose/Cheddar Pink frag/ x 4

.55 Digitalis...all kinds x 12

.65 Echinacea 'Ruby Star'

.55 Echinacea 'Magnus' is the larger

.55 E. Primadonna Rose

.55 Lupine Russell hybrid mix x 6

.65 Lupine morelo, tutti frutti, gallery

.65 Penstemon digitalis 'Alba' .65

.65 Santolina

.65 Saponaria ocymoides

.55 Shasta Daisy Marconi/Dwarf Snow Lady/Crazy Daisy

.55 Verbascum Banana Custard x 3

.65 Verbascum Southern Charm x 3

.55 Vernonia crinita .55 5-6ft pur

and that's just a sample. Not including the herbs, vegetables, annuals and specialty perennials that were a little more money. That's quite a trip down memory lane. lol I also had so much fun with those orders. That year a 72 cell flat costs me $40!

The prices were unbeatable! I didn’t have much of a budget for plants back then and they really helped me stretch it! I impulsively ordered dragon wing begonias one year in the 72 cell size. I think they were still a pretty recent introduction and I didn’t really know what to expect, but they grew into the biggest, bloomingest, showstoppers. I should really try growing them again!

I am amazed you still have your orders!

Markay, LOL I probably have paid bills from the 1970s in the attic too. I love Angel Wing Begonias. I should try those again too.

LOL PM2, you are my twin. I still have tons of old stuff (receipts, etc) both on my computer and in boxes somewhere. I think it's the historian in me that makes me keep stuff like that! And I tend to purposely keep all my gardening receipts so I have a record of what I've grown. Lol I guess I think that if I'm eyeing a plant, and see that I once had it and no longer do, that I probably shouldn't buy it again. That doesn't always deter me though...

Wow, Green Mountain Transplants. Had forgotten about them. Unfortunately for me, I think I discovered them the year they started having problems. Fortunately for me, being a procrastinator extraordinaire, when I went to submit an order I had a lot of reviews and opinions here on the forums, where others were griping about the bad experiences they were suddenly having, so I never did submit the order. Wish I had heard of them earlier and had been able to partake.

I do definitely remember Trudi though! Like I said above, that wintersowing forum was HOPPING! I learned wintersowing there and it changed my gardening life. My success with it led me to selling at the farmer's markets, which led me to organic farming and my association with and employment with organic ag non-profits, and meeting some wonderful people involved in the organic movement. And as a home gardener, it just allowed me to have an abundance of plants for an inexpensive outlay. I also began giving workshops on it locally, which led to meeting many wonderful gardeners.

PM2, funny to see the same advice being given on that FB page as it was 30 years ago on the forum - be patient! Your seeds will sprout when it's time!

I used to be a member at Dave's Garden, but slowly moved away from it. While it was fun and informative and had some wonderful people, I always felt like the advice I got, and the info I learned, at GW was.... I don't know, more serious. That people here had a lot more in-depth, even scientific, knowledge and experience with a wider range of plants and ecosystems, etc. Not that *I* did, but I felt others did, and that what I learned here was more valid information that at Daves. Maybe I'm just a snob lol...

But to this day I still use Garden Watchdog to check out a new vendor!

maz, my kids use/are on reddit a lot. I've considered checking it out, for gardening and few other topics, but I just don't have time for anything that might be another time-suck lol. I barely make it to my beloved GW a few times a month!

:)

Dee

Dee, some of the reason I save old papers is because I love coming across them 30 years later. It’s fun. Plant orders, if you forget what variety something is you’ve got a record of it somewhere if you want to look.

Dee, someone at that GMT seems to have been pretty passionate about starting seeds. The varieties they offered way back in 2007 were so interesting and so cheap so you could give them a try, but, the company was not very organized. I’m not surprised that they stopped doing mail order. And really not surprised that they’re still selling seedlings on site. So many people loved the selection and the price.

Trudi, still saying.. ‘Be patient…your seeds will sprout!’ Lol I remember that as a beginner thinking they weren’t going to sprout. She was good at holding people’s hand. I had so much fun with winter sowing.

I didn’t realize that winter sowing got you started selling at Farmer’s Markets and where it took you from there. So serendipitous. Lol

I can’t remember why I didn’t stick with Dave’s. I did like GW better. And I used to use Garden Watchdog all the time. I’m glad you reminded me of it, I’ll have to try it out again.

My daughter uses Reddit. I’ve found it a little hit or miss.

Remember listservs? ? That was my entry drug to garden forums on the internet. GW was second-maybe 2002 or so. And I was one of those Idyll peeps on the conversation side-Cyn can vouch for me . We first met in person at Longwood . We tried to get together every summer and I was one of the few left coast folk. The experiences I had meeting my GW friends in person enriched my life significantly. I opened a private group on FB which I admin to avoid the general toxicity on that platform , so several of us are still in touch. Sue (vtskiers) and I both attended Garden Fling last June in the PNW and Philly Fling in Sept 2023. I met PM2 at one of our gatherings in 2006 in New Hampshire. . I regret I never met Woody . I've been lurking here for several years. Posted pretty much daily in the heydays.

Dodgerdudette? How long has it been since you posted? LOL Nice to see you!! I do remember the one Idylls outing that I was able to attend in NH, in Deanneart's garden. She loved doing containers and had a pristine garden. And her bird photos still are some of the best I've ever seen.

I hope you are doing well and are going to post again, I'd love to see what your garden is looking like now. I still remember your pretty curved front walkway with the arbor and your Lady Banks rose. And I wonder if you still have the Begonia that you've had since you were 6yrs old? [g] It would be great to hear some news about other Idylls and how they are all doing. I just tried to search for the old Idylls threads but didn't find any.

No I don't remember listservs. I remember their existance but I never used them. Maybe I was not on the computer at that point.

I was just thinking of Woody since this thread started and regret not having met her too. I did buy a Heptacodium tree this spring, that Woody recommended to me that I'm looking forward to having in my garden.

Glad you posted DDudette!!

Hi PM ! I have no idea when I posted last-but I think it was pre-Houzz. Lady Banks is no more I'm afraid -it was growing up onto the second story roof and pulling the patio cover down. While I was working from home during covid I had the rose and the overhang removed and two new pergolas built. The contractor had to use a jack hammer to get LB out. I never should have planted it -but I enjoyed it while it was here ! A few updates-Sue and I got together last summer at Garden Bloggers Fling (now just called Garden Fling) in the Puget Sound region of Washington and for Fling in Sept 2023 in south central Penn. She moved several years ago and has developed a beautiful garden in her new home. Saucy moved to Mexico , Marie (gardenbug) moved to British Columbia .Marlene, Deanne, Babs, Cynthia W, Michelle,Brenda and Cindy all post on the FB private group. And yes , I still have that Begonia ! If you google garden web idyll some of the old threads will come up.

Kathy in Napa

Been here since 2009 according to my post history. Learned about winter sowing and benefitted from the newbie seed giveaway. Good times, good information. Thank you all who have been so generous of your time, knowledge and resources. Though I follow a lot of social media plant groups, still routinely check in here.

Kathy - Oh, too bad about Lady Banks. Who knew it was that tenacious..lol. Well, I am sure you got a lot of pleasure from it, it was amazing when it was in bloom. And you still have that Begonia? That’s amazing! That is dedication to keep a plant alive all those years.

So the annual Idyll trips were down to 2 people last year? I’m sure you both had a great time, the natural beauty of Puget Sound alone would be worth the trip. Yes, Sue, has posted to the NE forum since she moved. I love her new garden. She does an amazing job.

SO happy to hear that Marie moved to BC! Closer to her daughter and grandkids. I imagine she had a hard time leaving Ontario and the beautiful property and garden they had there. I wonder if she packed up a lot of plants for the move…lol.

But Saucy moving to Mexico? That’s a surprise. And are you still posting to the FB group? Now that you have me thinking about the group, I can’t help wondering what ever happened to Marian and Chelone? It’s not easy to keep a group of friends together for what is it now…2 decades? Glad to hear it. The time has gone by too fast. Kathy

PM, Marian was a frequent poster on FB but her account was hacked several years ago and she never came back again. She has since passed away. Chelone keeps in contact with Marie so we get occasional updates. Back in 2017 I had a business trip to Boston and I was able to round up some of the NE peeps to meet up at Coastal Maine Botanic Garden and Chelone met us there. I do miss her so it was great to see her again.

DD - Well, I thought Marian must have passed considering her age and health when she was posting. She did keep things lively on Idylls. :-) Glad Chelone has kept in touch too. It was such an interesting group and such wonderful gardens, including yours Kathy! Loved your roses! You had a yellow 'Molineux' that was always covered with blooms.

Thanks for the update.

Such a coincidence i was thinking of Woody this morning and wondering how to invoke her memory without being maudlin. she touched msny lives.

i dont know how long ive been here- at least 20 years. in that time i acquired 2 grandchildren, 2 new knees, a new shoulder and cervical disc. Arthritis is part of my permanent landscape but I have a nice if slightly attention challenged man who steps on shovels for me and loves his chainsaw.

I've learned a lot here and there are people who have no idea how much they taught me. i'll think on that awhile .

marie aka idabean