Identifying plants
 

Hi,

I work as a Gardener doing mainly manual jobs such as lawncare, hedge trimming etc but I am becoming more interested in expanding my horticultural knowledge.
I allready have a descent knowledge of most of the common garden plants, however some clients will have gardens full of obscure flowers which I have no idea what they are and prefer not to reveal my lack of knowledge by asking. I would like to be able to look them up from photos but I have found this is very difficult to do with books or online archives because you only have vague visual characteristics to go on which can't readily be looked up in an index. Paging through a book of plants I haven't found to be much help because ussually there is only one image of each plant which is often either a close up the foliage or a picture of the whole plant, when I think you really need both to identify a plant, also they frequently show the plant in full bloom which it ussually isn't when you are trying to identify it. Also going through 1000 pages of plants every time you want to identify one is a bit of a 'needle in a haystack' method.

So my question is, is there any kind of systematic approach to getting to know plants which enthusiasts/proffesionals use or is it just a case of 'picking it up' from asking other people, labels in garden centers, botanical gardens etc. Any useful weblinks or reccomended books would be most appreciated. Thanks.

Identifying plants
 

"adamjohn" wrote in message
...

Hi,

I work as a Gardener doing mainly manual jobs such as lawncare, hedge
trimming etc but I am becoming more interested in expanding my
horticultural knowledge.
I allready have a descent knowledge of most of the common garden
plants, however some clients will have gardens full of obscure flowers
which I have no idea what they are and prefer not to reveal my lack of
knowledge by asking. I would like to be able to look them up from
photos but I have found this is very difficult to do with books or
online archives because you only have vague visual characteristics to
go on which can't readily be looked up in an index. Paging through a
book of plants I haven't found to be much help because ussually there
is only one image of each plant which is often either a close up the
foliage or a picture of the whole plant, when I think you really need
both to identify a plant, also they frequently show the plant in full
bloom which it ussually isn't when you are trying to identify it. Also
going through 1000 pages of plants every time you want to identify one
is a bit of a 'needle in a haystack' method.

So my question is, is there any kind of systematic approach to getting
to know plants which enthusiasts/proffesionals use or is it just a case
of 'picking it up' from asking other people, labels in garden centers,
botanical gardens etc. Any useful weblinks or reccomended books would
be most appreciated. Thanks.




--
adamjohn

I have had some luck using this database to narrow down the choices. If not
familiar with terms used, I have found WIKI to have good definitions of
terms used. I take the result set from this source and search google images
for the pics to identify.

http://www.colby.edu/info.tech/BI211/PlantFamilyID.html

Mike

Identifying plants
 

On 8/12/2009 2:27 AM, adamjohn wrote:
--

David E. Ross
http://www.rossde.com/.

Don't ask "Why is there road rage?" Instead, ask
"Why NOT Road Rage?" or "Why Is There No Such
Thing as Fast Enough?"
http://www.rossde.com/roadrage.html Hi,

I work as a Gardener doing mainly manual jobs such as lawncare, hedge
trimming etc but I am becoming more interested in expanding my
horticultural knowledge.
I allready have a descent knowledge of most of the common garden
plants, however some clients will have gardens full of obscure flowers
which I have no idea what they are and prefer not to reveal my lack of
knowledge by asking. I would like to be able to look them up from
photos but I have found this is very difficult to do with books or
online archives because you only have vague visual characteristics to
go on which can't readily be looked up in an index. Paging through a
book of plants I haven't found to be much help because ussually there
is only one image of each plant which is often either a close up the
foliage or a picture of the whole plant, when I think you really need
both to identify a plant, also they frequently show the plant in full
bloom which it ussually isn't when you are trying to identify it. Also
going through 1000 pages of plants every time you want to identify one
is a bit of a 'needle in a haystack' method.

So my question is, is there any kind of systematic approach to getting
to know plants which enthusiasts/proffesionals use or is it just a case
of 'picking it up' from asking other people, labels in garden centers,
botanical gardens etc. Any useful weblinks or reccomended books would
be most appreciated. Thanks.

Since this will affect your career, I suggest you contact a local
community college and see what kind of horticultural (not agricultural)
classes they have. If you were to complete a series of classes leading
to an associate of arts (AA) degree in a landscape curriculum, it would
definitely improve your ability to get clients and to increase your
fees. Most community college programs allow you to take just one or two
classes a semester while you are also working, and the fees tend to be
quite low.

Identifying plants
 

In article ,
"vMike" wrote:

"adamjohn" wrote in message
...

Hi,

I work as a Gardener doing mainly manual jobs such as lawncare, hedge
trimming etc but I am becoming more interested in expanding my
horticultural knowledge.
I allready have a descent knowledge of most of the common garden
plants, however some clients will have gardens full of obscure flowers
which I have no idea what they are and prefer not to reveal my lack of
knowledge by asking. I would like to be able to look them up from
photos but I have found this is very difficult to do with books or
online archives because you only have vague visual characteristics to
go on which can't readily be looked up in an index. Paging through a
book of plants I haven't found to be much help because ussually there
is only one image of each plant which is often either a close up the
foliage or a picture of the whole plant, when I think you really need
both to identify a plant, also they frequently show the plant in full
bloom which it ussually isn't when you are trying to identify it. Also
going through 1000 pages of plants every time you want to identify one
is a bit of a 'needle in a haystack' method.

So my question is, is there any kind of systematic approach to getting
to know plants which enthusiasts/proffesionals use or is it just a case
of 'picking it up' from asking other people, labels in garden centers,
botanical gardens etc. Any useful weblinks or reccomended books would
be most appreciated. Thanks.




--
adamjohn

I have had some luck using this database to narrow down the choices. If not
familiar with terms used, I have found WIKI to have good definitions of
terms used. I take the result set from this source and search google images
for the pics to identify.

http://www.colby.edu/info.tech/BI211/PlantFamilyID.html

Mike

Perhaps a visit to a local formal garden would be useful. Might just
pic your interest for more study.

Longwood gardens may have some offerings to consider and wherever you
are the potential may exist for similar.

http://www.longwoodgardens.org/Learning_1_3_4.html

Large field !

Bill

--

Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA

Identifying plants
 

"adamjohn" wrote in message

I work as a Gardener doing mainly manual jobs such as lawncare, hedge
trimming etc but I am becoming more interested in expanding my
horticultural knowledge.
I allready have a descent knowledge of most of the common garden
plants, however some clients will have gardens full of obscure flowers
which I have no idea what they are and prefer not to reveal my lack of
knowledge by asking. I would like to be able to look them up from
photos but I have found this is very difficult to do with books or
online archives because you only have vague visual characteristics to
go on which can't readily be looked up in an index. Paging through a
book of plants I haven't found to be much help because ussually there
is only one image of each plant which is often either a close up the
foliage or a picture of the whole plant, when I think you really need
both to identify a plant, also they frequently show the plant in full
bloom which it ussually isn't when you are trying to identify it. Also
going through 1000 pages of plants every time you want to identify one
is a bit of a 'needle in a haystack' method.

So my question is, is there any kind of systematic approach to getting
to know plants which enthusiasts/proffesionals use or is it just a case
of 'picking it up' from asking other people, labels in garden centers,
botanical gardens etc. Any useful weblinks or reccomended books would
be most appreciated. Thanks.

I notice that you are in the UK so it might help if you ask this question in
the uk.rec.gardening newsgroup too as that group will give you more specific
info relating to the UK than this ng can. If you can, don't post through
Garden banter but through a more accepted newsreader as it's not popular in
that group (although I have no idea why). I've learned lots from that ng
and loves identifying plants so if you can take pics of plants you want
identified and post them to something like photobucket and give the URL so
posters can see the plant you will get lots of help there.

I'd also support the advice given by someone else about studying
Horticulture. Other than that it just takes lots of time and effort on your
part to learn. One thing I would recommend is buying an illustrated
horticultural dictionary as once you know the terms to describe something
then it also helps you to ask the right terms when using a search engine.

I've found the UK magazine "The English Garden" is very good as a general
resource on plants in general garden use as it does plant profiles and is
very good at identifying plants in pics by their botanical names and I can
then trawl the internet to read mroe about them.

The books by Roger Phillips or by him in association with Martyn Rix are
also a wonderful resource for plant identification.