Dreaming of New Plants

Dreaming of New Plants

Plant Finder

I am so excited about the recent improvements to the Plant Finder tool at www.tcgardens.com. We have spent considerable time and resources entering hundreds of additional annual and perennial flower pictures and descriptions into our database. We now have nearly 4,000 trees, shrubs, evergreens, vines, roses, annuals, perennials, grasses, and ferns in the database complete with pictures and extensive descriptions.

Daylily- Ice Carnival

Daylily- Ice Carnival

You can browse through the entire list or you can search for something that meets your specific needs. For instance, let’s say you live in Ashton, Idaho so you need plants that will survive -40 degrees (zone 3). You want a perennial for a sunny spot that will grow about 2-3′ tall and has cream colored flowers in mid summer. It also needs to tolerate your alkaline soil and you would love for it to attract butterflies. Just check each of these characteristics in the Plant Finder tool and click “Search”. It will then give you a list of the plants that will best meet your needs. In this case it suggested Ice Carnival Daylily as the top choice along with numerous other possibilities.

Photo courtesy MouthLondon.com

Photo courtesy MouthLondon.com

Or, if you prefer, you can just click on the full database of Deciduous Trees, or Hardy Ferns, or Evergreen Shrubs and browse all the photos of plants in that category. Nothing in our database is more tender than zone 5, and most are zone 4 or hardier. So you don’t have to worry about finding things that won’t grow in our area. And the great thing is… all of these plants are available, either in stock or can be ordered in for you. To make it even easier you can create your own plant list right on the website, then print it out and bring it in to the garden center.

So curl up with your iPad or laptop and dream away. After all, it is March and that means spring can’t be too far away.