We have a new member from the great state of Idaho and she noticed there was no microbadge for her state so I sent Dave a tree-mail with the request for an Idaho badge. Needless to say, Dave was quick on the keyboard and we now have an Idaho badge available ... now I'll have to put on my thinking cap for additional badge requests.

Thanks so much Dave!

Thank YOU for asking for the new member Lin

Hee hee, can we have a badge for just the EASTERN portion of Washington State?

The Eastern half is very different from the Western half, that's for sure.
Western, lush green valleys with moderate temperatures and lots of moisture.
Eastern, beautiful high desert.

I'd have no trouble doing that but I can't think of how to represent the region with such a small icon.

There is a "Xeriscape" badge for arid gardening. There are badges for "Oregon" and for "Pacific North West", but no "WA" badge. The PNW badge is several evergreen trees, so it COULD be used to represent "The Evergreen State" ... but the high desert doesn't have many toweirng pines, I think.

It gives me an idea for some new feature like "How does your garden grow?" Something more expressive than the USDA Hardiness Zone.

It would have to include at least things like these:

low (or high, or frequent) rainfall
excessive summer heat heat is a limiting condition
winter low temp is a limiting condition: (USDA Hardiness)
can grow many crops or plants right through the winter
length of frost-free growing season (days above freezing)
length of tomatoe growing season (days above 50 degrees)
degree days
high winds cause problems
sandy soil
heavy clay soil
alkaline soil
acid soil

At first I thoguht that could be done as a series of badges, but I think it's better suited to a list of text phrases like entries in the Plant Database.

I start a speculation thread in the Site Talk forum.

RickCorey said:At first I thoguht that could be done as a series of badges, but I think it's better suited to a list of text phrases like entries in the Plant Database.

I start a speculation thread in the Site Talk forum.

I'm liking your thinking here, Rick. I'll watch for that speculation thread.

Thanks! It's up, as "Propose feature: "How does your garden grow?"

"Check all that apply" would be easy to fill out.

Maybe some stats could be auto-populated from ZIP code, or volunteers could fill them out from manual look-up. But even so, a numeric field like "inches of rain" or "frost date" should be flanked by a free-text field, because the number seldom tells the whole story. It feels good to be able to be able to complain "but the rain never falls when you need it!" or "yeah, right, April 6 ... except when it snows in mid-May!!"

An icicle on a pine tree would do very nicely for our little corner of NE WA. (need blue, shivering emoticon here!)

Where I live, I see more people in shorts in mid-winter than I do in mid-summer. It's too cool for shorts in EITHER season, but the chance to show off their cold-hardiness pulls them out of the woodwork in wintertime.

Apparantly, a few years ago, there was some unpopular change in the dress code where I work. Shorts were forbidden, so someone pointed out that it would be "sexual discrimination" to allow skirts for women but forbid kilts for men.

So we still have "Kilt Fridays" where several people celebrate their heritage and/or show off their knees. I often do a double-take, but have not yet gotten whiplash.

Dave,

Did we ever get a badge for the members of PA, yet? We want them to feel included too!

Marilyn said:Did we ever get a badge for the members of PA, yet? We want them to feel included too!

Eventually, maybe every state will be recognized with a microbadge. We are on the right track with so many new members coming on board the ATP train! And, it's great to see microbadges representing other parts of the world as well!

Aroids badge? Been looking but no luck.

How about Utah?

I guess what I really need to do is sit down at some point and make microbadges for all 50 states. It takes me about maybe 5 minutes to make a simple badge so this shouldn't take all day long.

eclayne said:Aroids badge? Been looking but no luck.

I'd buy an Aroid badge too ... a Philodendron or Alocasia leaf would make a great Aroid badge!

dave said:I guess what I really need to do is sit down at some point and make microbadges for all 50 states. It takes me about maybe 5 minutes to make a simple badge so this shouldn't take all day long.

Dave: You are so good to us and we sure appreciate your efforts and your work in making this the best site on the web!

Paul2032 said:How about Utah?

Didn't realize that Utah didn't have a badge yet, Paul or I would've have included it in my post.