Online Plant Guides as Winter Reading

Know everything there is to know about pruning? Feeling good about how to care for houseplants? Confident in the ideal treatment of those bare root Roses that become available in spring? If you’re like me, you probably answered “no” to some of these questions. And if you’re like me, for questions that need answering, you probably seek out online Plant Guides for quick and detailed answers.

Technology makes it easy to be a skilled gardener. There is no need to go-it-alone when it comes to gardening today. Internet sites can teach more about gardening than we will ever need to know… but gardeners do want to know, so many surf the web for answers. 

Web pages from extension schools that operate in colleges and universities are prime places to look for useful Plant Guides. Trusted growers also produce Plant Guides that give key information about plant care. And mom-and-pop gardeners, those plant lovers who know by doing, can also provide useful guidance which is more frequently being posted online as more and more people are gaining a web presence. Brief online blurbs and more detailed Plant Guides can really help when it comes to seeking out answers to common and uncommon gardening questions.

I mention the first two sources of information because I know that the extension schools engage in research and are obligated to vet the information they post. Similarly, commercial growers have a vested interest in providing accurate information so that those who buy their plants will achieve success in tending them. Plant Guides from these two sources tend to be what I have found to be the most reliable, and I seek them out first. Then, the mom-and-pop gardeners play an important role in filling in the gaps in what I have learned, often coming up with interesting new ideas. But, suffice it to say, as with any research, I try to triangulate data—verify information by ensuring it “stays true” from one source, to a second, to a third. One downside to the web is that misinformation can snowball easily, so go to good sources for your information, and then check multiple “good sources” to ensure you have gotten the right information.

Several years back, I puzzled over when and if I should prune my healthy but somewhat immature apple trees. Most of my gardener friends did not have fruit trees, aside from one who said “don’t prune them at all”. Was he right? What do the orchards do? Plant Guides on pruning came to the rescue, prompted me to time my pruning right, and even illustrated the types of branches that needed cutting. With these Plant Guides no farther away than my smartphone, I took to my own two-tree “orchard” at the right time, pruned here, left things alone there, and ended up with trees that are now sturdy, attractive, and fruiting very well. Without the Plant Guides, I would have pruned far too early. I might have overdone my cutting. But the easy accessibility of the well-crafted Plant Guides helped me do things right.

Plant Guides are on my mind because they make great winter reading. Seed catalogs are fun to peruse, and I love seeing new plant varieties when new grower catalogs hit my doorstep. But Plant Guides that offer up instructions for care are perhaps the best reading gardeners can do when they have a little downtime.

This winter, when you have the time to sip a warm drink and put your feet up, consider checking out some Plant Guides from reputable sites. For me, at least, it helps to read broadly, quickly scanning multiple sources and moving forward rather than getting bogged down in any one piece. I use this approach because I have found that it is in spring or summer when I will be out in the garden and will happen upon a problem that will cause me to research certain things more deeply later. 

Enjoy this winter. Savor a little quiet time. And seek out some Plant Guides. Those Guides will help you realize you need never “go it alone” as a gardener, thanks to accessible online content that can save the day… and in my case, an apple or two.