Greetings from New Brunswick, Canada

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Hello,

I'm an Aussie who moved to Canada almost 9 years ago, last year I became a Canadian citizen so I guess that makes me a Cozzie.
Gardening in zone 4b is a lot different to gardening in zone10 but it is amazing how many plants you can grow in both lots of zones.
I love having 4 distinct seasons although I would prefer a shorter winter.
My favourite plants are hardy geraniums, clematis, campanulas but I am finding more and more plants of interest since I joined ORGS, SRGC, AGS and now NARGS.
I have been a keen gardener most of my life but have only discovered alpines and rock garden plants since joining these clubs and having access to the fabulous seed lists.
I love playing with seeds during the winter months, it helps keep away the winter blues.

Comments

Richard T. Rodich's picture

Richard T. Rodich

Sun, 01/31/2010 - 8:31pm

Welcome Helen,
A Cozzie contingent can really round out our membership. LOL
It is rather amazing how useful knowledge of tropical/sub tropical plants can be even for rock gardeners, as you've found out.

What is the identity of your avatar?  It's a most worthy flower, and a wonderful color.

maggiepie's picture

maggiepie (not verified)

Mon, 02/01/2010 - 5:46am

Hi Rick,

Thanks for the welcome, the avatar pic is a seedling of clematis 'Pamiat Serdsta'.
It is one of my favourite seedlings, it changes a lot by the time it is fully open.

Mark McDonough's picture

Mark McDonough

Tue, 02/16/2010 - 12:32pm
maggiepie wrote:

Hello,

I'm an Aussie who moved to Canada almost 9 years ago, last year I became a Canadian citizen so I guess that makes me a Cozzie.
Gardening in zone 4b is a lot different to gardening in zone10 but it is amazing how many plants you can grow in both lots of zones.
I love having 4 distinct seasons although I would prefer a shorter winter.
My favourite plants are hardy geraniums, clematis, campanulas but I am finding more and more plants of interest since I joined ORGS, SRGC, AGS and now NARGS.

Hi Maggie-Helen,  good to see you on "this side of the pond". ;D   Not too active here yet, we'll have to do something about that!  Although, the color scheme is a bit of a challenge, isn't it.  And only 3 photo uploads per message, I'm already suffering withdrawals.  Thanks to NARGS Web Master (Hugh MacMillan) wizardry, the few color scheme & text visibility issues have been resolved.  And image uploads have been increased to 10... AWESOME!

maggiepie's picture

maggiepie (not verified)

Thu, 02/18/2010 - 12:36pm

Helloo Mark!!
I bet you stir things up a bit. ;)
I really like the colour scheme, except for the red text on black which I find very hard to read without hilighting first.
Hmmm I need to see where to turn the spellchecker off, it doesn't like my aussie spelling.

Mark McDonough's picture

Mark McDonough

Thu, 02/18/2010 - 5:05pm
maggiepie wrote:

Helloo Mark!!
I bet you stir things up a bit. ;)
I really like the colour scheme, except for the red text on black which I find very hard to read without hilighting first.
Hmmm I need to see where to turn the spellchecker off, it doesn't like my aussie spelling.

Hello Helen,  I like the color scheme too, very distinctive, and now with a few of the black-text-on-dark-gray-background issues resolved, it's looking real good.  For over 26 years I worked with the industry standard CAD program; AutoCAD, for drawing construction documents in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Interiors, Urban Planning, Civil Design, etc, and the software's drawing environment is a black background, with the bright colors used for everything that gets drawn.  So here at NARGS, the scheme seems truly familiar.  

Can you tell me where you're seeing red text, I see that the web master has changed the red text to a purplish color after he and I discussed it earlier.  There shouldn't be a need to highlight any text to make it readable anymore.

maggiepie's picture

maggiepie (not verified)

Fri, 02/19/2010 - 9:03am

Mark, the only red I see now is on the home page, which btw still has some grey text on grey background (Main Menu,Meetings and Media and Sales).
I am finding the new purpley colour hard to read where the font size is smaller, in fact it is harder to read than the red.
I have a very bright monitor but my resolution is 1680X1050 so the smaller text is very  small.

Todd Boland's picture

Todd Boland

Sat, 03/06/2010 - 5:21pm

Hi Helen,  sorry for the delayed welcome but I was in Ottawa all week.  Guess you are my closest neighbor on the forum so far!  I'm sure we have similar growing conditions.

maggiepie's picture

maggiepie (not verified)

Sat, 11/16/2013 - 1:51pm

Sorry to say this is now a goodbye. :-(

I came to renew my membership a few days ago and found the notice that PayPal is no longer accepted.

Unfortunately, PayPal was the only option for payment for me. I do not have a credit card and fiddling with postal money orders ( not sure those are accepted these days either) is just too expensive and too much bother, especially when having to do it twice, once for membership and once for seed payment.

I will be very surprised if I am the only member who will have to lapse membership because the PayPal option is gone.

Regards, 

Helen Poirier

NB, Canada

Saori's picture

Saori (not verified)

Sat, 11/16/2013 - 4:19pm

Umm..., that's strange, Helen. I just paid my membership last month by paypal. I hope somebody can sort it out for you soon!

It's been a while to talk to you and I hope you are doing well!

maggiepie's picture

maggiepie (not verified)

Sat, 11/16/2013 - 6:53pm

Hello Saori, long time no see.

Hope you are well too.

I don't understand how you managed to use PayPal to renew your sub, the notice says that PayPal no longer accepted as of last June and if you try to use PayPal it will not be accepted.

I tried to renew but there is no PayPal option now.

Very strange, hope someone can throw some light on this.

I will be cheering if they can.

 

Ben Burr's picture

Ben Burr

Sun, 11/17/2013 - 3:02pm

Hello Saori,

I am afraid that you have confused payment with credit card and payment with Pay Pal.  You renewed your membership on October 9 through the website using a credit card.

Thanks very much for the renewal.

Ben

Saori's picture

Saori (not verified)

Sun, 11/17/2013 - 9:42pm

[quote=Ben Burr]

Hello Saori,

I am afraid that you have confused payment with credit card and payment with Pay Pal.  You renewed your membership on October 9 through the website using a credit card.

Thanks very much for the renewal.

Ben

[/quote]

 

Hi Ben,

Oops! blushMy bad, I realized that several hours later. At least I was able to help move the discussion along. smiley Glad you brought PayPal back, though.  

Thanks for sorting everything out!

 

Ben Burr's picture

Ben Burr

Sun, 11/17/2013 - 8:15am

Hello Helen,

In the past we had many complaints about Pay Pal, so when we instituted the new website in June, we chose authorize.net, an industry standard.  Pay Pal was also an expensive method for NARGS to process payments.  As far as I know, yours is the first complaint. 

We will put the put the Pay Pal option back up on the payment page as soon as the relevant accounts have been activated and will keep track of how many members choose this option.

Very sorry to have inconvenienced you.

Ben

maggiepie's picture

maggiepie (not verified)

Sun, 11/17/2013 - 9:36am

Thanks, Ben.

I wonder if you would mind telling me what sort of complaints were received about PayPal?

I have never known anyone who had a problem with it but if there is something to look out for I would appreciate knowing what it might be.

 

Helen

Ben Burr's picture

Ben Burr

Sun, 11/17/2013 - 2:53pm

Hello Helen,

From what I have been told by Bill Adams, and my own experience, people who want to pay with credit cards resent the extra steps involved.  However, the increased cost to NARGS was the major factor in our decision.  As Bill says, retaining and keeping current members happy is our primary concern.

Ben

maggiepie's picture

maggiepie (not verified)

Sun, 11/17/2013 - 4:05pm

Hello Ben, 

Not sure I understand. 

Was there not an option to use either credit cards 'or'  PayPal as an alternative?

If so, there would be no extra steps involved to keep paying by their usual methods, or am I missing something?

 

Helen

Mark McDonough's picture

Mark McDonough

Sat, 11/16/2013 - 6:55pm

Hi Maggie,

I have sent a message to the NARGS Presi and a couple other individuals, to ask about the issue of not having PayPal as a payment option, I hadn't noticed that.  Let see what sort of response I can get.  When I go through a mock membership renewal, I see 4 different charge card options, but not PayPal.  Let's see what the official response is.

maggiepie's picture

maggiepie (not verified)

Sat, 11/16/2013 - 7:14pm

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the input.

The only reason I can think of that PayPal would no longer be accepted would be because of terms laid out by the new credit card processor, Authorize.Net.

Anyway, this is the message on the Homepage re PayPal.

I don't see how anyone that previously used PayPal could find the new methods of payment simple and straightforward.

 

Beginning June 1, 2013, NARGS adopted a new credit card processor, Authorize.Net through the NARGS website.  Authorize.Net accepts Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express credit cards.  NARGS also accepts checks and money orders in US dollars.

If you attempt to make a payment through PayPal it will no longer be accepted. 

Please try to make your renewal and seed exchange purchases on line.  We believe that you will find it simple and straightforward.

Peter George's picture

Peter George

Sat, 11/16/2013 - 8:20pm

I have contacted the Administrative Committee tonight about this issue. I have no idea how this came about, nor was I informed about it, and I will make sure that the situation is rectified. As soon as I hear back from the other members of the AdCom, I'll inform everyone of what is going on.

 

Peter George, NARGS President

Peter George's picture

Peter George

Sat, 11/16/2013 - 9:02pm

NARGS will be 'restoring' PayPal as a payment option within a week. Please check back on the membership link in a few days and rejoin. My apologies.

 

Peter

maggiepie's picture

maggiepie (not verified)

Sun, 11/17/2013 - 5:01am

Peter, thank you very much for your prompt action.

I am sure there will be quite a few others who will appreciate having the PayPal option back.

Certainly makes life easier for international members .

Maybe you can put a notice up on the NARGS home page that PayPal is being restored.
 
Helen
Longma's picture

Longma (not verified)

Sun, 11/17/2013 - 6:45am

[quote=maggiepie]

 

I am sure there will be quite a few others who will appreciate having the PayPal option back.

Certainly makes life easier for international members .

 

[/quote]

I'm sure you're right Helen........ I am one for a start, smiley. Thanks for raising this issue, and thereby initiating a positive resolution.yes

maggiepie's picture

maggiepie (not verified)

Sun, 11/17/2013 - 5:05am

Hi Rick,

Will try and spend more time in the forum in the coming months.

No doubt I will have lots of questions to ask after the seeds go out.smiley

 

Gordon Tingley's picture

Gordon Tingley

Tue, 11/19/2013 - 3:43pm

Hello Helen,

 

I'm late in welcoming you to NARGS. Where in NB are you? I am just across the Bay of Fundy from Saint John. Welcome to the group!

maggiepie's picture

maggiepie (not verified)

Wed, 11/20/2013 - 4:05am

Hi Gordon,

I'm 10-15  minutes from Kouchibouguac Park ( depends who's driving )smiley

You're in the Annapolis valley?

Would kill for your zone 6b.

Gordon Tingley's picture

Gordon Tingley

Wed, 11/20/2013 - 6:54am

Hi Helen,

Actually we're not officially in the Annapolis Valley, but most people lump our little village of Bear River into it. The zone 6B rating was given via a Veseys seed catalog, though last winter we were more like 4B to 5A., without much in snow cover as well. It was the coldest winter since we moved here in 2009 from Vancouver BC.

Cheers,

 

Gordon