On Jun 7, 2006, at 1:27 PM, Jim McKenney wrote: > Max Withers wrote "Where a local "Master Gardener" told me I should > grow > Pelargoniums instead of Peonies." > > Max, I had to laugh when I read that. Long before anyone had dreamed > up the > "master gardener" idea to take the load off the county agents, I > visited my > then local county agent for some advice. I was having trouble with > fusarium > killing my larkspurs. When I asked him for suggestions, he told me to > grow > marigolds instead. And he evidently thought that was an eminently > professional and appropriate answer. > > I left grumbling about the waste of taxpayer money. > > Jim McKenney > You and me, too. Boy, do I have plenty of stories about the county agricultural extension agents in Austin, Texas growing up when I was a teenager and first started branching out into interesting, unusual, and rare things to grow around my parents' house. I can't tell you how many things they told me to forget about and stick to only those relatively few things that had been grown in that area for the past 100 years or so since those were the only things that would grow there. Many of the things (mostly fruit trees at that time) they told me couldn't be grown are now fairly large mature trees or bushes around my parents' house. And they most likely didn't know about Thad Howard or Scott Ogden, who lived close by, so they could only recommend pre-chilling in the fridge for 6 weeks of Hyacinths and Tulips as the way to have some pretty flowering bulbs in the garden. Maybe they've broadened their recommendations more lately. But I still think someone like Cynthia Mueller *grows* more than twice as many species, also near that area, than they even know about. But I think I may be a little biased... --Lee Poulsen Pasadena, California, USDA Zone 10a