Bonehead said:Rather than replacing either the bear or raccoon as 'Lover of Wildlife', perhaps an owl and/or coyote could just be badges that mean whatever a person wants. I really wouldn't mind a deer, because I like to provide habitat for them, while others might choose the deer as an annoyance - similar to the loves/hates hot summers or loves/hates cold winters. We discussed previously kind of categorizing the badges - animals, plants, regions, etc. I'm in favor of getting rid of all the 'loves and keeps' and simply using the animal's name. A butterfly to one person might mean they think they are pretty, to another it may mean they make a concerted effort to plant a butterfly friendly garden. And, I definitely don't 'love' cats, but I do have the badge because I need cats to help control my rodent population.

I like the idea of an animals name only rather than "lover of..." But when I look at a member's list of badges I see that they appreciate whatever thing. Having the enjoys/suffers for winter and summer is confusing. Do people realize it is my favorite season by looking at it? No, but they do when I bring it up in the forums.

My hope is not to replace what exists but add to, if it is possible.

Chillybean said:

Having the enjoys/suffers for winter and summer is confusing. Do people realize it is my favorite season by looking at it? No, but they do when I bring it up in the forums.

I was scratching my head over that badge. I wonder if that's where compromise came in.

I really like the new 'critters allowed' badge. to all who made it happen.

What is the creature on top of the badge? My old eyes can't make it out.

It's a squirrel.

Thanks, that was one of my guesses.

If there was a circle/slash through the winter and summer icons to represent dislike, that would be ideal. Or for those animals that people either like or dislike. It would increase the number of badges by doing this, if that is a consideration.

Thanks, Dave! I appreciate your trying and can appreciate that 32x32 isn't a lot if space to work with!

I was thinking about what I wrote above with the circle/slash through things to show dislike. I tried searching for a post that talked about the badges introduction to this site. They are fun, but what is their intention, to show our gardening interests and what revolves around this? Then my idea wouldn't work here. I believe I have seen several times where Dave has mentioned wanting to maintain a positive atmosphere here and these badge suggestions would not really fit with that. It is too easy for me to get negative.

I ran into a thread shortly after I joined with people mentioning not liking winter and wanted a badge to show this, and I wish I could find that again to refresh my memory. I think it is when the enjoys/suffers came to be.

Is this the one?

I think the 'enjoys or suffers' is a good catch-all. I imagine those who do experience extreme seasons at times do enjoy them, but other times not so much. So, seems like a good description to me. As a temperate climate person, I wonder what type of badge might be appropriate to show that? Can't think of anything, and really my PNW badge rather covers it - most folks likely think of my region as raining all of the time, and that's just fine with me (best kept secrets...).

texaskitty111 said:Is this the one?

Those are the badges I was talking about, but it was the thread where it was originally brought up that I could not find after looking for it again.

What Deb says makes sense in referring to the extreme seasons some of us have, rather than thinking of it as a favorite.

Bonehead said:As a temperate climate person, I wonder what type of badge might be appropriate to show that? Can't think of anything, and really my PNW badge rather covers it - most folks likely think of my region as raining all of the time, and that's just fine with me (best kept secrets...).

Thanks to @Chillybean we now have a microbadge for houseplants:

http://garden.org/special/badg...

that's a really cute badge.

I just got it since I finally started having success with house plants!

I really like that badge.

I've been growing a few plants indoors (houseplants) since @ 1967 so I just had to get this badge. Thanks @Chillybean-Kim for suggesting it!

You're welcome and thank you for the kind words.

Jennifer, I am slowly seeing success with houseplants, too. This site has helped in learning what to do and what not to do.

Very pretty badge. I'm proud to add it to my array. I've been growing houseplants for more than 50 years and regard them as an essential part of my indoor environment.