I joined GardenWeb when we still lived at our previous Austin house so my best guess is 2003. I'd been on Prodigy back in the early 1990s - back then gardeners had text-only message boards - photos were a huge step up!

The people here have always been great but for a number of years I was more active on blogs - posting to my own, visiting other blogs and leaving comments. That scene changed and I seldom post to the blogs now.

I've always enjoyed popping in here - love your posts, Roselee!

Thanks to everyone checking in. It's good to know you're here even if some are not very active. Yes, scenes keep changing. Also good to know what other plant forums/blogs/Facebook pages, etc. you enjoy. Even though I don't do much veggie or fruit growing I like to read about all kinds of plants.

I too liked getting the know people on here, meeting at plant swaps, and keeping up. I've made some wonderful friends through this forum.

Everyone -- if you read this write a few words and let us know you're still around or new here so we can welcome you.

I am here but this year I am building and my visits to the forum are quick and limited. I had a list of weird stuff happening to me including I kicked my camera and the lens popped off so no pictures till I get it back from the shop.. Thank god for the wet year. Plants are living on their own without my help. Unfortunately the grass is high and the weeds proliferating along with the Prairie parsley and meadow parasol flowers ( I think that is the common name for Daucosma laciniata). I miss all the people that used to be here. I often wonder about where they get their garden chatting fix. I also am not a FBer. I hardly have time to come here. I fear that that would consume my time that I am AWAY from the computer. I treasure the relationships that I have made here along with the plants thatI have gotten in trades. I so enjoy my times at the plant swaps.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I am not a FBer either. I grew a lot of roses while living in Las Vegas. It seems that over the years, even Texas contributors to the rose gardening forums has declined... I know one lady's rose garden in Dallas was plagued with RRD a few years ago and she gave up. The rest, like wantonamara, I wonder...

I have found it difficult to determine something as simple as if Fortuniana RootStock is good for Central Texas, or will my baby roses in pots get attacked by Japanese Beetles?

I hope participation increases or has it come to many of the people in Texas have little interest in gardening, and are now just putting in vast lawns, Knock Out Roses from HEB or HD and the standard garden fare of shrubs?

I don't remember when I joined and it's not on my profile page, but I think I've been here about 5 years now. I try to drop by here daily, but that doesn't always happen with life and the new cabin property /landscaping and upkeep getting in the way. I'm not a great gardener and probably never will be, but I do enjoy flowers, flowering shrubs and trees and planting them. LOVE all the beautiful gardens some of you have been able to achieve. Truly professional skills on this board.

Me, I'm the kind of gardener that plants a plant, waters it, occasionally fertilizes when I can remember to and if it grows, it is God's will. If not, I plant something else and hope it likes Texas weather better than the last plant. LOL Don't everyone shudder at the same time now.

I ditched Facebook for good this year. Won't go back. I also frequent Reddit forums a lot. Mostly the /r/gardening subforum, but also /r/landscaping, /r/matureplants, /r/roses, /r/whatsthisplant, /r/houseplants, the /r/ratterriers (I have owned 2 of them) and /r/ketorecipes (I'm a low-carb food blogger 10 years now). Of course, the gardening subs at Reddit are nation-wide, but a lot of Texans post on them. I enjoy reading of others landscape dilemmas, flower/plant questions and gardening discussions. These are the only two gardening sites I frequent though. :)

Buttoni, I am not pointing any fingers of shame at you for your supposed lax gardening style. That would be like a kettle calling the pot black. I kill plants wholesale, That is why I do swaps and grow from seed. It is less painful.

I can cook up a storm, sew for myself or the home, knit & crochet beautiful stuff, needlepoint monstrous pieces, make beautiful leaded stained glass, am accomplished at the piano and many other creative things............but I just have a purple thumb....and that's a fact I am resigned to. What can I say? My Dad could easily have feed half of Texarkana from his 2-acre garden and had a beautiful front and back yard. I did NOT, however, inherit that gene. LOL But he did instill in me a love of all living things and nature, and thus my presence here.

Buttoni-

I always say if I can grow it you have to try really, really hard to kill it. Of course I can't really post about what works because I have no idea what the name is! (It's the tall one with the purple flowers.....) Ha!

Lisa

Oh, dang, now I gotta come out of lurker mode, lol.

This is my first post in this subforum -- I almost exclusively hang out in Building A Home -- but I ever so dearly love y'all over here in TX Gardening. <3 I, like so many of you, don't do FB.

I'm just getting started with flower gardening in Central Texas, so feel I have very little to contribute. I'm currently just keeping my new baby trees alive (1 Southern Mag 'Teddy Bear', 1 Southern Mag 'Little Gem', 1 live oak, 1 wax myrtle, 1 baby-baby wax myrtle that I yanked from the base of the mother plant back in February, 2 Mexican Oaks, and 1 struggling Loquat), and planning to add more in the fall (another Maggie -- probably DD Blanchard -- as well as a couple of Mexican Olives, Anacacho Orchids, Fragrant Ash, and 'Catawba' crepe myrtles).

I'm currently waiting for some online mail-order own-root miniature roses to come back in stock so that I can dress up some flower beds, as well as Passionflower 'Incense' to grow on one of those mushroom trellis thingies. Oh, and gotta grab some Confederate Jasmines to cover my fences, lol!

Anyway, I wanted to let y'all know that some of us are just a bit shy, but we're here. ;-)

Im an infrequent poster but avid reader. Some of these post remind me why I became so interested about six years ago. A wealth of knoledge and interest in trying new things with the understnading you may fail. Texas is so varied I'm not going to attempt to answer questions about things on the gulf coast, east Texas, or far west Texas, etc. I don't care if you call a Sago a palm or think Im silly for taking my lemon wedge home from a resturant for my compost. I'm interested in natural soil improvement, natives, biodiversity, etc.

Welcome OneDevotedDame and tjayars1. I've only been here 4-5 years and STILL consider myself a newcomer. I'm learning here along with the rest of you. Lots of knowledgeable people here that understand we all have to start somewhere in that knowledgebase. :)

Another newbie and (mostly) silent lurker here. I feel like a 2nd grader who snuck in to an empty seat in the back row of Botany 201 classroom. Finally got a yard & garden of my own 5 yrs ago, around age 60. Previously had studied food and medicinal plants, essential oils, plant pigments. Now I'm having to learn firsthand about insects, weeds, thorns, wind and weather. Thank goodness for this forum (and the GW archived discussions).

That's funny to hear about the early years when you weren't supposed to make reference to other garden discussion websites.

Still here but haven’t posted a lot....dog-gone health issues....of course because I retired the September will be 2 years. I depend on all of the really smart gardingers ( is that even a word!?!?!). Margeetx

Hi, I'm still here too since the Spike days. I never got sent to Disneyland but have friends that did :-)

I've been on a Kindle reading binge for the past year and my gardening posts have taken a back seat. Nothing new really in a long time, I love native plants which aren't always trendy or flashy, but are true workhorses.

Had to look it up, but should have remembered it was garden recovery and changes after the 2011 blistering drought (heatwave) that prompted me to get a GW account in 2012. That's when a lot of the TAMU and 1980s (or earlier) local club gardening schedules and recommendations I'd used successfully for years failed badly.... and tightening water restrictions emphasized that some serious rethinking was becoming essential. I'd been sporadically browsing and searching GW since around 2007, so already knew there was a lot of expertise on native and well-adapted plants - especially on the Texas forum. The advice, encouragement, and occasional trades here have been wonderful. Yard is still "rough" in too many places, but is showing signs of a work in transition.

Still here... I post a lot of my garden pics to my ideabooks and get on to read what everyone else is doing once in awhile but that's about it. Soon as I get off work I'm in the garden seeing tons of stuff I stay behind on lol. My "to do" list never gets any smaller

I am heartened by all the responses! Thank you. I know lots of things get in the way of posting and responding to GW posts, but I hope enough of us old timers will stay active to keep it interesting and alive enough to attract new people to the site.

The two sayings that I adhere to are "I'd rather wear out than rust out" so I keep moving, and "Old age isn't for sissies". Sure don't want to give in and be a sissie either! LOL

Really, I think gardening has kept this body younger than it would ordinarily have been without all the digging, planning, pruning, watering, hauling, weeding, and enjoyments of interacting with other gardeners as well as being out in nature. How about you?

Abarbie, I keep forgetting about all the fabulous photos you have in your Idea Books. Gonna' go look now. Maybe you could remind us when you put new pictures in.

I know there are a few more out there that haven't checked in ... we're waiting ... :-)

Wow -- abarbie4me2 has 28 Idea Books, many sorted by month, others are visits to special gardens and plant swaps. I looked at June 2019 and saw lots of beautiful flowers including many hibiscus, at least one of which has dark foliage like Omar's 'Starry, Starry Night'. I think abarbie grows about every plant known to mankind and she grows them well! Just click on her name and it will take you to her Houze page. Enjoy!

https://st.hzcdn.com/fimgs/8211038b0cb5e0da_3472-w220-h260-b0-p0--.jpg

Does anyone know the name of this purple plant that I use to have?

It's in abarbie's April idea book

persian shield

Yes, it's common name is Persian shield. It's a gorgeous thing. Blue Girl gave me one of the two she got on sale a couple of years ago. It grew very well in an all shade spot, but of course didn't come back after winter. If I run across it I'd buy another.

abarbie4me2, You should make an entry in the forum every month reminding us of a new book so we can oooh and ahh.

I don't have anything substantial to add to Margeetx post about pink pampas grass, but thought it odd that there is no comment box; not for me anyway. Apparently others have been able to reply. Anybody else ever NOT see a box in which to write a comment?

Huh, I'll go look...

Meme, I read your latest comment on the pink pampas grass, but still no comment box showing up for me. Out of curiosity I went to the other sites you posted that thread on and none showed for me there either. Weird. So I dunno' ....

Maybe you should try logging off and then sign back in and see if that clears it up?

I don't have a comment box either on the pink papas grass thread. Using Windows 10, in Firefox 67.0.4

I don't remember running across that issue before either, Roselee.

Complain to the powers that be. Remember it a long while back but it rectified itself. I am fine now.

My name was soxxxx many years ago. I have had trouble commenting on this site ever since it changed to houzz. I am still able to read the postings without difficulty.

I started here when it was gardenweb too but I don't see the actual year anywhere. My first post says 2004, but I don't see all of my posts on that page, so I don't know. I didn't love the changes and still think the searching and organization of this forum is less good than before, so I pouted for a few years but I guess I've accepted the new reality. I like that you can search for topics and get long-form information from experienced gardeners as opposed to fb where it's really just short, quick replies. Often the answers here can be more specific to my needs in South Texas than the articles written for the general public. If I want to know if something will overwinter in San Antonio there is no better source on the internet than the experts here!

I had several things in SAVED or whatever the technical heading was in the old forums. I would like to see them but cannot figure out how to retrieve them.

I am of the "It is what it is" philosophy. It is the people that I come here to converse with. The bureaucracy is a flawed thing. What else is new. I will deal with all the rough edges for now. It is good to hear from you Amcclur and Sox AKA HU-629.....

Although I don’t post much- I’m still here and have been involved in plant message boards since ‘96 or ‘97. I’ve met wonderful people and really enjoy learning and being inspired through others’ experiences and sharing of knowledge and plants. I’m not a FB’er but always enjoy the posts, talking to friends and making new ones.

Matthew

I'm still here but facebook is so much easier to post on. Problem with fb is that everyone has an opinion, not an educated guess and there are a lot of old wive's tales floating around concerning gardening. Also,I posted on another HOUZZ gardening page and got no responses to my questions so I rarely even look at other sub groups.

Matthew, and all of those who replied above; thanks for checking in and staying around!

Lorelei, I joined a couple of Facebook Texas garden sites to see what they were like and those are my thoughts exactly; a LOT of over inflated opinions from so many people that it's hard to keep up, and then finally one of the moderators will step in and give some useful information and links.

But I don't see how it's easier to post on Facebook than Garden Web unless it's something to do with smart phones which I don't use to post.

Anyway, I appreciate everyone on here and hope everyone will begin posting more. It seems you already have ... :-)

Hey is anyone else getting a slew of already read and posted entries.?I have gotten made 20 today.

Mara, no I haven't.

I was getting things days old . It has stopped. Weird

Mara, today I got several Houzz emails with comments which, when I click on the green 'see comment' box, would place the new comment in the center of the thread instead of the end making it all very confusing. Maybe that's what you were getting.

Thanks for posting this, it's been fun reading about everyone.

I too have been here since the old Spike days!

I'm still here as well. I lurk a lot. Don't have a lot of time to jump on lately. I do tend to use Facebook more though. I have been around since the Spike days as well. I love posts that have pictures in them.

Darlene, it's great to know you're still here if even just to lurk. I like posts with pictures too. Go ahead and jump in with a quick comment once in a while, okay?

I will Roselee. Thanks!

I haven’t posted in a few months now simply because of the fact that I upload lots of photos and more than once the site has lost my post. It’s really disappointing to spend the time sharing a bunch of images with lengthy captions only to hit submit and see it didn’t post properly. I mostly visit from mobile and it’s not very mobile friendly. I’m older and I personally like the format of forum style social media, buts times-a-changin’. Most places are committed to short format posting. Topics that cycled through quickly and cannot be bumped. Individual comments rather than group discussions. Thoughts condensed down to 280 characters. Even sites like Reddit that have a more traditional forum style layout with push topics off the front page within a day so conversations are forced into truncation. Oh well, it is what it is!

I think maybe it’s time to bump my old gardening post now that I’ve made a bit of a rant about social media, haha.

I think that there is a limit of 4 or 5 photos per post now. I am not sure about that. I don't think it is a consistent rule . But I will devide up the post into multiple posts when I have a lot of photos so I done't sabotage myself. Irritating. Do other people find this to be true?

Katherine, I've been missing your posts and think maybe it's time to bump it up and share with us 'slow goers' here. I agree about the fast moving social media groups. It's hard to find a post or comment that you want to reply to if you don't do it at the moment you see it; much less to get to know people.
"Social media"? Hmmmm. Very impersonal I'd say.

Though I've never had a problem with loosing posts since I do all from a computer, but I can understand the frustration of those using their smart phones.

Oh my gosh I just spent half an hour writing up a huge post with tons of pictures and went I hit submit it said “error.” Post is gone. Thats why I haven’t been posting, hahah. Maybe a little later I’ll try to post again from my desktop machine but right now I’m feeling grumpy.

Alrighty - I bumped! :)

One thing I've heard people do to save a long post before clicking the submit button is to copy and paste it and save it in a Word Doc. That way if it disappears you can do it again quickly because you have a copy. Then after it posts, just delete your copy.