Scour the Internet Get the real
dirt with online gardening
Winter means I
garden indoors, cozied up to my computer.
The darkened
days of winter are perfect times to wander the Web's walkways, checking out gardening
tools, books, new plants and seeds and other ways to escape the confines of stuffy walls.
Or relax in one
of the gardening chat rooms and talk about cowslip primroses with a Michigan gardener and
share classroom gardening tips with a teacher in Texas.
Want to build a
bat house? There are tips and plans online.
Bugs bothering
the roses? Type in the search words ``pests on roses'' and find a host of probable causes
and solutions.
Dianne Taylor
of Poquoson got into daylilies thanks to the American Daylily Society's web site. After
going to a garden center where for the first time she saw varieties of daylilies other
than the orange ditch-type lilies. She got on her computer and typed in the keyword
``daylily.'' Site after site on daylilies came up.
She joined the
American Daylily Society, visits the Mecca of daylily growers and hybridizers in Florida
and chats on a specialized ``e-mail robin'' with other daylily growers around the country.
Today, Dianne
has 600 varieties of daylilies and 1,000 seedlings she has propagated by pollinating her
own. She wants to enjoy her near-future retirement deep in her gardens of daylilies. It
all started with a click on the computer.
Web watchers
have tracked more than 2,000 horticulture-related sites and more are blossoming every day.
Yet, for many newcomers, finding gardening sites can be tricky, especially trustworthy
ones.
Even though
online gardening offers shovelfuls of free information, much of it may not apply to our
growing conditions. That's why you still need to rely on local gardening information.
Still, it's fun
and educational to cruise.
Type in the
word ``how to grow hops'' and up pops 10 top matches, including a primer on how to grow
hops at home and how to brew it into beer.
Type in the
word ``birds'' and you will reach endless sites on nuturing them in a backyard garden.
Some of the best are about the bluebird, its feeding behaviors and preference for houses.
Other sites
give glossaries to help gardeners learn the difference between deciduous and evergreen
plants and what it means to deadhead a plant.
Even video
clips and slides can be downloaded onto your computer, sometimes free and sometimes not so
free. Just be careful and know what you are opting to do.
Remember, too,
to always bookmark your favorite sites so you avoid the hunting game each time you sign
on.
All this should
keep you busy until spring and planting time. Then you can let the computer go into its
dormant time.
KATHY'S
FAVORITE SITES
www.garden.org/edu - Kids and Classrooms
section, National Gardening Association
www.bulb.com - Netherlands Flower Bulb Information
Center
www.ars.org - American Rose Society
www.opei.com - Outdoor Power Equipment Institute
www.turfgrasssod.org - Turfgrass Producers
International and Turf Resource Center
www.ngb.org - National Garden Bureau
www.virginiagardens.org - Virginia Flower
and Garden Show (Jan. 22-24)
www.audubon.org - National Audubon Society
www.nrcs.usda.gov - Natural Resources
Conservation Service
www.ppws.vt.edu/weedindex.htm -
Virginia Tech's developing weed identification and herbicide site
www.ahs.org - American Horticultural Society
www.hort.vt.edu/VNPS - Virginia Native Plant
Society
www.lawninstitute.com - The Lawn Institute
www.christree.org - National Christmas Tree
Association
www.communitylink.org/nbg/gardens.html
- Norfolk Botanical Garden
www.hort.vt.edu - Virginia Tech horticulture
www.ahta.org - American Horticultural Therapy
Association
www.vagardenweek.org - Historic Garden Week,
Garden Club of Virginia
www.isomedia.com/homes/AIS/ - American
Iris Society
www.baylink.org/vbs/ - Butterfly Society of
Virginia
www.daylilies.org - American Hemerocallis
Society
www.gardencalendar.com/display/flowershows
- flower shows
www.helsinki.fi/kmus/botgard.html
- botanical gardens of the world
* Hampton Roads
Gardening, Digital City Hampton Roads, America Online - Daily Press-provided site includes
bulletin board for questions and answers, plant exchange, gardening tips and articles, and
connection to more online gardening. Watch for this site to expand and move to the Web in
the next few months.
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