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Internet Life recreation nature

Gardening

  BY B. A. NILSSON   

Take a pot of dirt and add a handful of seeds, a little sunlight, a regular sprinking of water, and you've got yourself a garden. Whether you're doing it for food or pleasure, gardening puts you in touch with an inspiring cycle of growth and regeneration. Voltaire and Joni Mitchell both emphasized the need to enjoy some quality gardening time, which at the very least is a nice diversion from the workaday world. You can wander through a virtual Eden, and the photos and how-to pieces should inspire even the most reclusive apartment dweller to hang another houseplant in the window. The best sites combine good in-line images and helpful information, and there's a growing network of suppliers and fellow gardeners waiting to guide you. Or at least sell you some seedlings and gardening gear.


The New York Botanical Garden is about as close as you can get to nature without actually stepping outdoors. The handsome site promotes a garden complex located in the Bronx, exhorting you to become a member and participate in its events. But a lengthy ramble here takes you through such famous floriculture sites as the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden, where you'll be reminded of the old history of rose-giving ("a full-blown rose placed over two rose buds meant 'we must be secret'"). Take a look at Daffodil Hill for some awesome photos and helpful cultivation tips, then continue through collections of daylilies, herbs, and even an arborvitae maze for kids. Most of the pages are illustrated with beautiful photos that look even better in their accompanying larger versions. 3.5 Mixing fresh links with a many shovelful of original material, GardenNet is a useful starting place for horticultural information. Featuring its own electronic magazine, The Ardent Gardener, where tips are shared and questions answered, GardenNet also offers up-to-date information on travel and events, a jaunt through selected on-line catalogs, and an exhaustive list of gardening associations. The Guide to Gardens of the USA is a database of public gardens that's searchable by garden type or location. Best of all, the Garden Home Page feature turns you loose on selected spots of horticultural interest: A recent tour of the Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden in Washington included good photos, a feature otherwise lacking around this site. 3.0 The Virtual Garden is tucked into a corner of the Time-Warner electronic empire. Although it may seem at first to be just a vehicle for Time-Life to hawk its admirable series of gardening books, check out the searchable plant encyclopedia, then comb through back issues of Southern Living, Sunset, and noted journalist Allen Lacy's newsletter Homeground. You won't see much in the way of flowery illustrations, but the graphics are well designed and the pages are easy to follow. Stop at the House Plant Pavilion for answers to many of the most common gardening questions.


The enthusiasm bubbling through GARDENS+GARDENING is infectious. Laura and Peter, the site's creators, obviously spend enough time in the field (in Nova Scotia, in fact) to know what they're talking about, and they're eager to share their insights, which they do in a lively question-and-answer column. Organic gardening is the emphasis, with a worthy sense of community involvement. 2.5 The defining characteristic of Garden Gate is selectivity. You'll find great piles of links here, but they've been checked out for you and are helpfully described. After examining the What's Coming Into Bloom section, where the newly added sites are listed, you'll find other links grouped under headings like the Teaching Garden, the Gardener's Reading Room, and (for houseplant cultivation) the Sun Room. Garden Gate is also starting to produce some original material: The first project was an easy-to-use Web navigation guide. 2.5 Orchids, far from being the botanical shrinking violets of repute, are hardy enough to belong in every indoor garden, not just greenhouses. Look at some impressive examples, get good growing advice, and order your orchids from Riverbend Orchids. It's a simple site with commercial intentions, but by the time you finish reading the enthusiastic advice and hit the photo-illustrated catalog, you'll be desperate to grow a few of these gorgeous plants. 2.5 There are Daylilies Growing Along the Information Highway, and they're more than just decoration. This site is a well-wrought bid to promote this widely cultivated flower, put together by Friends of the Daylilies, a branch of the American Hemerocallis Society. Featured are photos of award-winning lilies, tours of gardens, notable arrangements, and access to other growers. The links alone are impressive testimony to the popularity of the genus Hemerocallis. 2.5 At The Cactus & Succulent Plant Mall, the thorny challenge of raising such plants is addressed with cross-referenced advice and links to on-line nurseries and other resources. A comprehensive photo gallery displays the incredible variety of these plants, from the magical aloe to the noble and endangered saguaro. 2.0 Carnivorous plants invade the Net, thanks to Peter Pauls Nurseries. You won't see a lot of information, but you'll see a nice illustrated catalog of Venus flytraps, pitcher plants, cobra lilies, butterworts, and others, with an on-line ordering facility. Get a few and frighten your friends. 2.0 Light on illustration but heavy on information is the Illinois Cooperative Extension Service's Horticulture Solutions Series. Whether your garden is indoors or out, you'll find answers to many, many questions in the extensively cross-referenced database. It's distinguished from other academic sites by an accessible, attractively designed front end.

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The New York Botanical Garden

GardenNet

The Virtual Garden

GARDENS+GARDENING

Garden Gate

Riverbend Orchids

Daylilies Growing Along the Information Highway

The Cactus & Succulent Plant Mall

Peter Pauls Nurseries

Horticulture Solutions Series

Coffee Talk

Coffee Journal

The Caffeine Archive

Sip by Sip: The Republic of Tea

The Joy of Coffee

Cyber Cafe

The Trojan Room Coffee Machine