I think that the gardens shown in magazines, videos, TV garden shows, etc. etc. actually have the effect of discouraging newer gardeners... it's pretty darn hard to imagine coming up with gardens that would come near to living up to those, except after many years of growing, weeding, rearranging, and so on. Most of us have little if any help with our gardens (maybe a spouse, a friend, a son or daughter -- but definitely not a team willing to work long hours). Also not an unlimited supply of cash for buying hundreds of plants (half of which will likely then die on us). If there was one single piece of advice I would have for a new gardener it would be to not believe their garden will (or needs to) look like those "show gardens." It can also be quite a shock to find out just how quickly your nice, newly planted garden can be overrun by weeds!
