Wildflower Center Revamps Plant Information Network

The Native Plant Information Network (NPIN), already one of the most comprehensive online resources for native plant information, is now much more useful to landscaping professionals and home gardeners, thanks to a total redesign introduced this month by the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin.

By clicking on "Explore Plants" at (www.wildflower.org), visitors can access NPIN, which contains 16,000 plant images and information on more than 6,000 native plant species.

The redesign allows gardeners to build a native plant list by a combination of search criteria, including bloom time and color, and growing conditions such as location, soil type and light requirement. The list generated includes links to more detailed descriptions of the plants and an image gallery. Visitors can also search by a plant�®s common or scientific name, genus or family. A dropdown menu prompts visitors who may not know the exact name or spelling of the plant for which they are searching.

"Native plants are a wonderful asset in the garden because they�®re not only beautiful, but hardy and well adapted to local conditions," said Dr. Damon Waitt, director of NPIN at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. "We wanted to make it easier for people all over North America to find out about native plants in their area.

"We also think our Web visitors will appreciate the improvements in speed and reliability thanks to upgrades made courtesy of our new affiliation with The University of Texas at Austin." Features of NPIN:

"¢ Native Plants Database offers horticultural and botanical information on more than 6,000 native plant species in the United States and Canada.

"¢ Image Gallery has grown to more than 16,000 images, making it one of the largest plant image galleries in North America and the most visited feature of the site. Thousands of NPIN images have been distributed for use in books, magazines, brochures and educational materials.

"¢ Ask Mr. Smarty Plants includes a new feature allowing visitors to submit or review plant questions online. Search the extensive database of frequently asked questions and answers.

"¢ National Suppliers Directory connects visitors with more than 2,700 businesses that sell native plants or seeds or provide professional landscape services.

"¢ National Organizations Directory connects people with like-minded, plant-related organizations in their own area by providing information about more than 560 native plant societies, conservation groups, garden clubs and botanical gardens.

"¢ Plant Bibliography allows visitors to locate field guides, gardening and other native plant publications.

"¢ Clearinghouse Publications houses how to articles, propagation datasheets, as well as fact packs and a suggested species list by geographic region. -- www.wildflower.org

ruzik_tuzik's picture

Posted February 6th, 2007 by ruzik_tuzik

Your comments...

Wildflower website is exceptional resource for native plants

Tim Colman's picture
Submitted by Tim Colman (not verified) on Wed, 2007-02-07 11:38.
Dear Editor, The folks at Lady Bird Johnson Center have much to be proud of -- and Lady Bird should be smiling from her grave as this group continues her work to "Keep America Beautiful." Even though the center is in Texas -- the work they do has national effects -- inspiring kindred spirits -- master gardeners, naturalists, and landscape architects. One area the Center is too nice is not confronting big nurseries and Home Depots about the number of invasive plants they sell. Invasives are killing off our habitats, stripping biodiversity, and reducing richness to monotone kudzu, ivy, tamarisk accidental plantations. More public education is needed to change buying habits -- starting with what nurseries order and cultivate to sell consumers.