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Asymmetrical landscapes look more natural than those with strong symmetry; nature wouldn't drop two plants exactly 2' on either side of your front door!

February's Hot Topic:
Gardening The Next Generation
How Do We Engage The Kids?

Jim says: "I think much of it comes down to basic parenting skills and leading by example. Parents who should show an active interest in gardening are more likely to have their children view it positively as well..."

Stefan says: "Some advice - avoid competitions when it comes to children. A guaranteed way to have your child stop being interested in gardening is to have them do it for the potential prize at the end..."

JOIN THE DEBATE!

I'd like to get some feedback from the Northscaping community as to what direction this website should go in 2010.

Our business side is really taking off with all the NetPS plant search tools now going into the websites of so many North American garden centers, and it's keeping us very busy. In fact, we're so busy that we're having trouble maintaining the Northscaping.com website with regularity. The website is pretty much a free service that we run for northern gardeners and landscapers; we don't really make any money off of it. So when push comes to shove, we need to direct our efforts at the profit side of our business.

This is forcing us to reevaluate the role that we play in this website. We're not under any pressure to get rid of it; it's more that we feel guilty that we can't give it the attention we used to. But we do recognize that it plays an important role in providing relevant information and advice for gardeners and home landscapers living in the North. That's why we're open to suggestions from our fellow Northscapers as to how we can keep our focus on the business while at the same time keeping this resource available and active.

One idea is to turn Stefan's Corner into a blog, given how popular they are these days. Another suggestion has been to get you, our fellow Northscapers, more engaged in running and managing the website. One example would be for us to solicit a few "Expert Moderators" and "Advisors" from the general Northscaping community to monitor the discussion forums and offer their advice whenever they can. It makes some sense to us; if Northscapers want to step up and take a greater ownership in this website, that might be well worth considering.

Let us know your thoughts. You can e-mail me anytime at grapevine@northscaping.com; I'd love to hear from you.

- Jim K.