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For your benefit there are a few things we ask. We call them our "frequently given answers." We're not trying to squash your questions — it's just that a lot of times, people can get better and faster answers by helping themselves.

#1. Have you checked the yellow pages of your phone book?
We cannot tell you who sells what or offers what services in your area (except for our advertisers, of course). Really. Don't even.

#2. Have you asked your county extension agent?
If you have any question about lawns, trees or vegetables, your county extension agent can probably answer it immediately over the phone. You'll probably be pleasantly surprised at how knowledgeable and helpful they are (if you don't call them at 1am). REMEMBER: they're the experts on your local situation, and the reason they're there is to answer your questions. That's what you pay them for.

#3. Have you tried our tips and links pages?
Unless we know the answer from our own experience, we turn to the Web for help. First, we look for extension publications. (We try the Florida extension publications first, because they're the most, um, extensive.) Next, we refer to the references page.

#4. Where are you?
Contrary to popular belief, we cannot tell where you are from your e-mail return address. If you don't tell us where you are, we won't know.
This is especially important if you're asking us a gardening question; in fact, it's a requirement for us to be able to give you a good answer. And even if you're not asking a gardening question, we'd really like to know where you are, just so we'll know where our audience is.

And for our benefit, there's one other thing we ask:

Please turn off HTML encoding.
If your e-mail program generates its message in both plain text format and HTML format at the same time, please turn off the HTML format. We would suggest that you leave it off, except when you're sending e-mail to someone who actually wants you to write in different colors, sizes and fonts.
The problem with e-mail in HTML format is that it nearly triples the file size of mail in our in-box, and our e-mail programs don't understand HTML anyway.

Having said all that . . . if you have a plant question, the more you can tell us about the plant's history and growing conditions, the better we can help. And, one more time, please tell us where you are.