I just had some guy in New York acting like he new Florida gardening and I was a idiot. Had to get rid of him. Did you know you can't grow peaches in Florida? Or pears? Man I wonder what I have been growing all this time.

I've grown plants all my life, half the time in CT, and half in TN. CT is a 'cold' zone 6, TN a 'warm' zone 6. Yes, there are areas in both states that are warmer, but in the long run when temp records are broken, it is all zone 6 or colder. Many things I grew in CT also grow in TN, but the climates are different and the same plant acts differently in each place. Most of TN has a continental climate, and much of CT has a temperate climate infuenced by the Atlantic. The learning curve was very gentle when coming to TN.

I am about to take a giant leap and move to FL, probably right after the first of the year. I've been to FL many times and at all times of the year both for work and for family. The plan is to move to central FL, northeast of Orlando to a solid zone 9b. I've also read this forum for years, but I think I've only posted once before. I've also haunted the internet for months in anticipation of the move, to get a handle on info available. I was not impressed, especially with UF/IFAS. I know it will be a HUGE learning curve, but I'm up to it LOL.

It has always amazed me that arguments get so heated on these plant-related forums. And not only now with our highly polarized country, but years ago when the political scene was 'kinder and gentler'.

Deb, great "rant". You are so right. And I love your description of north FL as a gardening twilight zone - LOL…so true. Rudeness seems to be the "thing" these days. I see it in my favorite TV shows and in my day-to-day life. It's sad.

Here is how it went for me. Having been an avid and experienced gardner for over 40 years, when we were planning our move to FL I spent a great deal of time reading up on what was supposed to grow in my area. I also joined this forum about a year before the move And quickly discovered that what everyone here was saying didn't jive with the books. The line "forget what you know about gardening" kept resonating in my head. As a result, my transition from a northern to a north FL gardner was not as traumatic as it might have been but no less frustratic and disappointing because I tried to grow things that I shouldn't. Certainly I never dreamed of disagreeing with the experienced gardners on this forum just because of what the books said. After all I had joined it to learn.

I'm happy to say that after all these trials and errors, I, like Deb, have finally given up on most veggie gardening and enjoy what does. As you all know about three years ago I finally built my dresm GH and spend most of my time with my orchids which do GREAT in north FL…thank you very much!!!

Deb thanks fir writing this. BTW I hope you plan to stay active here even when you move to Mexico. Please don't go away again.

From what I've seen over the years here is that whenever some people read a different opinion on something than what they have they take it personally and get offended. Then the daggers start flying back and forth. Too bad everyone can't put their adult pants back on and stop the Kindergarten whining and just agree to disagree. Hey, if you think it's bad on this forum, go to The Kitchen Table and see how fast things can get overheated over the most simple posts. And forget about Hot Topics, that one will turn anyone into a raving lunatic.

IMO, some folks seem to thrive on drama and conflict. The old 'chip on the shoulder' types, you know?

And sometimes, I suspect they're venting their anger over something in their life that's unrelated to the topic - deflection?

I always use an old saying I came across years ago. It's good for those "My degree beats all your experience" type of people: A thermometer isn't the only thing that's graduated with degrees and has no brains.

Well we can share our experiences with growing potted plants indoors:)

jstropic, I've done a lot of that. Still have a lot of plants indoors, just because I love having them there. I used to grow miniature AVs indoors, but I kept losing them all to disease or weather or whatever, so I gave up on them.

It can happen amongst Floridians too though. I get annoyed all the time by people in other parts of central Florida and in south Florida who try to tell me I can't grow certain things in St. Pete that I see growing perfectly fine here all the damn time. I've been told coconut palms won't fruit here, yet you see them fruiting all throughout the peninsula up to Clearwater. Basically everything I've seen growing in south Florida I've seen growing here as well. They don't understand the effects that the geography of the Pinellas peninsula (which is only connected to mainland Florida in the far north) the offshore breezes and all the water basically sorrounding us have on climatic conditions so they assume us to be in zone 9a and 9b instead of 10a with 10b micro climates.

Man, it's been a while since I have been to the Boards, sad to hear that people have been jerks!

SweetMonkeyCheese - how are you? I was just thinking about you the other day.

i am good. i find the board harder and harder to navigate/post on than back in the day so I tend to stick with facebook garden sites Central Florida Gardening Friends and Florida Gardening Friends

i was out in Largo today and found a beautiful tree that is to die for and as I was Googling it brought me to the boards!

these boards are a wealth of information!

Dirty gardener I'm glad for your comments. I live in the Venice area on the west coast. Areas like St. Pete can grow some stuff that won't grow here because of their proximity to the water.

Here we only have a few canals and the coastline.

Here we can grow things like coconuts near the coast, but inland it's rough on them. Zone 10 starts continuously just north of here, but our coast doesn't have a zone 10b compared to the east coast where it starts near Lake Worth. The people on the East coast have zone 10 starting farther north than the west coast because of the Atlantic

being much warmer in the winter than the Gulf coast.