I like your last version, Deb. What do you think about putting the states in bold print? Too much?

And I don't think issuing an invitation to members in our areas would be pushy at all. Would it be more discrete to do it as a group Tree-mail?

I always think bold is a bit like shouting, but will defer to what the rest think.

I thought we could perhaps open a welcome thread (or perhaps reactivate the introduction one from when we first created the forum), reference the forum intro, check out the member map, and include anyone who is not currently active but in our area with an @ to let them know where we are. I'd like to see more folks involved, particularly from the dry side. The more the merrier.

My husband just said that we are in the area that is referred to as the Inland Northwest. I couldn't remember what it was called. There are almost no ATP members in our area, so it makes no sense to create a forum just for the Inland Northwest.

I have not been active at all on the PNW forum, probably because I've never felt like my area is part of that region. Maybe by getting the attention of more members, the forum will be more active. The climate is so varied in this part of the country, and it can get confusing for many people, myself included! I think with the description you wrote, it will feel more inclusive.

We'd love to see more of you, Natalie. Mostly we share photos.

Deb, about the only thing I can post is scenery pictures! I have almost no plants yet, other than my daylilies, and I spend all my time in the daylily forum because of that. I'm still busy trying to learn how to be a farmer, too, which is taking up way more time than I expected. I promise that I'll visit though!

That's right, Natalie, they do call this the Inland Northwest. I can never remember it either!

I think Deb has some good ideas there. (And I don't really care that much about the bold print thing, I'm fine either way. )

I like the north-to-south sweep of state names, the "bisected by" phrase, and not mentioning Yukon until we have a live one.

Now I appreciate the 'temperate - verdant - arid - alpine' language. It's imagery expresses a love for the land.

I've noticed that first-time visitors are usually hesitant to start a new thread. Would it be redundant to say "We hope you'll respond to a thread or start a new one"?

I'd agree to Deb's last version, and/or any of the comments since.


>> ... members in Idaho and eastern Washington/Oregon who are not particularly active in the PNW forum - perhaps we could send them an @ invitation to join us? Or is that too pushy?

The "@" mention in a revitalized Welcome thread is a great idea. It would be cool if we could find a photo like Natalie's scenery that suggests "dry inland" and mountains, for that post!

Mass mailings can get to be a bit much after 2-3 dozen polite people send "thank you" or "no thanks" or "great idea" or "you're welcome" or "me too".


>> I always think bold is a bit like shouting, but will defer to what the rest think.

Another way to emphasize the list is to make it into bullet points, which might also fit with the narrow column it will be placed into:

"Welcome to the Pacific Northwest Gardening forum. We are gardeners from:
- Alaska
- British Columbia
- Washington
- Oregon
- Idaho and
- northern California.
We are bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean, and bisected by the Coast, Olympic, and Cascade mountains ranges. Our region includes (*) temperate rain forests, verdant river valleys, arid high desert plateaus, and alpine mountains. Our discussions are lively and cordial - please join in."

(*) P.S. if we say "varies from", there probably ought to be a "to" somewhere. another possibility is
"Our region varies from temperate coastal rain forests to arid high deserts, with verdant river valleys and alpine mountains."

Rick, it isn't exactly dry at my house. I'm in a banana belt, or so I've been told. We've had almost 14 inches of rain this year, which I know is nothing compared to the area west of the Cascade's, but it's more wet here than a lot of places in between. Just 35 miles to the west is the small city of Lewiston, and they have only had 5 or so inches of rain this year. We're at about normal, and they are just a little down from normal.

Here is the view from my deck. It's nice and green!

Hey, Rick, I don't think I've seen too many high deserts with verdant river valleys.....

Guilty! I agree ahead of time to rejecting each of my suggestions.

That's gorgeous, Natalie. WA claims to be "The Evergreen State"

Somewhere north of me, near the coast, there is one town that is in a "rain shadow". All around it they have the typical (coastal) Pacific North Wet drizzle 8-9 months per year, but that town was really, really dry year-round.

I suspect that as soon as the end of July is here, it won't be green!

Our normal rain fall is about 25 inches a year. Areas very close to us don't get nearly that much. It's one of the reasons we picked this exact area to move to. Last year was dry, but since we just had our first anniversary here a few days ago, the last year seemed okay to me. Everyone was really complaining about it. Coming from Utah, I thought it was wet!

I live between Lynnwood and Everett WA. Lynnwood averages 15.6 inches.

Everett and other towns within 2-5 miles of Lynnwood average 36+ inches.

When I lived on Whidbey Island, it seemed like it never stopped raining!

>> Whidbey Island

Wow, 10-15 miles NE of me! I think Gwen and Jewell live there now (or very nearby).

I see from this rainfall data website that Langley DOES have rain all year. Bummer! I really look forward to seeing that bright, round thing in the sky in June, July and maybe August.
http://average-rainfall.findth...

Hmm, that site thinks that Everett gets 1" of rain per month, even in the summer.
Lynnwood, 0.6". That surprises me. We have very little cloud cover in the summer, and some of the moss on my driveway looks less lush.

I guess we get it all at once in the summer, instead of a little drizzle every day.
I'd like to see a plot of cloudy days per month, only counting it as "cloudy" if you have >90% overcast > 90% of the time.
When I first moved here, we had measurable rain EVERY day for over a month. I was surprised, but natives weren't.

(I think we're off-topic ... )

Off topic is not a particular problem...

But, back to the task at hand -- I've been perusing other forums to see how they have formatted their descriptions and I think this may be a good fit that includes everyone's ideas:

[bold at the top] Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, northern California

[skip a line, then regular text]

Welcome to the Pacific Northwest forum. We are bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean, and are bisected by the Coast, Olympic, and Cascade mountain ranges. Our diverse region includes temperate rain forests, verdant river valleys, arid desert plateaus, and alpine mountains. Our discussions are lively, cordial, and at times wander off topic. Please join in.

??

I think that is great Deb. Thanks for all the hard work on this. This description pretty much covers it all.

I think it is perfect!

Yes!

I've tree-mailed our request to Dave, and will let everyone know when it has been added.