This forum is an experiment of sorts and I like to come check it out every now and then to see how the experiment is going. Not to mention, most posts have very entertaining banter between members, so a visit here is fun. There are some witty people on DG :)
I was wondering, all you Texans, what's the greatest thing so far about a state forum? Actually, there may be non-Texans that also have a favorite thing about visiting this forum. I, for one, think it's fun to look at the pictures. I've never been to Texas and the pics are amazing to me. On the flip side, are there any drawbacks that ya'll have noticed in a state forum? Just looking for a little feedback to satisfy my own curiosity. Thanks!
Best thing so far???
The best thing for me has been the input from local area gardeners on spacific plant questions. The Zone map doesn't mean that much here because we are on the line between 8-b and 9-a. Folks here can let me know if a plant will actualy grow and thrive here. In the long run I think this will increase plant swaps and the like. Its great to hear from eveyone worldwide but at times a local gardener is needed for spacific questions.
I think the best thing for me is that it is a central point for discussion. I can and do post and read on all sorts of other forums throughout DG. The drawback there is having to hop forums and find the appropriate one each time. All my questions are relevant here, so I don't need to change forum, just thread. It is somewhere too where newcomers to the area can post general relocation questions and get response that is relevant.
The other big plus is that is a way to keep in contact with people that I actually met at the plant swop, even though their main fields of interest are not the same as mine, so we are unlikely to meet in the other forums. There are a number of out of region visitors who pop in regularly too, so it isn't at all insular. Anyway Texas is so huge it would be difficult for it to become insular!!
It is important that we Texans roam around the rest of the DG area too though or we might miss something important and relevant in other areas.
With our fluctuations in temperatures (yesterday was in the 70s and today will be in the 50s and in the summer, it has been 113 degrees here), plants have to be very adaptable. As I just posted in another thread: Texas so large that growing conditions (soils, temperature range, windiness, etc) vary tremendously from region to region. That is what is so great about having this forum available because we can share information about what plants grow best in our region, although a lot of plants do well throughout the state. Many plants that have tags that state "full sun" need partial shade here. Even tags on plants grown by Texas growers can be misleading. Some plants located in full sun in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area might fry by August in my area or be totally unsuitable for the West Texas region. Plants that are perennial here may have to be treated as annuals in the northen part of Texas. Plants that love Houston with its high humidity may not like it here in San Antonio. Plants that need to be protected from freezes here, may not need any protection in the valley and will grow to a much larger size. Plants that prosper here may not tolerate salt spray and wind along the Texas coast.
As Jester states, San Antonio is split between 2 zones. Where I live in the northwest section, in the winter we are 2 to 3 degrees colder than the more southern area which makes a difference in reference to hardiness. Also, the soil is different (limestone base rather than black clay.) Plants that did well for me on the southside of town, did not do well when I tried to grow them on this side of town due to the soil base. In fact, San Antonio is unique in that it has 3 or 4 geographic regions of Texas converging together and the soils and native plants vary depending upon to which side of town one is examining. Farther to the south as well as to the northeast is a sandy base. On this forum, we can discuss how we have amended the soils to enhance the prosperity of the plants we are trying to grow and gain knowledge about planting plants that grow well in our native soils without amendig it. I have found that a majority of the people at Lowe's, Walmart, etc. are not very knowledgeable about the plants that they sell. That's why I always check the PDB and other sources before I purchase a plant now. This has saved me a lot of money and time as well as kept my aggravation and disappointment to a minimum. So this forum is invaluable because you can check plants out with other Texans in your exact location who have actually grown them.
Native plant information can be exchanged. I wished I had known more about native plants 20 years ago when I first started to landscape my yard. I would have done things a lot differently. Also, one has the opportunity here to trade successful plants and/or their seeds that we know will grow in our area with the minimum amount of effort on our part.
The only drawback that I can see is that I will want to plant every plant we discuss and I don't have room for all of them because I have a very small yard! maybe I should buy some of the field behind me! Talk about funny or rather weird ... a guy in the next subdivision whose property is adjacent to the same field, was putting up a new fence and enclosed 40 or more feet of the field that belongs to my neighbor to the north. He just sort of declared it his to increase the size of his backyard and even landscaped it. Did he not think my neighbor would notice this property theft? Maybe he thought he had squatter's rights. He is mighty lucky he lives in this day and age or he might have been shot or hung for this action! Well, my dumbfounded neighbor of course saw this and told him to move the fence back to the property line. This guy asked him if he could just "use" the property for awhile. I hope the guy doesn't next decide to shoot one of my neighbor's cattle and have a BBQ.
By the way at the same time, this guy at the same time confiscated the property between his property line and the fenceline of a neighborhood park next to him. This property is a very wide utility and maintenance easement which is used by the city to access utility poles and underground utilities as well as the drainage ditch that needs to be mowed often. With both land enclosures, he more than doubled his "property". The city is having a hearing on this one.
Still can't believe it even after seeing it with my own eyes ... well I guess it takes all kinds to make the world go 'round.
htop, you are right about our converging zones, I used to say my front yard was zone 8 and my backyard zone 9. I love this Texas forum. It makes me feel more connected to other gardeners on DG. There is a lot of great information and wonderful people all over DG, but our unique challenges here can be expressed and addressed in one place. Since I could browse DG 24-7, it is nice to do a quick check in here to see what is new in my neck of the woods.
Well, I have seen such a more diverse amount of true gardening information/tips related to my yard and area in this forum. I have learned more new things and been able to share more experience related tips in the last few weeks than in the last 8 months in the other forums. The various bulb threads, the shade garden thread, the helping out of new-to-Texas gardeners.... Isn't that what the main intent of Dave's Garden website is? Helping gardeners in the garden. 80% of the threads I watch elsewhere are not along those lines. They are picture sharing, co-ops, or fun conversations not in any way related to how or where in the garden. Don't get me wrong - I love those threads and also love the Texas pictures and banter in this forum too, but my original intent when joining was for gardening knowledge. I wanted the same type of answers I was getting at another website's Texas Gardening forum - but with a better format and a better webmaster. I just got wonderful people to converse with from all over the world too!
Another plus - experienced gardeners like loudigger and htop are posting here when I have not seen them around much in the other forums! :)
I am still frequenting the same forums and watching new threads in the forums I have always enjoyed, but I have to admit next time I need to know something like "How can I grow Asiatic Lilies in the Blackland Prairie soil of the Dallas area", I will ask here, not in the lilies forums where a very large majority of the visitors are from north of here.
One of the things I like about the Texas forum is the fact that I don't have to wade through as many posts to find info that is pertinent to my area.
From east to west I live in area that isn't coastal, but isn't quite desert (that's 8 miles west, just across US 281); from north to south I'm not in the Valley where they have virtually 365 growing days, but I'm not in San Antonio where they're liable to have ice at least once a year. (We didn't even have a frost last year, but I think we'll make up for it this year!)
But if I tell someone on this forum I live half way between Corpus and Laredo and San Antonio and the Valley quite a few will know what my conditions are without any explanation. That's not true for the general population at Dave's.
In August someone told me it was too late to plant flowering kale as the season was just about over; he lived in zone 8b. Two days before Thanksgiving we we're still running the a/c and wearing shorts and sandals. Most people local to Texas would know are like that here without being told....
Just like I know that east Texas is wet, west Texas is dry, North Texas is hotter 'n h*** in the summer and colder 'n a mother-in-law's kiss in the winter and likely to be dry during both, central Texas generally has drier humidity with boiling hot summers and more moderate winters and, finally, south Texas is where the snow birds flock and the citrus trees flourish because the weather is so mild in the winter! (We won't discuss the summers here, were the vegetation stops growing because it's just too hot.)
Doing the speed limit and traveling non-stop it takes approx. 13 hours to travel from El Paso to Orange. Driving from my house, just west of Corpus, to El Paso takes 11 hours and that's if I'm going the back roads and only hitting the high spots in the road. From here to Shamrock, in north Texas, takes around 15 hours of non-stop driving. Up north I can cross multiple state lines in the same amount of time going slower than our 70 mph speed limit.
We live in a very unique state with a quite unique environment. (CA is one of the only other states I've seen with as vastly varied climates and terrain.) It's nice to talk in a forum where that's understood right up front.
WOW, everyone! Great replies ;) It sure seems to be a good thing, I'll be very interested in following this and seeing what Dave decides. It may just prove to be too much to have forums for every state, but some kind of regionality would sure be nice, I think. Enjoy this great forum and take care! Please feel free to keep the thread running :)
--Hugs
Getting in here a little late, but wanted to say that all of the foregoing is well-expressed. Of course, I especially relate to the comments of jester, htop and loudigger. I've long been a gardener who takes chances, and the tricky fluctuations in growing conditions have fooled me more than once! But there have been some surprising successes, too, and I've been able to improve results a great deal from the shared experiences of others in this area.
Well, I'm sort of a hit and miss gardner and I don't get too serious or too deep into the hows or whys of certain plants -- I just enjoy gardening and love the beauty of nature. I like the Texas forum because I don't have immediate family or close friends who are gardeners (except Mom) and it is nice to have a forum of people close enough to visit with about my obsession. I loved getting together with other Texans at the plant swap and hope to keep in touch with everyone through this forum. But, by no means, do I limit myself to the Texas threads!! LOL
Ya'll got that right about Texas..Ya can go from AC to heat and back all in matters of mintues here in Texas..but ya know..I wouldn't trade places living somewhere else other than Texas..just my 2 cents worth..lol...
Still waiting for frost to hit here yet...maybe?