Dear Friends , Recent post have pushed me over the edge to make some comments on the relatedness of these topics. There is a line between a garden, a collection, commerce and agriculture, but all are inter-related. If we can accept that the person who goes to a big "Wal Mart' and buys a potted cyclamen in bloom is at least a nascent gardener, then a "real" gardener can grow a row of a specialty collection and still be a gardener? If that gardener has dozens of rows and sells the production, isn't that agriculture, not horticulture? Is a cold frame or a rock garden alone a 'garden'? And I think it is (or should be) the aim of every 'real' gardener to share and propagate. We all know people who buy lots of plants, but never seem to have any extras to share Shouldn't we all have those plants that seem to HAVE TO be divided every year or two and given away, replanted or composted. I donate to the BX with some regularity and get a few things from the BX, but I'd bet there's as many or more who get lots of things from the BX and never 'produce' extras FOR the BX. Anyone who gardens should GROW things: they get bigger, multiply and produce seed of offsets. We're all farmers. And what is a "real' Garden? Most of all of our environments are drastically unlike nature. Trees have been rampantly cut down and reforested, landscaped reshaped by urban or rural machinery. Unless you live 'way out', every inch of ground has been trod upon, moved and been influenced by changes in the flora. If your back yard is untended and overgrown, isn't it still as 'real' a garden? Weed clogged empty lots, fields of grain and manicured 'gardens' are all shades of the similar manipulation. To be sure we have standards and understanding of what makes a real garden and a real gardener. If you never have extra divisions, seeds, or cuttings are you a 'real' gardener? I am just throwing out these thoughts to encourage donors. I don't mean to guilt anyone into donating to the BX. It is meant to spread extras around without guilt. Any rebuttals? Best Jim W. -- Dr. James W. Waddick 8871 NW Brostrom Rd. Kansas City Missouri 64152-2711 USA Ph. 816-746-1949 Zone 5 Record low -23F Summer 100F +