Good evening! My name is Kevin and I was highly encouraged to seek out NARGS and join, by a good friend in Michigan and one of the most knowledgeable people I know in the field of horticulture. (Yep, that pun was intended, 
)
He is credited with infecting me with this 'bug', and instilling in me a fascination and desire for plants that are far more obscure than the hum-drum, run-of-the-mill plants that you see growing in peoples properties. Whether he recognizes it or not, I view him as my mentor in this glorious botanical realm.
I can only echo the sentiments he shared with me recently. In his words, "I shrink from the application of the root word 'garden' and any of its manifestations, most especially 'gardener', as they imply a measure of order and aesthetics I cannot rightly claim."
I currently reside in Mount Airy, NC on a small ΒΌ acre city lot; and approximately 6 or 7 years began to attempt to convert my backyard into my version of a lush haven of serenity. So far, I feel I have succeeded in creating a permanent landscaping construction zone that will not ever fulfill the ever-changing vision in my mind.
The last couple of years had deceived me into believing that I was finally beginning to find some of those plants that my friend would find truly exciting in their obscurity. LOL! I was provided with a wondrous lesson in how I have yet to go this past week, when I was granted a more in-depth tour of his collection than I had seen many years ago.
Please bear with me as I strive to learn from all of you plant aficionados here at NARGS. I am looking forward to what this part of the journey holds in store.
Best Regards,
Kevin
Comments
I wanted to share a few
I wanted to share a few photos, but most of my photos are at home right now. Here are a couple that I have access to at the moment.
Welcome from me too. Kevin!
Welcome from me too. Kevin!
Your progression through gardening/botany/horticulture is familiar to us all. And I think it is fair to say that all of us along that route never stop learning and don't ever regret these chosen paths. Of course, "mundane" doesn't always mean uninteresting, overused and unuseful. And what is rare in one region can be commonplace in another. I tell all my garden visitors: please don't pull the weeds! I grow alpine dandelions and lots of prairie plants , etc. that look like weeds to most people. In addition, my gardens are not manicured, and I often allow seedlings to grow where they come up. One might not be able to tell if a plant is supposed to be there or not!
Nearly all of us rock gardeners have other aspects of plant world we are interested in. You can perused past threads in this forum to prove it. Unfortunate, when the NARGS site was redone a few years ago,the forum program we used back then was scrapped, and this inferior one put in its place. In the transition. all photos from the first post of every thread were lost.
I wish I could help you with your question about the Japanese maple, but we are lucky if we can get them to even survive up here!
Rick
Hello!!
Hello!!
Welcome to this board! Nice pictures!
Welcome Kevin,
I share much of your perspective regarding plant passion and heartily welcome you to these barren pages of the NARGS Forum. For some unknown reason to me this forum seems unfortunately to have been abandoned. I visit here daily hoping for some tidbit from a fellow plant enthusiast but mostly find emptiness. It seems many of the former posters have degenerated to the social media platforms for posting. I go daily to the SRGC Forum where goodly enthusiasm persists. Perhaps you could post a few pics or observations here to attempt a kickstart.