First of all, Jane, let me apologize for having put you on the spot like that.
I'm not someone who has been involved at a very high level of horticultural science for many decades: I'm just like you, an enthusiastic amateur (in the original sense of the word) gardener, passionate sometimes about our gardening world and keen to spread that enthusiasm. Nor am I at the top of any ladder: if I seem to be a rung above you, trust me, I'm constantly reminded that there are plenty of people on the many rungs above me. Actually, I prefer to think of myself as being on my own ladder, a ladder which I'm not anxious to share with anyone. ; ) I'm inclined to think that in spite of this clumsy introduction, if we ever met we would soon be great friends. You obviously love what you are doing, and few things convey to other people as well as enthusiasm. Only the other night I was in a conversation with other members of our local chapter in which we were informally reviewing the speakers we had had over the last few years. We had two speakers who definitely did not meet the bar for knowledge of their subject - most of us agreed that they were a waste of money. At the other end of the spectrum we had another speaker who didn't have much new to tell us, but conducted himself in such a winning way and with such enthusiasm that everyone agreed that he was among the best. Knowledge is important at some level, but I believe that it's people like you with a good sense of discretion about when to wield it and when to keep it sheathed, and who can substitute at will abundant enthusiasm for conspicuous erudition, who are the ones who will be the most effective in winning people over to our hobby. Luckily for this process of winning over new people to our hobby, newbies are unlikely to see my occasional rants. I hope I'm right about that. Jim McKenney
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