ATP Podcast #37: The All Things Plants Database

By dave
October 3, 2013

Let's talk a bit about the best database of plants in the world, ever.

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Oct 4, 2013 12:39 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: David Paul
(Zone 9b)
Cat Lover Hibiscus Seed Starter Native Plants and Wildflowers Vegetable Grower Region: Florida
Miniature Gardening Keeper of Poultry Herbs Foliage Fan Farmer Dragonflies
It is large indeed, and there is a ton of information available; yet it can be a bit "touch sensitive".

In other words, if you have the slightest spelling error, or sometimes type in common names, we are bounced out.

Its O.K. though. I still appreciate the site a lot, and can usually find the information elsewhere until I get it right for here. I tip my hat to you.
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Oct 4, 2013 1:07 PM CST
Garden.org Admin
Name: Dave Whitinger
Southlake, Texas (Zone 8a)
Region: Texas Seed Starter Vegetable Grower Tomato Heads Vermiculture Garden Research Contributor
Million Pollinator Garden Challenge Charter ATP Member I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Garden Ideas: Master Level Region: Ukraine Garden Sages
Are you referring to the search engine? Making it work better with misspellings is on my wishlist.
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Oct 4, 2013 1:50 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: David Paul
(Zone 9b)
Cat Lover Hibiscus Seed Starter Native Plants and Wildflowers Vegetable Grower Region: Florida
Miniature Gardening Keeper of Poultry Herbs Foliage Fan Farmer Dragonflies
I had no doubts. Keep up all the good works, and perfection is always a distant dream that will elude us all till even the end of our journeys through this life! Thumbs up
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Oct 7, 2013 1:36 AM CST
Name: Tina
Where the desert meets the sea (Zone 9b)
Container Gardener Salvias Dog Lover Birds Enjoys or suffers hot summers Million Pollinator Garden Challenge
Garden Ideas: Level 2
I like that there's also a a wonderful flexibility already built in with database searches even when a cultivar name or spelling is unsure if you try some general search strategies such as ... typing in just part of the name, or part of one word in the name. this can bring you to a fairly short list of "likely suspects." Hurray! For example, I'm hopeless on some spellings, like "Caribbean" .. I always think it must be spelled "Carribean" and so my searches for cultivars with that in their name, as I spell it, seem hopeless. Fortunately, many or most cultivars have longer names, so even though my search for "Carribean Double Coral" results in no matches, if I just put in "Double Coral" the database brings me a list including "Caribbean Double Coral," and also a few other cultivars with "double" or "coral" in their names. I get a "two-fer" ...the plant I want to see, and others with similar, and often descriptive, names. Hilarious!

Another search strategy that can work well is to type in part of a plant name at the general search level. I may not recall a full name, such as "North Wind Curly Joe" but I might remember a cultivar was named "Curly Joe." When I type it in the general database, it will pull up "North Wind Curly Joe" ... and if I'm not sure how to spell Curly (or the hybridizer came up with their own creative spelling for it, such as "Curley") I just type "Curl" and it will also pull up "North Wind Curly Joe" from the database. If the search results in too many different plant types and names on a very common word, adding the plant-specific name at the start narrows it down ("daylily get" will bring up "Get Jiggy" for me when I can't remember is it "getting" or "gettin" or "get to" or ...?).

How many thousands of times has this flexibility in spelling, partial recollection of names, and even the desire to browse names that have similar descriptive titles in them led me to what I needed, and often brought up a list of additional cultivars I might not otherwise have discovered?! Thumbs up Thumbs up Thumbs up

Bestest Database Lovey dubby
Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of old; seek what those of old sought. — Basho

Daylilies that thrive? click here! Thumbs up
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