My interest in horticulture started when the local deer virtually ate everything I planted one year. I obtained several lists of plants deer didn’t eat.
However, I didn’t know what any of the Latin botanical names meant and recognized very few of the English names. In addition, none of these plant lists provided any information about the plants, let alone pictures.
Out of necessity, I started to study plants just to be able to use these lists. Since then, I have dreamed of creating a garden plants encyclopedia of plants that the average person can use without making a career change and becoming a horticulturist. The encyclopedia covers shade plants and shade trees.
Each plant is indexed by both its’ botanical name (typically Latin), as well as its’ most widely used common name (typically English).
Different parts of the country and the world have other common names for plants. For this reason, once you find a plant you want to buy, I encourage you to either write down its’ botanical name or print out the relevant page from this garden plants encyclopedia. Then, bring it with you to the garden center and show it to the staff. The botanical name for a plant is the same throughout the world. This will help ensure you get the correct plant.
The Hardiness Zone (link opens a new window) referred to is based on the U. S. Department of Agriculture’s zone map. Hardiness zones provide a general guide of where a plant may grow successfully based on how cold it gets in the winter. However, it does not consider factors such as rainfall, soil conditions, amount of wind, and salty sea breezes. Therefore, to the extent possible, I have tried to address these other factors in the database.