hi, everyone. I wanted to give an official welcome to the Midatlantic Gardening forum! We are very excited to have a place for people in those 'in between states' (sort of northeast/sort of southeast but not quite either) to have a place to chat, plan swaps and other regional events, and share our love for gardening.

We're thinking of the Midatlantic area as including Maryland, Delaware, DC, Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and parts of New York as people wish. We know that many people in these states have found homes on other forums, especially the Northeast forum, but hope that this forum will provide additional opportunities to build friendships without replacing any that already exist.

To introduce myself--I'm Catmint. I've lived in Maryland for since 2006. I live with my daughter in a suburban neighborhood with a backyard bird feeder and some garden space. I especially enjoy gardening for the pollinators, cottage gardening, and gardening with native plants.

I hope you all will join us here as we share our love for gardening, and get to know one another better as fellow gardeners!

I have chosen for our welcome thread a photo of a pink flowering dogwood in full springtime bloom. This beautiful native tree is found in much of the Midatlantic.

For netiquette tips to consider, please see this wonderful post from the iris forum: http://garden.org/thread/view_...

Thanks for the introduction, @Catmint20906! This is going to be a great forum, I just know it!

Copying from the "How We Got Here" thread started by Dave: "I live in a 60 year old townhouse in Baltimore County with my husband and two kids (son, 6, and daughter, 2). I have two gardens: the front yard and the back yard. Because my total square footage is so small, I tend to use a lot of annuals. I can't help but love tropicals. I've been a lover of plants for years, but have only had about 5 years to flex my horticultural muscles. Every year, I learn more about growing plants from seeds and cuttings (a lot of what I learn is what NOT to do!) and also about overwintering those beloved tropicals. I've got a particular penchant for coleus and colocasia. I'm not much of a plant collector or a perennial plant grower, except I love hostas and ornamental grasses. I love to use plants to develop an overall effect, a color scheme that will really wow my neighbors as they walk by my house.

I'm looking forward to getting to know new people, and keeping in touch with others that I've known for about a year now in another forum."

Thank you for the warm welcome, and BOY am I glad to be here!!! Typ, it's so nice to see you again, and Robin, thank you ever so much for the nudge in this direction.
I look forward to lots of happy chats here with you all! =)

hey @speediebean so glad you're here!! Look forward to seeing you on the threads!!

Testing: @Catmint thank you! (wanna see how this @whoever thing works).

Works great, @Speediebean ! The hashtag followed by user name sends a system message to the user that they have been mentioned in a post. Sure hope there is no user named 'whoever' around! ;-) I think you may have to use the whole user name, though--e.g., catmint20906.

Haahahahaaa, oh my gosh, I hadn't thought of that, there being a member here with the username "whoever", LOL! My apologies if I disturbed you, whoever. (perhaps the person is more grammatically correct than I, and his/her name is "whomever")

At the bottom of the page (light blue box with links in white) is a "Memberlist" link. Just for kicks, I typed in "whoever" - no match LOL.

LOL Aspen! That would be quite a username, wouldn't it?

I think "Whatever" would be good too. That is funny Aspen, that really bothered you didn't it. Oh my.

aspenhill said:At the bottom of the page (light blue box with links in white) is a "Memberlist" link. Just for kicks, I typed in "whoever" - no match LOL.

What a great picture and pretty dog in your Avatar!

Newyorkrita said:

What a great picture and pretty dog in your Avatar!

Ditto for your avatar - papillons are nice I definitely have a soft spot for dogs. Aspen has been gone for many years. After Aspen, I somehow ended up with four dogs at once. They all were close in age, lived very long and happy lives, but they are all gone now too. My future sister-in-law spends the work week close to the city and comes out to Lucketts every Friday evening - Monday morning, but her dog Riley lives here full time. I also have been enjoying dog sitting often for friends and family, so even though I don't have my own right now, I still get to enjoy dog companionship. I plan to hold off on getting another puppy until I retire in a few years, but you never know if fate might bring another one into my life before then.

I have always loved that picture of Aspen, such a gorgeous picture. Yeah, ya never know what/who is in store for ya sometimes, huh?

That is so funny about you looking up the username "whoever"... now I'm wondering if there's a "whomever" or a "whatever".. heehee... ok, now I have to go look!

LOL Speedie!

I agree--that is a great picture of Aspen! Aspenhill, that's nice that you're able to enjoy Riley!

Hi folks.

How I got here is, I used to be a member at DG a few years ago, and participated in a couple of the regional forums there, learned a huge amount about gardening, and dropped my membership at one point when my life sort of took me elsewhere. I've moved around some, and gardened in several climates in the US. Recently I haven't been able to do a lot of gardening, but now I'm in Virginia, I'm in a place where my skills are welcome. Which is super.

However, I don't have experienced or knowledgeable other gardeners around to learn from and chat with and I need that! So I went back to DG, checked out the MA forum right as this forum here at ATP was being set up. (I think! I may not have followed the timing just right...)

I've gardened in high desert and in the Pacific Northwest and earlier in the Monterey Peninsula area of CA. Did a little in North Carolina but not a lot -- and now I am in a somewhat different place and learning what of my experience applies here and what doesn't.

This summer is my first here. I'm really just getting started. So, I hope to be active here as time permits and thank you all in advance for the info and friendship exchange!

Kyla

Welcome to ATP Kyla!

Welcome, Kyla! Glad you found us here--and welcome back to this part of the country, too! That is a wonderful variety of background and experience that you have! I know what you mean about finding gardeners nearby to share with.

So, please feel free to browse our threads and tell us more about your garden and what you are working on right now!