Well, I've been working for quite a while on this and I'm ready for you all to check out the beginnings of my work.

Take a look at the main plant entry for Crepe Myrtle:

Crepe Myrtles (Lagerstroemia)

You will see I have an introduction and a "Propagation Methods" area. I can add as many sections like this as I want.

Then on the right is a random assortment of some cultivars of this plant. Refresh the page to see it change to other random cultivars.

We will do this kind of thing for as many plants as we like. Moderators of various plant types: if there is a plant type already created for your genus, you should be able to access this by going to that plant and at the bottom, click on "» Edit infoboxes".

This is just a start, but I think it's a good start.

Lookin' good Dave!

This is great! I love it!

zuzu, your main rose entry is here:

Roses (Rosa)

You should have access to add and edit sections.

Dave: This is a wonderful feature! It's great having pertinent information at the top of the page, Love it!

I found it right away, Dave. I'm already composing things in my head.

Dave that is amazing. I found mine right away. I won't do anything with it tonight, to tired.

Oh, I like it! And it's great how the images link back to the cultivar's entry.

I like the refresh so you can see new images pop in!

Awesome! I like it!

Calif_Sue said:I like the refresh so you can see new images pop in!

This is an incredible feature! I had wondered how you were going to display the many images that are bound to come in. Very nice to have them change on a random basis!

I love the new data section. I had wanted to put in growing instructions for various irises, but it's going to take up way too much room. Suggestions? The culture is totally different for so many irises, it's not like roses, or daylilies.

I think a good solution is that you can add as many sections as you want. So you can create a section called "Growing instructions for Siberian Irises" and another one for "Growing instructions for Tall Bearded Irises" and so on.

It's okay if that page gets pretty long. It was meant to be an encyclopedia of sorts, and if it is quite long, that's okay in my opinion.

Ok, I'll do it then. Warning, it's going to be long. But if you don't like it, we'll edit it.

Thanks. You're always so agreeable.

That's good to know, Dave, because the rose page is going to be a mile long.

Polly, I've done two sections so far: Introduction and Growing Conditions, but I have four other categories waiting for text, which I haven't composed yet: Classification of Roses, Pruning Methods, Propagation Methods, and Rose Pests and Diseases.

In addition, Sue had a great idea for a section showing examples of the different shapes of blooms and different petal counts, so we'll do that one as text and photographs to illustrate each type.

Here are the first two sections:

Roses (Rosa)

Have you made a page for the African Violets yet?
http://garden.org/plants/brows...

OK, Zuzu, we'll go for it. It might turn out to be an encyclopedia when we're done.

This is great! I also like calling it the "encyclopedia". this is a level of organization at which i think I can actaully learn things.

I hope that Salvia get an encyclopedia page !

Sections for Salvia might include types by place of origin, such as, I THINK:
- Central & South American presumably including Mexico & Western USA / (desert?)
- Central Asia and Mediterranean (Alpine??)
- Eastern Asia

Or types of salvia by habit or form:
1 woody sub-shrubs
2 herbaceous perennials
3 annuals

Or a list of perennial species and cultivars ranked by their hardiness (a useful reference tool).

According to Wikipedia: 700-900 species
Family: Lamiaceae
Subfamily: Nepetoideae
Tribe: Mentheae
Genus: Salvia

It sounds like the number of distinct species has been thought to be anywhere between 700 and 2,000 at different times. The species seem to hybridize fairly freely. Plus, I see cultivar names that might well represent distinctions without much difference.

You can see which plants have been marked as parent plants / encyclopedia entries at:

http://garden.org/plants/brows...

Rick, you've given this a lot of thought, obviously. Would you like to have access to the Salvia entry? At the very least, you could get it started and someone else could carry the ball after you're finished.

Nice!

Is there any way other than bookmarking to tag or star the entire encyclopedia of parent plants?

Just wondering ......