A Survey

Shovel?? Snow?? I remember one winter in Indiana I had BREAK my car out of it solid ice shell.....ahhh....those were the days!

I came out in 73 from the Philadelphia area to go to ASU. Never looked back although I do admit to getting zone envy around July and August.

Hmmm...Philly must not be humid. Indiana summer air can be cut with a knife, yuk!

Azreno, were at in Ind. are you from? I am from Mich. City. Right on the lake. You are right about the humid. in the summer & the ice in the winter. Been here for 9 years and never look back. Still have 3 daughters there and 1 sister. Only go back for sort visits when the weather is good. Did go back one Christmas remembered why I left real fast!! lol :))))

Brown County! Lots of Hoosiers here in AZ, I cease to be amazed when I meet more :-) Been here....13 years. Have family there, too and have only been back a couple times...never in the summer and never for Christmas! LOL

Kimaz, where in the Philadelphia area? I'm from that area, too. Born in Philadelphia, grew up in Delaware County, lived in Chester County for about ten years before I finally got smart and moved to Arizona in 1995.

Philadelphia weather is not only cold, wet, and icy in the winter, it's hot and VERY humid in the summer. Allergies are horrible in the fall. May is usually pretty nice, but it always rains on the weekends.

Hi everybody


I can not remember when I was not interested in plants and animals.
My grandmother was a great lover of plants and animals and I think I inherited her genes.
My mother was not as interested in outdoor gardening but I remember her having hundreds of containers with plants.
I can still see my father having tomato and pepper plants growing on the window sill in the bedroom in the middle of the winter(I grew up in Romania were winters are fierce).
So, as you can see I got the "Virus" from both lines.
Wherever I moved I made sure I had a garden or lots of containers.
We moved in the USA in 1985 and we bought the house in 1987.
There was nothing in the backyard and very few plants in the front yard.
Little by little we made our heaven on Earth in our yard.
It took a lot of work, immagination and money(my husband knows more about hard work since he had to do all the hardscape).
I am more selective about plants now that in the earlier gardening years but I can still get excited when I see the first shoots after planting the seeds. It is a wonderful HOBBY, not obsession(my husband will debate that).
As far as how old I am let's say I have been gardening for almost 45 years.


Good gardening




Rodica

Doylestown, Bucks County. LOL, my DH who was born and raised in Iowa calls it "Big Bucks County." Yes, I agree about the humidity. I get zone envy when everyone else on this site is posting beautiful pictures of Lilies and other such plants I can only dream about while I dare not venture out of AC.

Greetings desert dwellers :-)

I just joined Daves recently and though I'm mainly a cacti and succulent gardener and have mainly posted on that forum I thought I should check this one out too. This looked like the perfect thread to introduce myself on.

I'm 46 and have enjoyed getting my hands in dirt since I was just a little guy helping my Grand Mom in her garden. She also cultivated my interest in C & S. Every few years she and Grandpa would vacation in the Southwest and she always brought back a cacti or two. She raised them on her back porch in New Jersey.

Am I a junkie? Oh yeah! I'm going stir crazy waiting for spring. I'll copy a recent post of mine over at the C & S Forum called "Halfway through winter and losing it!"

Hello all,

Are any of you Northern Hemisphere C & S gardeners going crazy like I am? I can't wait to get my hands in some soil that doesn't come out of a bag! Cant spring get here any sooner? I've got gardening to do!

Every night I come home from work and go out in the greenhouse. OK what needs water? What can I repot this time of year. What can I take a picture of? Aaaargh!

It's worse this year than any other. I really let the addiction grab hold of me this season and I'm scared. I don't want to have to go to that place. You know, that place where you you stand up in front of a bunch of strangers with tears in your eyes and say:

"Hello, my name is Dave and I'm a cactaholic. Help me please!"

Sorry, I'm in one of those weird moods today. Maybe I'll just fill the tub with dirt tonight and get in. Probably make me feel all better :-)

ROFLOL,
Franj
(Dave Franges)
Tucson, AZ

Gorgeous photo, Dave. I love that color.

Oh Dave...I love that picture. Jo

What a wonderful picture Dave. And welcome. I think you will enjoy this forum . Binky :))))

I'm 47. Moved from Warren, Ohio to Phoenix in 1972. My mother has always done lots of gardening though she never encouraged any such interest on my part. As a child in Ohio, I was intrigued by the wildlife (squirrels, chipmunks, possums, birds, lightning bugs, etc.)... and I especially noticed the sassafrass leaves, the snapdragons, and those orange Chinese lanterns! My mother grew lots of tomatoes; we also had apple, cherry, plum & pear trees, rhubarb, etc. I climbed all the trees. I collected the colorful fallen maple leaves and pressed them in books--still have some. For a while there, I had a "dirt collection"--asking that the car be stopped in each state on the drive to California. In retrospect, that was a bit odd :)

I think I'm more obsessed with nature than with gardening, per se. Yaaaah, that's it! I fell in love with the flora and fauna of the Sonoran Desert when I had occasion to spend time weekly in New River on 6 acres--bordered by hundreds of undeveloped acres--of natural desert... for 5 years in the 80's. Deer & bobcats in the "yard"... scorpions... many encounters with rattlesnakes... the most beautiful butterflies... awesome migrants... Colorado river toads mating in the fountain, etc. I wish I had had the time to explore interests in the plants, insects, etc. but my time was consumed by birds and bird-related matters. Kinda get obsessed with whatever I do. I was a wildlife rehabilitator from 1983 to 2002 (non-profit org founded in '89); still have federal rehab & education permits (and a few wild birds) but am for the most part not active due to lung disease.

I've only had the time and the place to landscape/garden since May of 2002--when I moved to my current home. I don't know what I'm doing and wish that I had more energy--but I love doing it :)

Magpied, I can't really relate to your experience with wild life but I do remember years ago when my kids were 6 and 4 years old and we adoped a bird. It was kicked out of the nest. It was a baby mocking bird. We kept this bird alive for days. Unfortunetly, we were feeding it the wrong thing. It died and my kids were crushed. Oh well, thats part of life.

Thanks to Kimaz-
This is such a wonderful thread. I have loved reading every contribution. Bless us all.

Kim, sorry about the baby bird. Most people don't know what to feed their *foundlings*--and don't realize that an external heat source (heating pad) is necessary--even if the baby has feathers. Birds that gape (open their mouths wide) for food require frequent feedings = every 20 to 30 minutes = from sunup to sundown (or the equivalent).

Young mockingbirds always fledge before they can fly and are often "rescued" when they don't need to be :o Generally speaking, baby birds with feathers are supposed to be out of the nest. The exception to "the parents will continue to feed them on the ground" is that it doesn't apply to grackles.

Okay... I'll stop now! Old habits die hard ( :> It's been nice reading everyone's posts--especially the ones from those older than me... lol