i would like to ID many of the plants growing on my property, as well as in local parks. i have the Audubon Field Guides on Trees and on Wildflowers. Also their apps for iPod, iPhone. Does not help much with weeds. I know enough to say "maple" but not to ID sugar maple from silver maple etc.. I have 16 acres of fields, woods, a pond, so a wide variety of plants grow here. i have taken lots of photos for the database, and would like to know for sure what the plants/trees are so i can add them over the winter.

There is a 500 acre park near me that is out in the country, an old farm that was donated to the county 30 years ago. They let the fields grow up, and there are huge areas of woods, as well as a nice stream that goes through the park. I am sure there are many varieties of trees and wildflowers there.

Can anyone recommend good books or websites? There would be to many to put on the plant ID forum.

Ohio State U: http://extension.osu.edu/topic...
Natives of NE Ohio: http://nativeplantsocietyneohi...
ODNR invasives: http://www.ohiodnr.com/default...
ODNR native trees: http://ohiodnr.com/tabid/5361/...

HTH you get started!

What is the park you're talking about? I used to live in OH and miss it sometimes. Good luck!

Lobdell Reserve, and Morris Woods. Lobdell is a county park, Morris is a state park. I live in Licking County, which is NE of Columbus.

Dawes Arboretum is also in my county.

thanks for the sites!

i would also like to find a couple good books, that i can take with me.

If the plants are native, then Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center's database is a good starting point.
Scroll down to the combination search and select Ohio then select other characteristics to narrow the search. I usually start with only one extra characteristic at a time and bracket them to make sure I don't miss anything. Example: If it is blooming now I will not only choose October but also September and November. If the flower looks blue I will also choose purple and violet.

http://www.wildflower.org/plan...

Wow Juli, what a spectacular picture! I love fall foliage. My beautiful maple tree is almost bare now.

Have you tried your library for books? It's a good way to try reference books without investing a lot of money trying to find one you like. You can always buy it later.

Karen

Thanks for all the suggestions!

My local library is pretty small. They are more than willing to get a book through interlibrary loan, if I have the title.

I also thought, if I had a couple good titles, I could download the ebook versions. Then I could take it into the woods with me on my iPod.

I have Michael Derr's big green book on woody plants, but it is not that useful for ID on trees in the woods. And, way to heavy to carry!

I was hoping there was a book that would tell about which characteristics to look for to tell the difference between trees... such as between silver maple and red maple. Like some bird books do. They will point to an identifying characteristic.

Juli, you might want to ask about books on the tree forum or the ID forum. They might have book suggestions for you.

Karen

good idea!

I've been to Dawes but managed to miss the other parks you mentioned. Eh, oh, way to go Ohio!

Dawes is a fantastic place. Very lucky to have it so close! Wish I lived even closer - it is about 35 minutes from me. I would like to live across the street!