Op, and other discouraged gardeners—
Do you happen to have any neighbors with nice gardens? I am in the close-in burbs where people are friendly enough but keep to themselves a lot (eg both parents work, or older folks don’t get as much chance to know neighbors w/young kids). But this year I spent a little more time outside in my front yard and one day, a very nice neighbor commented encouragingly while walking her dog. Turns out she is an active, longtime gardener and was happy to chat and share her knowledge—I don’t pass her yard regularly but we ended up “touring” her yard as well so I could hear about what she has done over the years and what worked/didn’t work for her. I feel it has opened up a new friendship as well as having a helpful expert nearby.
If you think this would be something you’d like too, and have no luck with friendly passers-by, perhaps you could walk around your neighborhood and say hello to people that work on their yards/gardens themselves.

Anonymous wrote:There’s white puffy stuff all over my hollys. It’s driving me crazy. And black sooty mold that we can’t get rid of. Ugh

Use a hose to blast the black soot from the Hollies (but not strong enough water pressure to damage the trees). It will come back, but once a year is enough to keep the worst off my plants.