Landscaping forum?

I ran across mention of a Landscaping forum, but for the life of me, I can't find it in the lists on the home page. Where is it?

I think it's now called Curb Appeal. Try this and see if it's what you are looking for.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/f/landscaping/all/

Thank you! I saw the Curb Appeal forum but just wanted to be sure my old eyes weren't missing something!

I am hoping that as this site grows and another one (GW) slowly decomposes into the abiss of man -thong advertisements and foul terms of agreement that a Landscape Design forum may arise here at Dave's Garden.

The forum entitled Curb Appeal just doesn't fully encompass the depth and breath of what Landscape Design is all about.
Those who wrestle with this topic know it as a distinct " Process that goes beyond creating curb appeal.
It is a problem solving solution based process that delves in deeper than just aesthetics.

I'm a professional in the green industry and it took me several days to discover that discussions that cover landscape design were located under the heading of Curb Appeal .

From my perspective and experience with online discussion groups who wish to explore the depths of landscaping / softscaping/ hardscaping/ planting design schemes, etc.... , I would think that the forum heading of " landscape design" would be a much more direct and practical way of describing a discussion forum whose thrust was addressing residential landscape questions.

I also think that this heading would bring in more members to the website because it casts a wider net over the subject as a whole.

food for thought.
or compost for the pile,
which ever, it all ends up in the same place.
: ~ )

thanks for the opportunity to express our opinions.

Michelle

Speaking as an fairly new gardener, I would rather see a Pro Landscapers forum as an alternative, and NOT have the Curb Appeal forum be taken over the way GW's was. The tone of GW's Landscape forum, protestations to contrary, is rude, intolerant and hostile to those who are not professionals. An occasional newbie question is tolerated because it allows the pros to flaunt their knowledge and deliver heavy-handed opinions. But heaven forbid one should disagree with a posting, the resultant flames are scorching. I left GW's Landscape forum a long time ago and would hate to see DG's forum become the same unfriendly enclave.

I agree with Mich/Michelle. I've looked over the forums for LD, because I used to love to lurk LD at GW. I had no idea "Curb Appeal" was a LD forum. Curb appeal sounds like an HGTV remake show. SB

I don't know. Have you been to the Landscape Design forum on GW? I am not sure Dave wants to attract those kinds of "deviant" personalities!! ;-) That is said mostly tongue-in-cheek from a contributor to the LD form at GW, but I will say that the LD forum "over there" does have a level of honesty (some call it rudeness) that is not often found at Dave's Garden.

One thing that makes the LD forum work is the mix of amateurs (like me) and professionals (like Michelle). I agree that "Curb Appeal" is an odd name but I would leave it up to the regulars of that forum to decide if they wanted a name change. I don't see a reason to add another forum to talk about the same topic.

- Brent

Sometimes, "honesty" is what the originator calls it. "Rudeness" is what the recipient and/or onlookers have often called it. I would hate to see DG go the way of GW, a place I used to spend a lot of time at, and now go to less and less often, even before the heavy-handed iVillage ads started interfering.

Well I'll be...is this Michelle (Mich in Denial) from GW? I used to lurked in the LD forum at GW for a long time, before I came to DG. I haven't been to GW in years, and missed many of her beautiful projects.

Michelle, I hope you enjoy our garden site, even though we don't have many professional designers over here.

Donna

Chiming in,

there may not be many professional designers here, but I'd suggest a visit to the Garden Tour forum to see landscapes, and some doggone nice ones that are fully planned out, irrigated, terraformed, hardscaped, and softscaped with skill, forethought and very well executed. I'm no garden designer, and certainly not a professional at it, but I'd like a deviant opinion of our design and execution...lol. I think it is the perfect forum for a professional to share the vast knowledge acquired in the green industry.

Give us a chance, we might surprise you.

askew of deviance,
don

I don't think it would be the same topic. Over at GW, it used to be amateurs asking how to improve upon their own landscape design. Over the years, it turned into more of a professional site. I asked a questions a few years ago regarding this "soil" I had when we moved to TN. I was immediatly mailed replies of how I "was a newbie", "it's called hard work" etc etc. I wanted to know how to deal with the soil so I could do my OWN design, not to be told what a newbie I was. And I agree, maybe the originator thought it honest, but it wasn't. It was rude. I felt ridiculed. After that, I visited that forum....but rarely.

You can have curb appeal and you can have landscape design for those who do want a pro's opinion. If curb appeal turns into GW's Landscape Design, I'll stay away.

Terry (who's not a newbie)

hiya terryr,

As one who left GW because of the silliness of 'professionalism' and lack of sharing, I, for one, invite you to the Garden Tour forum to see and comment and ask questions of those who have generously taken the time to do a diary here at DG and post on that forum their amazing gardens. As far as the silly professional gobbdigook, I give free veterinary advice and I went to school a whole lot longer and went into debt..lol, a whole lot further that marginal professionals who cannot call themselves Landscape Architects because they don't have degrees.

oops, did I vent?

I'm in agreement with the deviant in that I too wish for GW to fall into the abyss.....(spelling counts)...lol.

Let's hope that 'professionals' figure out a way to show the same generosity here that all of the many experts exhibit so well. If it's about a buck, dmail me I'll send them a tip...lol.

be well and stay here,
don

Last spring my sister asked me to respond to a forum on GW with some gardening information regarding my experience with a relatively new cultivar that an entire region has hugely disappointed with. Prior to this time I had never visited a chat room let alone a site where I share common interests. It took just a few moments for me to become hooked and I recall when writing my profile without giving it a second thought I put down my favorite forum was Landscape Design at the time I never gave it a second thought. No I am not a licenced Landscape Designer but everything about the process from beginning to end is what drove the passionate gardener I see myself as. After a few weeks of visiting the GW Landscape Design forum it was clear that this was not my favorite and actually I found my time lurking there equal to driving slowly past a traffic accident somehow I couldn’t stop myself but I always felt dirty afterwards. I can equivocally state that in all the many months that I lurked hoping to gather the courage to post some very relative questions I did not once take away with me that aha, OMG, Holy #$&* , wow I can’t wait to share that insight, moment that happens inside all of us when we discover something new. I think it is telling how many people lurked at the GW LD forum and how few felt comfortable in contributing. This is a very different site than GW lets embrace that rather than trying to recreate what we were most familiar with. Katy

Katy,
I will agree with some of your statements. As I am in professional lawncare and I really would get upset with the lawncare forum and the people who had to prove that they knew something you didn't. I managed to ween myself off it, mainly because I don't like to argue about problems that aren't mine.
AL

I did once manage the courage to post on the GW LD forum. I was largely ingnored, and I've never quite known what to make of that...

I like the analogy of driving past a car accident; that is so true of the GW LD forum. The "constructive" feedback there could be very harsh. But I have to say I did have several aha! moments.

We really need to be somewhere in the middle. Drooling, gushing compliments about a landscape are OK if you are after pats on the back. But right now, I've got a landscape dilemma, and I'm just as hesitant to post to Curb Appeal as I was to post at GWLD. I'm half afraid I wouldn't get any constructive criticism or advice. Perhaps here at DG you have to come right out and ask for it...

SB

hiya stressbaby,

Take it over to Garden Tours and park your questions. I'm sure someone will have some pearls to share. I think you'll find a pleasant medium there and no shortage of helpful advice. I think one of the greatest attributes of the DG website is that there is a kind of unwritten de-stratification law so that all who enter are equals in the garden. From novice to expert, the forums here are vastly different than the 'resume first' attitude so prevalent on the other sites. I don't know what your dilemma is but bigcityal is a green professional and a frequenter of that forum and might be able to help, yet there are many others with a great deal of landscaping experience that frequent that forum who are very generous and willing to share their experience without a moment's hesitation.

don't stress..........tour.....lol,
best,
don

stressbaby, when GWLD became what it did, I posted my questions on the other various forums. Attracting wildlife, natives, perennials...anything other that LD. Although the wildlife forum here doesn't seem to be geared to planting to attract, another person suggested we post our questions there and maybe it will become not only showing photos of wildlife, but attracting them also. I have had many ah-ha moments by particiapting in those forums, but like you, never in LD.

drdon, I'm still feeling my way around, I will visit the garden tour forum, thank you.

Terry

Thanks.

My other reservation about posting was that I want my "solution" to hold together functionally and visually. In order to convey the problem I would have to post a bunch of pics, showing the architectural features of the house, garden, pool area. Using the Garden Tour forum, I could do that in my diary, then pose the question in the post. I might just do that. Thanks again.

SB

hiya stressbaby,

If you do post the pics in your diary and then ask the question. You'll get bombarded with suggestions, tips and then you can pick which ones either will work for you or a suggestion may trigger your own creative solutions.

best,
don

terryr, it's a good forum, new, but enthusiastic and there are some pretty great gardens being shown with many more to come. Including yours we hope.