gingin said:I personally salute Dave and Trish

My sentiments exactly, Ginger! Not only for allowing us to have a voice, but for taking on such a wonderful and challenging endeavor and allowing us to be a part of it. I haven't been a part of "the family" for very long, so I may not be as "tossed" by the changes as some long time members, but to me change doesn't equal bad. You guys are doing an amazing job and I have full faith that you, @Dave and @Trish , can bring the NGA back to its original glory and get people involved in the association again. I mean, look at what they accomplished with ATP. I have "met", engaged with, and learned so much from the wonderful people on this site. I for one am extremely excited for the new undertakings and the new opportunities to grow, learn, and assist others doing the same.

Ahmen!

JamesAcclaims said:
I for one am extremely excited for the new undertakings and the new opportunities to grow, learn, and assist others doing the same.

Very well said, James!

I was a member of Dave's Garden for years, and yes, I paid to belong to the site. I always felt it was worth it - until Dave left. (That's a long story and his story so I won't go into it here.) I stayed with the site longer than I think most people did, and I saw the changes that made a once great site simply terrible. When a friend who had been posting on DG and ATP told me he was going exclusively to ATP, I followed. And I found out where everyone had gone!

If this change was along the lines of DG where the original person was no longer in charge, I would be worried. But I feel like I "know" Dave, and I know he's done right by us in the past, and I see no reason why that will change in the future. The names may change, but the sense of community Dave has brought to all his sites remains the same. And that's why we keep following him across the web. I thought DG was a great site (with Dave), and I thought ATP was a great site. If I had one gripe, it's that I thought there should be more members! Now, we have the opportunity to attract more people to make this community even richer and I think that's a wonderful thing.

I mean, if you're a gardener of any level and you type "gardening" into Google, I have to think garden.org would draw your interest. And knowing they already had three times as many members already puts us ahead of where we were. I hope some of the "old" NGA members will chime in and tell us what they think of our additions to "their" site. I admit, as a moderator, I feel more pressure knowing more people will be looking at my forum. But I'm excited, too!

It's going to be a great ride, and we fully look forward to the future!

Let's grow

Does this mean I'm going to have more competition for the photo contest this year? Because I just bought a new camera and I've been boasting a lot on my forum about winning it this year.

LOL, Melanie -- more competition just makes winning all the sweeter!

I like the way you think, Sandy!

If you google 'garden' you'll find this site now shows up in the first page and that converts into more visitors. Every website tries to get a higher listing on the free search engines for just that reason. It was quite the catch to get that domain name. National Gardening Association is the tree we've been grafted onto. It's a good thing for the business and a free site for everyone. Maybe the next generation can take on the World Gardening Association. ....by any other name would smell as sweet. Lets all just rock this baby through the teething pains and we'll all love it more. Happy Earth Day Earthlings.

I am currently going through the edible landscaping articles section and loving it! Some of these new (to ATP members) features are great! ...but I had a question: @dave , will we be able to star those pages (and/or other articles from the original NGA) any time soon so that we can save them for easy access later? Or is it already possible and I just don't see it? (I am guilty of being star-blind on this site in the past.)

DogsNDaylilies said:I am guilty of being star-blind on this site in the past

WHAT?!?! I didn't even know that I could star things! You just blew my mind, DND!

Edited to add: I'm loving the Landscaping articles, myself. I haven't delved into the edibles yet.

I was just checking Facebook and I see that the NGA has a page, which I have now liked. Does that mean the ATP Facebook page will be going away? Are there any other social media sites that will be affected?

mellielong said:Does that mean the ATP Facebook page will be going away?

Good question, Melanie!

Wow! What a smooth change over! I didn't expect that to happen for a while yet. You are amazing, Dave!

I'm sad that some of the international members find the name off-putting. The site is Gardens.org - which isn't US-centric at all. But it is run by the National Gardening Association - which is US-centric, because that is where it was made, and where the Whitingers live. Dave and Trish have already been traveling in the southern/southwestern states giving talks and helping educate people on a local scale. Now they will be able to have a voice on a broader scale. Since they are in the US, they are going to give talks/help organizations/etc... about what they know - gardening in the US. That doesn't affect the website at all, as I see it. As Janet said, the members here do a TON of the educating on the site, and we can help a much broader audience BECAUSE we are from so many different places and have such a wide variety of experiences. (Well, you all do the educating. I just browse and lurk and learn a lot from all of you! )

mellielong said:I was just checking Facebook and I see that the NGA has a page, which I have now liked. Does that mean the ATP Facebook page will be going away? Are there any other social media sites that will be affected?

I'm not sure what we'll do with the ATP facebook page. If I can merge it with the NGA page, I will.

I don't think we can merge the two FB pages, but that is on my list to do next week.
Either way, I'll post on the ATP FB page.

I was able to change the Pinterest name from ATP to NGA, so no changes there.

We now have a twitter account- listed below, and an Instagram account.

The YouTube accounts are currently in a bit of a mess and YouTube does not allow for moving videos or merging accounts, so we'll want to decide what to do about those, but for now, the YouTube link at the bottom is NGA's

I am with Marylyn. I am a browser and lurker. I have learned a lot from A. T. P. that way.Dave and Trish have grown a fine garden here. Their garden is growing. I dont care what they call the growth just glad its growing. I can still browse and lurk and learn........just saying..... Nell

Don't be a lurker Nell! I'd bet you have a lot to teach the rest of us.

And I hope our international friends will stick around and at least give it a chance. Please don't jump ship hastily.

Karen

Trish, I've changed some of my names on Facebook. it's rather easy to do and I can help via tree mail if you need it.

Well, that was a very good read for me! I've just recently planted my roots here so it was nice to find out a tiny bit of the background behind Dave and Trish's amazing NGA evolution and to get a little feel for how they diligently sowed their internet garden over the years so as to now reap an amazing resource site that so many gardeners and plant lovers can participate in and learn from.

I'm a complete newbie to plants. Oh, I've always been around plants and always had them in my homes and yards but my relationship with them was only for their beauty. Now that I'm 65 yrs old and have the time to really appreciate them I started searching the internet for good plant/garden websites but I found there are not a lot of good ones out there. When I came across the name 'National Gardening Association' it was not intimidating or stuffy or cliquish sounding at all to me. Instead it gave me the feeling of KNOWLEDGE and drew me in to want to check it out. I'm so glad I did because this is an amazing place! I already feel I have grown as a plant nurturer just from the little I've already learned here and the help I've received.

I commend Dave and Trish for their vision to want to keep moving forward and refine and I hope their new endeavors flourish and grow strong roots. I'm glad I'm here.