For instance, I'm a sucker for a pretty flower. When I first saw it, I thought the dainty white flowers of Sweet Woodruff were so cute that I planted it in several of my garden beds. Now, a year later, all of those beds are completely covered in Sweet Woodruff and it's even trying to establish colonies in my lawn! As a lot of the other plants don't care to be choked or crowded, I'm getting to correct last year's mistake by weeding out masses of 'dainty white flowers', not an easy task because, like so many of what I call the super-invasive plants, Sweet Woodruff has a root system with more tentacles than a sea anemone.
If I hadn't been so impulsive, I could have avoided all this by finding out about Sweet Woodruff before I planted it. There are all kinds of message boards to post questions and get answers on the web. Even if you don't have a specific question in mind, they can be fun reading and you'll often learn something you can apply in your own yard.
You're probably already familiar with several of the giant forums because of their connections with an Internet Service Provider or a product. For instance, Sierra Home's Gardening Message Board can be found at http://forums.sierra.com/forums/gardenin... Organized by thread on a variety of different garden topics, this board is very accessible and easy to use even for the novice. Both the Home Arts Potting Shed Gardening Forum at http://forum.homearts.com/cgi-bin/WebX?1... and the Sympatico.ca Gardening Forums at http://forums.sympatico.ca/WebX/WebX.cgi... are also giant boards with extensive lists of gardening topics, a feature that makes it much easier to find what you're looking for if you do have a particular /question in mind.
If you're looking for gardening information that you can use, it's a good idea to stick to boards that focus on a particular geographic area. One of the best of these is the Gardenweb Canadian Forums at http://www.gardenweb.com/forums/canada/; one of these is specifically focused on gardens in Northern climates and the other on Maritime/Pacific Northwest climates. Best of all, they're searchable, which is a huge help when you're looking for a specific piece of information.
My very favourites, though, are the boards that give you access to expert advice. You can read answers to gardening questions by Helen Chestnut or participate in a gardening discussion group at http://www.slugsandsalal.com/overfence.h... (Gardening Pacific Northwest Over the Fence). If you live in the interior, you'll be able to get excellent advice from Alice Wolczuk, the mainstay of Wolczuk's Nursery in Prince George, through the Northern BC Gardening Forum at http://www.pgmoneysaver.bc.ca/gardens/fo... I depended on her advice for many years when I was living and gardening up there; it's great to see that she has a 'home' on the net, too.
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