Recently, I have received numerous requests for useful web sites resources. As the web grows so does the number of potential resources. Some are useful while others are not. With each web site visited, you must make to decision whether the information will be helpful in your educational endeavors or for professional development.
There are some web realities that need to be understood before launching off into a list of sites. First, web site access changes as the web, web servers, and resources change on the web. Watch the information on the web sites that you commonly access, they do change with time and web pages which you might have used for information may disappear due to a change in focus of the web site or a change in that information. Another common problem is that a server may be updated or replaced and often the web site information moves due to the name of the server being employed may change. My best suggestion is to check your web sites regularly and save, print or copy the information that you find valuable because the site may disappear in time.
Reliability of information is probably the biggest issue for educators. Opinions are an easy thing to give without reliable verification or documentation to support the opinion. When utilizing information from a web site, you must consider the source of the information and the intent of the information being provided. Educational and governmental web sites can provide some very valuable information. Commercial web site information can also be valuable. It is your responsibility to objectively view the information and weigh it against other resources before providing to others or employing the information yourself. Reliability also includes the age of the web site. Often web sites are published and never touched again. Always, check the age of the site to insure the information is still valid.
Relative value of information will affect the usefulness to you and others. For instance, insect information on a web site from California may not at all relate to the presence, flight, or biology of that insect in Pennsylvania. When viewing information, consider the source and verify the information for applicability to Pennsylvania and especially to your location in PA.
A final thought about using the web to acquire information. The web sites that I provide and future web sites that you uncover through web search engines are just starting points, in order to find the specific information that you are looking for will require some hunting on your part. Patience and carefully structuring your searches will assure that the information that you obtain will meet your requirements and will represent the available information on the web for that topic. If you are familiar with doing literature searches at the library, then surfing the web for specific information will be less daunting. If you are not familiar with literature searches using a computer and literature sources then I would recommend taking a local or extension class in efficient and effective web surfing.
The following web sites are organized by the type of information they can provide. As with daily life you take responsibility for evaluating the information on these sites prior to utilizing it in your educational efforts. The sites that follow have been helpful to me in finding information and providing me with other viewpoints on specific topics.
| Useful Extension and University Websites: | ||||
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http://www.csrees.usda.gov/ State Partners of the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service. This website gives access to all Cooperative Extension web sites throughout the nation and the partner universities and centers working with state extension services. A great resource for finding extension publications in surrounding and distant states. |
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http://plantfacts.osu.edu/ Nationwide Plant Specialist Fact Sheet Database brought to you by Ohio State. This searchable database may be very helpful in finding elusive information on a number of horticultural topics. |
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http://www.pested.psu.edu Pesticide Education Program at Penn State University |
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http://www.ppath.cas.psu.edu/EXTENSION/PLANT_DISEASE/referenc.html Plant Disease Fact Sheets |
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http://www.ippc.orst.edu/cicp/fruit/hortinfo.html Horticulture Information on the Internet |
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| Government: | ||||
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http://www.agriculture.state.pa.us/ PDA OnLine...Bringing You The Future of Agriculture...Today |
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http://www.nalusda.gov The National Agricultural Library |
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http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ws/ APHIS Web - Wildlife Management |
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http://www.ba.ars.usda.gov/research/ Beltsville Agricultural Research Center |
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http://www.ba.ars.usda.gov/research/ Welcome to the Floral and Nursery Plants Research Unit Home Page |
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http://www.cas.psu.edu/docs/CASDEPT/IPM/ The Pennsylvania IPM Program |
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| Associations, Societies and Organizations: | ||||
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http://www.acf.org The American Chestnut Foundation |
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http://www.ipps.org/international/index.asp International Plant Propagators' Society |
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http://www.plna.com Pennsylvania Landscape & Nursery Association (PLNA) |
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http://www.landscapeusa.com
LandscapeUSA - Online Garden Store, Landscaping, Irrigation, Lawn & Garden Products & Services |
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http://www.alca.org Welcome to Associated Landscape Contractors of America (ALCA) |
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http://www.isa-arbor.com/ International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) |
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http://www.pennsylvaniahorticulturalsociety.org The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) |
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http://www.americanforests.org/ American Forests - Plant the Future |
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http://www.anla.org/ American Nursery & Landscape Association |
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http://ashs.org American Society for Horticultural Sciences |
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| Chemical Company and Chemical Resources: | ||||
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http://www.greenbook.net C&P Press Greenbook.net. If you are familiar with the Big Green Book of pesticides, then this is the web version of that partial compendium of pesticide labels |
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http://www.valent.com Valent USA Corporation Home Page |
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http://www.cdms.net/ Crop Data Management Systems, Inc. (CDMS) Label/Msds Information web site also provides label information from client chemical companies |
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http://extoxnet.orst.edu/pips/ghindex.html ExToxNet Pesticide Information. Cooperative Extension resource on pesticides |
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http://www.montereyagresources.com
Monterey AgResources, Inc |
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http://www.montereylawngarden.com
Lawn & Garden Products |
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http://www.mycogen.com Mycogen |
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http://www.mycogen.com/graphic/pest/product.htm
Mycogen - Biopesticide Products |
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http://www.concerngarden.com
Necessary Organics, Inc.: organic gardening, home pest control, organic pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, fertilizers, insecticides |
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http://bayercropscienceus.com Bayer Crop Protection in the U.S |
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http://www.ortho.com ORTHO Online |
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| Nursery and Floriculture: | ||||
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http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/floriculture/
NCSU Floriculture |
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http://www.hort.cornell.edu/department/faculty/good/growon/containr/
Nutrient Management: the Key to Growing Healthy Nursery |
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http://aesop.rutgers.edu/~Floriculture/publications/Florpub3.htm
Floriculture Publications |
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| Plant Materials, Botanic Gardens and Arboreta: | ||||
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http://www.chicago-botanic.org/index.html
Chicago Botanic Garden Home Page |
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http://www.botany.net/IDB/ Internet Directory for Botany: Arboreta and Botanical |
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http://www.arboretum.umn.edu/summer_index.htm
Minnesota Landscape Arboretum |
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http://lpdc.coafes.umn.edu University of Minnesota Landscape Plant Development Center |
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| Weed Identification and Control: | ||||
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http://www.smallgrains.org/ Weed Management Articles |
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http://www.css.orst.edu/weeds/other.htm
Other Weed Resources |
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| Commercial Information and Control: | ||||
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http://www.humeseeds.com/frost1.htm
Frost Dates and Hardiness Zones |
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http://www.greenbeam.com/nmpro.stm
NMPRO - Nursery Management & Production Magazine |
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| Miscellaneous: | ||||
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http://www.freetrip.com
AutoPilot. This website is helpful in planning trips |
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New and Improved for 1999:
The 1998 Penn State Trial Results
Whether it was the mild season or the quality of the new plants - some of this year's varieties really performed. The following is a list of some of the new cultivars found particularly noteworthy. There were of course many older cultivars that were also outstanding, and some of the new plants not on this list were very acceptable.
| Argyranthemum
"Summer Daisy Stars Pink" Compact, full, vigorous plants with lacy green foliage and flowers held nicely above the leaf canopy. This cultivar attracted a lot of attention from garden visitors. (Paul Ecke Ranch). 'Butterfly' although not new, it is worth mentioning this Proven Winners cultivar. It has been consistently outstanding in the trials. |
| Bacopa
Lavender showers was a great complement to the existing white bacopas. It had good flowering, but like other bacopas, flowering declined dramatically when the plant was water stressed. This plant should be used in mixed containers with an indicator plant like impatiens that will wilt to indicate water stress. |
| Begonia
Dragon Wing - A vigorous, uniform angel-wing leafed begonia with large bright red flowers. It was an outstanding bedding variety, but would probably make an even better container or basket plant. (PanAmerican Seed Company) 'Pin-up Flame F1 Hybrid'. - AAS Winner. Wonderful large bright flowers with an orange petal edge and many shades of yellow and orange inside. Fair vigor, but takes a long time to really get going in the garden. Not as uniform as might be desired, with some outstanding plants and others only fair but the flowers make up for the lack of performance on some of the plants. (Benary) |
| Calendula
'Calypso Orange with Black Center' and 'Calypso Yellow with Black Center' Two new pot marigold cultivars with good flower production and nice growth habit. The black centers tend to brown in some of the plants. (Sakata) |
| Dianthus
'Ideal Scarlet' This cultivar had bright red flowers on plants of average uniformity and vigor. The series has performed well in the trials for a number of years. (Elida) 'Diamond Purple' Nice flower color, but the plants were not as vigorous in the garden as some of the dianthus cultivars. (Sakata) |
| Geranium (Seed)
"Maverick Violet" - Nice plants with fair vigor and good uniformity. The Maverick series has been a good performer in the trials over the years and this cultivar adds a nice flower color. (Goldsmith Seeds) 'Ringo 2000 Cardinal, Rose Star and Scarlet Star' Average growth, vigor and uniformity. The 2 star cultivars had interesting flower colors. |
| Impatiens
"Tempo Peach Butterfly" - Striking multicolor flowers with a bright orange pattern made this a plant of note in the trials this year. Although it grew well early, it declined rapidly to verticillium in mid August. This cultivar may be more susceptible than its neighbors in the garden, which did not suffer the same rapid decline. 'Cherry Butterfly' was another new addition with pastel pink flowers with a red/pink center (Bodger) 'Cajun Pink' Excellent bed performance. Nice full vigorous but not leggy. (Novartis) 'Super Elfin' 'Raspberry' and 'Salmon Improved' were new this year. Both were nice plants with good bed uniformity and vigor. 'Sunrise' is an older cultivar from the same series with outstanding flower color. 'Impact Rose' Not new but outstanding in the garden this year. (Sakata) 'Pride Pink' Another older cultivar with super garden performance this year. (Sakata) 'Mosaic' 'Rose', 'Lilac'. Unique flower colors with white streaks in the petals. Not new but a real eye catcher. (Goldsmith) |
| Double Impatiens
"Fiesta Series" - Nice plants, more compact than older cultivars. "Sparkler Rose" was the best but "Salsa Red, Burgundy Rose, and Pink Ruffle" were also attractive. (Ball FloraPlant) "Tioga Series" - Overall good performance. The best plants in this series were "Neon Salmon and Deep Purple". (Paul Ecke Ranch) 'Carousel Orange' A new seed propagated double impatiens in a very good, consistent series. (PanAmerican) |
| New Guinea Impatiens
"Celebration Lavender Glow" - Excellent large plants with many showy flowers. This plant performed well in both the sun and shade. "Electric Rose" Was an outstanding plant with dark foliage and good flowering. (Ball FloraPlant) "Celebrette Wild Plum" - Nice contrast between flower and leaf. Plants had medium vigor and performed better in the shade. 'Apricot' an older cultivar was the best coral flowered New Guinea in the trials. (Ball FloraPlant) "Xanthia Orange" - Compact cultivar with excellent flower display and good performance in full sun. (Paul Ecke Ranch) 'Woya Light Pink' showed good flower production on a compact plant. It performed better in the shade than the sun. (Paul Ecke Ranch) 'Paradise' 'Improved Samoa Pearl White', 'Antigua Scarlet', 'Papete Fuchsia', and 'Timor Electric Orange' although not new were some of the best varieties in the trial (Paul Ecke Ranch). 'Harmony' A new series with nice flowering on compact plants. This series had more variability than some of the older series. 'Flame', Purple', 'Salmon', 'Orange' and 'Light purple' were the best of the series. 'Petticoat Hot Pink' A very good new cultivar (Dummen USA) 'Rivera' 'Pink', 'Red Satr', 'Combo' A new series with good performance (Dummen USA). "Java Pink, Pearl, and Orange Flame" - Seed propagated New Guinea Impatiens with good uniform flower colors. Flower size was not as large as cutting propagated New Guinea Impatiens. Plant uniformity was not as good as might be desired, but all in all these cultivars represent a major leap forward for seed propagated NGI. The cutting producers would be well advised to keep an eye on this breeding program (PanAmerican Seed) |
| Lisianthus
"Mariachi" - Outstanding plants with "quadrupled" flowers. Good flower colors and vigorous uniform growth. Stems could be a bit longer for cutting but overall a very nice series of cultivars. (Sakata Seed) "Florida Blue" - Excellent plants, uniform compact and good vigor. About 1/2 of the plants developed disease problems by the end of August. (PanAmerican Seed) |
| Marigold
'Bonanza Bolero' - AAS Winner. Nice flower color pattern of orange-gold and red. Plants had a uniform compact and vigorous growth habit and were not as badly affected by slug feeding in the spring as some of the other marigold cultivars. (PanAmerican Seed) 'Disco Grenada' produced nice flowers on small compact plants. Orange and red single bicolor flowers. (Bodger) 'Atlantis' 'Orange' and 'Yellow'. New African marigolds with average to good overall performance. (Bodger) |
| Osteospermum
'Passion Mix' - AAS Winner. This plant performed vastly better this season than last. Although it never produced huge numbers of flowers, it bloomed well most of the summer with only a slight depression in flower number in July. It was vigorous and uniform growing into tight rounded mounds. A couple of plants developed verticillium wilt in September. (American Takii) |
| Petunia
"Dream Series" - Smaller flowers than many of the other vegetative petunias, but excellent weather recovery and uniform flowering and vigor all season. (Paul Ecke Ranch) "Supertunia" - "Sunwine, and Purple Sunspot" while not new are still excellent vegetative cultivars. (Proven Winners) "Wave series" - "Misty Lilac" was an outstanding seed propagated spreading petunia with grandiflora size light purple, pastel and almost white flowers. A few flowers were striped white and pastel-lilac. An outstanding addition to 'Purple' and 'Pink'. The other new "wave cultivar "Rose wave" did not perform as well as the other "wave" petunias this year. (PanAmerican Seed) "Trail Blazer Violet" - Promoted as a spreading or trailing petunia, this cultivar had a much more upright growth habit than the wave petunias or most of the cutting propagated varieties. It was very vigorous producing a tall mat of plants and flowers in the bed. Difficult to separate in a pack, and not a favorite of the greenhouse growers, who visited the garden, it was very well received by the landscapers who visited this year. The landscapers were also very excited by "Kahuna Violet" which was even more vigorously upright in its growth. (Novartis Seeds) 'Hurrah' 'Salmon Chiffon', 'Pink Flare', 'Plum'. A new series of above average petunias. Good bed performance. (Novartis) |
| Phlox
'21st Century. A bit slow to start this cultivar was outstanding in the garden later in the season with a nice mix of flower color. (Ball seed) |
| Portulaca
'Sundial Peach'. This cultivar is a AAS winner for 1999 and outstanding addition to a good series. (Bodger) |
| Salvia
'Vista' series. Burgundy', 'Lavender', 'Purple', 'Red', 'Red and White'. This was a new series with above average performance. (PanAmerican) The series is comparable to the 'Salsa' series from (Goldsmith) |
| Snapdragon
"La Bella series" 'Red', 'Bronze', 'Light Pink', 'Pink', 'Yellow', 'White' 'Purple', 'Red and White', 'Lavender', 'Rose'. This intermediate height series was outstanding, blooming well from planting through August. The colors were bright and vibrant, and plants were exceptionally uniform and full. (Goldsmith Seeds) |
| Verbena
'Quartz' 'Rose', 'Blue', 'Burgundy', 'Polka Dot Mix'. New colors in an above average performing series. The 'Burgundy' is an outstanding color and is an AAS winner for 1999. |
| Zinnia
"Profusion Cherry, and Orange" - AAS Winner. Very vigorous full uniform plants with outstanding floral display. These plants were some of the best in the garden this year. (Sakata Seed) |
| Astilbe
'Sprite' Perennial plant of the year. Outstanding compact cultivar with excellent flowering and attractive seed heads. |
| Chrysanthemum leucanthemum (Shasta Daisy)
'White Knight' - Compact uniform and vigorous, this white flowered perennial produced acceptable bloom in the first season. (Kieft) 'Snow Cap' - Vigorous, full, compact, and extremely uniform plants in their second season. Outstanding floral display forming a nearly solid white carpet during peak bloom in early to mid summer. (New to the garden in 1997) (Blooms of Bressingham North America) |
| Coreopsis
'Moonbeam' Perennial plant of the year. Outstanding cultivar. 'Golden Gain' A new cultivar with darker flower color than moonbeam. It flowers more above the canopy but has similar habit and vigor. |
| Echinacea
'Magnus' Perennial plant of the year 1998. Outstanding plant. |
| Helianthemen
'Annabel'. Nice plants with good early spring flowering. (Blooms of Bressingham NA) |
| Heuchera
'Pewter Moon'. Nice compact cultivar with good vigor. Outstanding leaf color with silver between dark green veins on the upper surface and red-violet lower surface. |
| Penstemon
'Ruby', 'Sour Grapes'. Nice cultivars with good flowering and vigor. Overwintered only one season in the garden so far and that was a mild year. (Blooms of Bressingham NA) |
| Perovskia
Russian Sage. Perennial plant of the year. Vigorous, outstanding plant. |
| Persicaria
'Dimity' is an interesting groundcover with light pink flowers on short spikes. Nice winter foliage color. (Blooms of Bressingham NA) |
| Rudbeckia
"Sonora" - Nice compact plants with good size flowers. Not as big, vigorous, or showy as "Indian Summer" but the flower color was very attractive. (Benary) |
| Salvia
'May Night' - Perennial plant of the year. Excellent cultivar. |
| Stokesia
'Purple Parasols' A nice very vigorous cultivar with lots of flowers. |
| Tritoma
'Flamenco' an AAS winner for 1999. Nice performance flowers the first year. |
| Verbascum
"Southern Charm" - Nice pastel flowers with a Victorian flair. It looks like a great cut flower but unfortunately had poor vase life as a cut flower, lasting only a couple of days. Very similar to "Sunset Shades" which bloomed twice this year once in the spring and again in the fall (Ball Seed - "Southern Charm"), (PanAmerican Seed- "Sunset Shades"). |
| Late Fall Conference Calendar |
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| Information Update |
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Information provided by Rob Berghage and Jim Sellmer Penn State Department of Horticulture, Ornamental Horticulture Extension Specialist, 103 Tyson Building, University Park, PA 16802, (814) 863-2571
This publication is available in alternate media upon request
The Pennsylvania State University is committed to the policy that all persons shall have equal access to programs, facilities, admission, and employment without regard to personal characteristics not related to ability, performance, or qualifications as determined by University policy or by state or federal authorities. The Penn State University does not discriminate against any person because of age, ancestry, color, disability or handicap, national origin, race, religious creed, sex, sexual orientation, or veteran status. Direct all inquiries regarding the nondiscrimination policy to the Affirmative Action Director, The Pennsylvania State University, 201 Willard Building, University Park, PA16802-2801; tel. (814) 863-0471; TDD (814) 865-3175.