We now have 12 forums. Please advise me on what else I might add. There are brief descriptions of the purpose of each in script on the first page, but maybe I should add them to my welcome posts. They're a little hard to find, in my opinion.

The Roses Cubit is looking good, Zuzu! Thanks for your work. I've been adding to the forums in Clems cubit too... but very few people have stopped in to say hello. I'm getting lonely...! =(

I linked Roses, Irises and Lilies at the top of my front page. Is there any other Cubit I should link there? Here's a link to what I have so far:

http://cubits.org/Clematis/

The link is a great idea. Thanks, Evey. I'll add a link to clems when I've composed a more complete mission statement and I'll look around for other categories that might fit too. Is there a garden structure cubit? That seems like a natural fit for clems.

I'll drop in and add some posts to the clem forums after dinner. It's almost 10:00 here and I fed the cats, but I haven't taken care of myself yet. I think I'll go eat while I watch "The Biggest Loser." It keeps me from overeating.

My rose parade should start in April...in years past, Lady Banks has bloomed even earlier but I think I lost her this year. It has been colder than it has been in 20-30 years. I think my Lady Banks has left the building.

Zuzu, I have a Structures forum within the Clems cubit as well as a Garden Art forum. I'm adding a Tools forum as well. Basically, anything that I use with clems, or that helps me better appreciate clems, I'm including as a forum within the Cubit... assuming there is enough interest to keep discussion going on the topic. I'm also adding a forum for Clones and Seedlings. Is there anything else you can think of that would be a good forum within the Clematis cubit?

I've been wondering whether I should add a separate forum for questions. I see you have yours incorporated in Clematis Discussion, which seems right, because it probably will be the forum with the heaviest traffic.

What about an ID forum? Theoretically, people now can go down the list of cultivars and choose the thumbnail that's most applicable, but we all know that clems can look quite different in different gardens and in different seasons, and the thumbnail might not match.

One of my clems is already starting to bloom, by the way -- c. Armandii. As soon as it gets more showy, I'll come over and post some photos of it.

zuzu,
what about rose propagation ?

Yay! A rose cubit. Thanks for starting it up zuzu. Good to see you here.

the other Joanne (aka Grow_Jo)

zuzu said:What about an ID forum? Theoretically, people now can go down the list of cultivars and choose the thumbnail that's most applicable, but we all know that clems can look quite different in different gardens and in different seasons, and the thumbnail might not match.

This is exactly why I set up the Images area with a separate thread for each cultivar. The same clem cultivar (or rose cultivar) can look very different in different types of soil, different light conditions, different seasons, etc. With a separate thread for each cultivar and lots of people posting their own photos for each one, we can all see the variation in blooms around the country. This was one thing that was frustrating at DG.... people would post photos, but it was difficult to easily see the location where the image was snapped. With a separate thread for each cultivar, you can scroll down the thread and see where the poster is from easily.

Hi, Joanne. Great to see you.

Brigitte, I thought propagation could be covered in a separate thread in the Growing Roses forum. I included propagation in the "welcome" post for that forum, but not in the forum summary. I'll change that this afternoon.

Evey, I was thinking of people in a hurry, who might only have the time to scan the thumbnails and not look through every thread, but who are these people and why are they in such a hurry? Of all the nerve...

ROFL!

I would be one of these people who is always in a hurry so thumbnails would be great.

I think it is a great idea to have a thread with the same roses BUT different climates.Is that what you're suggesting ? the list could get VERY long with all these beautiful roses we are blessed with.

Yep, Eglantyne, that's what I'm suggesting. We've got a few already posted in the Clematis forum. Ice Blue over there is a great example. Outdoors, Louise (Venu209) gets pale blooms... almost white with a bluish-lavender tint. Karenn just posted her photo of Ice Blue growing indoors under lights and it's a vibrant baby blue color. They don't even look like the same cultivar!

You're right, Brigitte. We could never do it with roses. We'd have to have thousands of threads. Good thing we already have helpmefind.com for that purpose.

Evey, do you think there'll be a way to keep your Clematis cultivar image threads in alphabetical order someday? That would be great, wouldn't it?

It would be awesome, but with Dave so overwhelmed with requests right now, I've come up with my own temporary fix before bothering him with more. In several of the forums over in Clematis, I put a sticky at the top of the forum with an index. I alphabetized the entries in each index with a link to that particular thread. So, if you want to see if a cultivar has been posted, just click on the index and look it up. If it's there, you can click on the link and add your own photo. If it's not in the index, then you can start a new thread and add it, just like we could add things to PlantFiles if they weren't already there.

EDIT: Though there are thousands of clematis cultivars, there are a limited number currently available here in North America. So, it's feasible to set up a separate image gallery of those that actually are available here. I get so frustrated when I see a photo of a "must have" clematis only to find out it's not commercially available here.

Wow, that's ambitious! You're so well organized over there.

I decided you're right, Brigitte: There should be a separate forum for propagation. "Growing Roses" doesn't offer enough of a clue. I'll create one right away.

Hiya Zuzie and thanks for the invite!

Lali, Lali, so great to see you here!

Is this THE Lali that I heard you mention so fondly from long DG days gone by?