What Websites Do I Recommend for Garden and Plant Information?
UW Extension
This source is probably familiar to most of us as it comes from the University of Wisconsin—Madison as well as the rest of the UW system. The section that pertains most to landscapes and plants is under the agriculture section: the horticulture section. This part of the website has many articles, or links to articles, about many horticulture and gardening topics. This includes information about house plants. They also tend to have timely articles and seasonal articles displayed front and center on the homepage. You can search for specific plants or pests or narrow down the articles by looking under specific sections of plants such as “Fruit Trees”.
Missouri Botanical Garden
This website comes from where the name implies: the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, Missouri. They have many of what I call plant profiles with general information and native range. Another nice feature of this website is that you can find where each plant is in their gardens if you plan to visit and want to see certain ones. This also means they have profiles to various cultivars. I also like their section on plant problems that can help people make informed choices when deciding on new plants. This source also generally includes information on the meaning behind the Latin name of the plant and occasionally other fun historical facts.
The Morton Arboretum
An arboretum located near Chicago, they focus on that regions trees and research. It is internationally recognized for its research on trees and how to sustain them. They have plant profiles for many trees that start on the “overview” section that includes a brief description with an expandable details section. The “more information” page has more specific information on the different parts of the plant that can be used in identification. Their website is easy to use and has great pictures for each plant.
North Carolina Extension—Gardener Plant Toolbox
This is a similar source to our own UW Extension since it is backed by a university, but I find it also quite different. This specific section of the “plant toolbox” is all about information on particular plants and pretty much anything you would want to know about them. I find it can get a little too far into the weeds for most people but it’s all good information. I like the sections about what insects the plant is for and if they are poisonous or not. People who garden for insects would find the host plant information particularly helpful. The poison value can be useful for families with young kids if they worry about potential ingestion of plants or plant parts.
Chicago Botanic Garden
This large botanic garden is widely respected for both its collection and is wealth of knowledge they share. One of the most valuable programs from them are their Plant Evaluation trials. These wide reaching trials test from over 800 taxa and compares their performances before recommending the top plants to gardeners and professionals alike. Their relatively close proximity to our area also means the results are quite applicable to our area. They also work with national trials to test the plants against different parts of the country.
Some other general rules of thumb are to always look at multiple sources. This way you can ensure the information you’re reading is true, or at least widely accepted. This is especially important when looking for plant care tips or treatments. Also be aware if a website is trying to sell you something. There is a good chance that the information it’s giving you is biased and you should look for other sources on the topic.
Sources:
UW Extension: https://extension.wisc.edu/
Missouri Botanical Garden: https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/
The Morton Arboretum: https://mortonarb.org/
North Carolina Extension—Gardener Plant Toolbox: https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/
Chicago Botanic Garden: https://www.chicagobotanic.org/
