Hello! and Welcome!
I remember when I first started posting, exciting times. I was addicted to the plant exchange for the first couple of years on GW. Please tell us more about yourself (like we do introductions on the first day of school) : )
I am a recently divorced, mother of one, and I work loading trucks at UPS. I haven't done much gardening over the last two years, but hope to get back into it soon. It was my therapy for 10 years, now I want to garden with a plan. I enjoy ethnic foods and Salsa dancing. I am a cockeyed optimist most of the time.

And a welcome from me, too. I actually remember my very first post many years ago, and how intimidating I found it. The folks here were warm and inviting then, and they still are. Glad to have you aboard.

I guess you are going into the summer months now, as we are gearing up for winter. I am sure there is a great amount of diversity in the climate of Australia and New Zealand, just as there is in the U.S. How are your gardening conditions, and are you temperate or warm all year long in your location?

Welcome to the GP. I was a lurker for years before I jumped in and posted. This is a wonderful, caring group; you'll be glad you joined in.

Welcome to the party.
It took me forever to sign up and to post.
I'm glad I did, there are lots of really nice
people her. In fact they are the best.

Welcome!! I also remember my first time posting, rather scary but you get over it fast! So what kind of gardening do you do? What are some of your favorite plants? What plants are native to New Zealand?

Hello! My best friend is from New Zealand, and she took me back to visit about 10 years ago. I had a wonderful time meeting all those lovely folks, and seeing some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. Wow, what perfect gardening conditions. I'll bet you can grow just about anything! Do you live on the North or South Island?

Welcome!

Karen

Hello there. Welcome to the Garden Party of the Garden Web. I remember my first post was with a question about calla lilies. I've been coming around 14 years! Yikes!

Hi & welcome. I remember my first post to the GW almost 12 years ago now. I posted about how sick I was of winter at the end of February & was absolutely astounded at the number of responses I got. I was hooked from then on & here I am still posting.

Looking forward to your posts & to hearing about New Zealand.

Welcome! Tell us about your gardens! Can you post some pictures? Do you live near the ocean?

Mary

Welcome!

Yes, we're nosy..but here is a bunch of the most caring, thoughtful, and supportive folks you'll ever "meet." You'll find a wealth of knowledge that no encyclopedia can match; soft, broad shoulders to cry on if needed; and all the "atta girl" encouragement anyone could want.

Tell us more about yourself so we can get to know each other.

Nancy

I'm happy that you've joined the party -- welcome!

Nice to meet you. After many years of lurking, I joined the Garden Party this year and love it here. I too belong to the want to know bunch, so please tell us about your plants.

My very first post online was on Gardenweb 12 years ago. I've always been thankful to have found such a great welcoming group and hope you'll feel the same. Looking forward to getting to know you...josh

Its me again, thanks for the lovely welcome. I have not done a lot to this garden as I have only lived here (new house) a couple of years and I have a new baby in that time. *not sure how to post pics??* I have two older girls and a wee boy to a new partner. We own a 100yr Old Villa and live less than a mile from the sea. I am currently painting the house UGG! but it looks awesome. My favourite flowers are bearded iris and clematis oh and roses and peonies lol ... the list goes on. I am a qualified florist but I work from home now doing graphic design, making personalised birthday invitations etc. Please tell me all about you. I am so grateful to have found such a welcoming group!

I live in the Appalachian part of Ohio, in the country. I have a flock of about fifty five chickens, and I run a small range of commercial greenhouses, so related when you said you were a florist. I grow mostly potted stock now for wholesale trade, but in my early years, filled up my off-seasons between holidays doing all sorts of niche work, and making arrangements for banquets and weddings was part of it.

I have fruit trees and bramble patches and a vegetable garden, from which I preserve a lot of our own food. We live in a 185 year old house and we've always been renovating it and probably will always be working on it. I 'collect' trees and my husband tends our outside ornamental gardens, and I bird watch and quilt and do local historical research. My children are grown and I'm now enjoying watching our grandchildren growing. They range in age from four to sixteen. I keep busy, lol.

Wow calliope that's a seriously busy life you have there! I have always wanted to learn quilting but haven't found the time as yet! Old houses eh? the work never seems to end, a couple of years ago we did all the electrics and pipes so at least we know its safe lol. My two older children are 11 and 9 both girls and then of course my darling baby boy - he's 17mths, can I still call him baby??!!

You can call him a baby all of his life..that's Mom's privilege.

I live in far western North Carolina, in the foothills of the Smokey Mountains. I like to garden..don't love it..have made quilts in the past and may do so again. I like to grow peppers..just because they're pretty and so easy. Gave away almost all of them (several bushels this year). I have a son who I don't hear from nearly enough on the other side of the country and a step-daughter who lives on a cruise ship traveling the ports of the world with her lifelong love who is an RN. They are loving it! She emails regularly. Two GKs plus three steps whom I don't hear from at all..the GD just got married, and the GS is only 7.

I have two cats. I like dogs, and they like me, but I prefer the independence of cats.

Enough? I like to know something about the person I am responsing to so I don't offend, so tell us more about you.

Again, welcome! Hope to hear from you often.

Nancy

nan nc - I think it will break my heart if my kids grow up an don't keep in contact. More about me???? Ummm I am 32, I live in the South Island of New Zealand. We don't really get much snow on the ground in Winter here maybe a few days during that season the temperatures range from as low as -5 up to 33'c it got pretty close to that top temp today, its been dry and hot and my plants are pretty thirsty but will have to wait another 3 hours for the sun to go down (it's 5.30pm now)
We can grow a wide variety of plants here but nothing sub tropical this far down the island. We grow some lovely grapes locally and I guess you might know NZ is renown for its wine. We are just a few weeks from summer now but had a frost last weekend which totally annihilated my vege patch, tomatoes, pumpkin and corn didn't make it but will plant some more in a week or too. Its extremely unusual for us to get a frost this late in the spring.

I have 3 dogs, my old faithful (15yr) jack russell, a basenji and a rescue pup beagle cross we got earlier in the year. We also have a gorgeous ginger girl cat but she has to live outside because I am so allergic to cat fur lol.

Ok off to bath my wee boy, thanks for all your responses, I am enjoying this immensely.

Belle

A late but sincere welcome! (I'm often late posting, which is a bit funny, because in person I'm one of those irritatingly precisely prompt people.)

I honestly don't remember my first posting here on the GP, I lurked for years before actually saying something -- and now I often can't seem to NOT say anything. I started off in the "New to Gardening" forum not very long after GW came into existence; dropped out; came back, found GP (it was a brand new forum) and have been more or less around since.

I live in Virginia, both in a suburb within the Beltway, and in a really old house in the Shenandoah mountains. No pets at present, although I'm more of a cat person than canine.

The climate here is somewhat more extreme than yours, with wintertime lows frequently in the single digits °F and summers near 100°F for several weeks; that's about minus-12C to 38C. Nice gardening weather since we can begin planting out in early April and continue harvesting through October, sometimes into November.

Hi! Welcome to the neighborhood. I've been around for years and years too, probably 12, but I can't remember back that far :) I don't post very often, but I read frequently.

On posting pics, I find the easiest way is to upload pictures to a photo site like Photobucket. It is free and they will give you a link (html) to use for posting. You copy it, come over here, paste it in the message box and viola! It appears. There's a gallery section too. Someone else will have to fill you in on that procedure.

I'll put a link to my Photobucket account...feel free to play with it it you want to try posting pics.

{{gwi:199463}}

Lisa

Here is a link that might be useful: Lisa's Photobucket

Howdy! I'm Robin, a female, and I live in Music City, USA--Nashville, TN. It sounds like you have a great home! I'd love to see pictures. I have a nine year old boy that hung the moon, I miss every moment I am not with him, and laugh every moment I am with him. We're remodeling our home, I love to garden, and am finshing my undergraduate degree. I may go on a graduate school of some sort, but I doubt it. I love playing with the kid and puttering around our home way too much!

Enough of me, I'd like to send you some chocolate virtually as a nice welcome. Won't you have some?

Ok testing this picture upload thingy. http://i536.photobucket.com/albums/ff327/angelstouchdesigns/delph.jpg

Angel: Use the html code one:

{{gwi:199465}}

I love the pic with all your kids on the beach. They are adorable.

Lisa

I'm not sure if I like the fluffer kitty better or the delphiniums. I envy the delphiniums since those don't like the humid south and won't grow more than a year here. Nice!

Those delphiniums!!!!!!!!!!!! Breathtaking.

I'm jealous of your delphs too! The best we can do in Oklahoma is larkspur. Yours are beautiful.

Lisa

Awww thanks everyone, it took me a couple of years to get them to flower - the first year my younger daughter knocked the heads off with her ball and the second year my brother dropped the bbq on it. So the poor delphs have had a hard life. Think I have the pic thing sorted this time. If it works - it should be a pic of my son!

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:199462}}

He's a cutie!!!