Beginner Gardening: A Continuum of Gardeners and Gardening - it takes all types!, 1 by carrielamont

carrielamont wrote:
In light of some recent discussions, it seems to me a good time to reflect on the fact that gardeners (and gardens) exist on a continuum. There are good professional gardeners. There are bad professional gardeners. There are people who own nurseries, people who grow seeds, people who mow people's lawns. There are people who garden on the balcony of their apartment building, and plant seeds in paper cups. There are people with several greenhouses and those who wish they had a sunnier window. There are people who own huge amounts of land and hire landscapers to landscape it for them. There are people who post pictures they took in public gardens. There are people whose joy it is to see their ideas come to fruition and then to post them here.

I live on a plot of 3000 square feet maybe a third of which is house. I could be totally intimidated by some of the posts on here. When watersedge posted her (non-photoshopped) picture of 15,000 grape hyacinth bulbs, we were pleased and proud to know her - at least I was. When it came out that she is the Head Gardener and that she is on someone's staff, it doesn't make the picture less amazing, or the process, as she explained it to us, less interesting. That Tomtom's containers always look so perfect may be annoying, especially since she lives 5 zones south and 13 hours east of me, but they're still beautiful. Should Dale_a_gardener be 'allowed' to post pictures of containers he got paid for making, while the rest of us post containers we paid to make? Sure. He's proud of his work. He didn't have to tell us he was getting paid.

Some people post pictures I think are unbelievably tacky. Some are incredibly lovely. Rather than being resentful of where I fall on the tacky to gorgeous scale, I just try to take it all in. I know my pictures aren't as nice and my gardens (the front one and the back one) aren't as lovely as some other people's. I didn't join DG to be the best (and it's a darn good thing, too). Each of us has something to offer. (My own original contribution is using clothespins to hold open wintersowing containers.) I have learned a thing or seventy million on DG - I even learned about some books I want to buy to keep me off the computer! I have made some very good friends - on- and off-line. I've stuck with DG through the questions about Co-ops, through the buyout by NameMedia, through 'king''s failure the other day. We are "for gardeners by gardeners". Not "professional gardeners" or "beginning" or "amateur" or "experienced" just "gardeners." We all have something to contribute, and together, we're a pretty good resource.

xxxx, Carrie

edited to spell my name correctly!

This message was edited Jun 14, 2007 7:49 PM