GardensOnline Offers Huge Database of Plants

GardensOnline offers what looks to be a database of over 770 plants at http://www.GardensOnline.com.au/PlantSearch/PlantSearch.asp . You can search by a several different variables, including common name, flowering time, height, sunlight requirements, and zone.

Now, the site is in Australia and the zone map they offer is of Australia. I wondered if there were any plants in the database that I'd recognize here in the southeastern US. I found wisteria, phlox, crepe myrtle, dogwoods, and several others; it's obvious that this database will be useful to folks outside as well as inside Australia. (If you can't find something using the common name search, use the general text search at the bottom. I was amazed to discover that a plant I knew only as a "Pyracantha" is in fact a "Yunnan Firehorn"! Searching for "pyracantha" under the common name didn't find it; I had to do a full-text search for "pyracantha" before I found it.)

Once you find the plant, its page will give you a variety of information, including an (unfortunately small) picture of the plant, climate and light preferences, growth and wind tolerance, maintenance needs, disease vulnerabilities, and flowering times.

Posted to Science-Horticulture