Waiting for inspiration ... waiting ... still waiting ...

The "parent plant pages" might be a good place for comments like "this grows well here".

Hmm ... how many people really know what regions are good for what plants? It seems to me that would take experience growing in several different climates, or academic knowledge.

All I ever know is that I can or can't grow something, that it thrives or doesn't. When it does poorly, I assume that I did something wrong. If it grows well, either I'm a genius or it's easy to grow.

I guess when a plant or "parent plant" has accumulated a long list of many peoples' experience, someone could work at finding patterns.

But I agree that it's hard to know from a state name or a ZIP code just what their climate is like. It would be a huge effort to try to cross-index ZIP codes or counties with Sunset or Koppen climate zones ...

>> Waiting for inspiration ... waiting ... still waiting ...

Hmmm ... we have some regional forums ... and some forums devoted to certain types of plants ...

Maybe start threads in regional forums asking "what is hard or easy to grow where you live?".

And start threads in 'plant forums' asking "who finds these easy to grow, who finds it difficult, and what are the problems in YOUR climate?"

Hopefully some of those people will know the key factors like "summers are too hot" or "springs are too unsettled".

zuzu said:The thing I always disliked about that feature in "that other place" was that you didn't know whether the person was growing the plant as a perennial in the ground, keeping it inside as a houseplant, or growing it in a container outside and bringing it in for the winter. There wasn't enough information to determine whether the plant actually would be happy in a particular zip code, especially in the case of tropical plants.

Zuzu has a very important point there! If this feature is ever added, it should specify whether the plant grows outside in all seasons in a particular location.

Karen

Since I live in Florida, I always thought it would be great if I could go to the Florida Gardening Forum and see lists that people posted of the plants that grow well for them, showing details of location in the yard/garden (full sun, only morning sun etc.) irrigation, soil type ... but that would require sub-pages because there are three different growing zones in Florida (South, Central and North) which are all extremely different growing situations.

~ Maybe we need a space on our profile page where we can list plants that grow well for us and give details. We could search the memberlist to find those who live in our area, click on their username and see if they perhaps have a list.

plantladylin said:
~ Maybe we need a space on our profile page where we can list plants that grow well for us and give details. We could search the memberlist to find those who live in our area, click on their username and see if they perhaps have a list.

That's the idea behind the "lists". It is a personal inventory (and can also be used for trading, of course).

I am starting to add a few details to my inventory list, like where and/or when purchased, when it starts blooming, etc.

This is a thought; using the lists as the primary way of accomplishing the "This grew well for me" feature.

If the plant grows for you then you add it with the status of "Have". If it's something that you've grown before but no longer, add it with the status of "Used to have".

Then what we can do is write a system that hooks into it better. So when you're looking at a particular plant, instead of just giving you a link that says, "X people have this plant" we could instead actually program it to dig in, pull out the names and even generate a map like Sheryl was referencing.

I'd find this more useful with the ability to "dig deeper". For instance how long have you been successfully growing it; a year, many years? A few years ago I listed my zip for Acanthus mollis and came to regret doing so, because it's misleading. I have grown it for several years, but I also mulch it heavily after the ground has frozen.

with that.

"Plant Reports" is a feature we may just want to go ahead and do. Where you can click a button on a plant that says, "Give a report on this plant" and you answer a series of (mostly optional) questions. These answers are all compiled and detailed data can then be given back to the future visitor of that plant.

Could these "Plant Reports" identify the reporting member, with the option of a direct link back to their list to see what else they're growing? (As opposed to going to the member profile to get to their list) Seems to me like that might be useful.

I like that idea.

Great.

When someone says "relatively easy to grow", and I see that they have 200 related varieties under cultivation, I say to myself "easy for THEM to grow!"

I am liking the sound of plant reports , I could find this useful , and would gladly participate.
It would be nice to have an area where you could report on your personal garden conditions
clay/sand
sun /shade
moist / dry
and maybe a scale of difficulty
1 easy to grow..... 10 extreme difficulty just keeping it alive

just thoughts

Cinda

Right, that's the two parts there.

The individual profile where all those questions are answered by each member and then a profile of their gardening conditions is created.

Then a plant-by-plant report card.

But what if a person gardens in multiple locations? Or moved and has a new profile? Then their report card will change depending on the location.

My gardening conditions change bed by bed swamp to rocks full sun to full shade. It would be nice if the conditions went plant by plant . The only constant thing I have in common with others in my zone may be the frost freeze information.

>> and maybe a scale of difficulty
>> 1 easy to grow..... 10 extreme difficulty just keeping it alive

Love it! Then if only one person has reported on a plant, I can look at that person's listings, and see what THEY think "Difficulty Five" means.

dave said:
But what if a person gardens in multiple locations? Or moved and has a new profile? Then their report card will change depending on the location.

I am curious to see how this would/will be handled as I am going to be moving from zone 10b to zone 8a. Right now, when I add a comment on a particular plant, I do try to include the phrase "in my zone 10 garden" or something to that effect.

Nothing new to add at the moment, but I'm watching this thread avidly and will gladly participate.

Same here Chelle.