Jim, at Sunset Magazine’s Fresh Dirt, recently announced the launch of their new online plant finder.  Up until now I’ve used either a book (wow! what a novel concept) or a program that I used in college called Horticopia.  I purchased my copy when I was a landscape designer and actually had money.  I spent $99 for the A to Z version and it has served me well over the years.  I would love to have the full Professional version, but since I am not currently designing I have no real use for it other than play.

While my Horticopia program is much more comprehensive, the Sunset Plant Finder is more economical (read: free).  This is especially good for those of us who are saving our pennies.

I did a cursory walk through of the program last week and I was quite impressed.  You start by finding your Sunset Climate Zone.  If you don’t know your zone there is a handy pop-up map that helps you locate it (although the words and numbers on the map are rather small).  I should quickly mention this is not for just the West coast.  The database encompasses the entire US.

From there select what kind of plant (you can select more than one option ie. evergreen + shrub), how much sun and how much water and click “Find Plants.”  You will get an initial list of plant material that will suit your needs.  Once the initial list is populated you can narrow your search by height, width, flower color, foliage color, and a a few other special considerations.

However, this program was just recently launched and the programmers are working to continually update the database.  I assume that in the coming months more plants will be added along with additional photos and (hopefully) more information.  In the end it is a great program and I suggest you check it out.

The plant information is also helpful.  If you click on the name of the plant you are interested in it will give you a photo or color drawing (most of the time) of the plant, a description and a little culture information.

There are some drawbacks to this program.  As I mentioned before the wording on the climate zone maps are fairly small.  I have quite a large monitor and even then they are small.  You also have to populate the first list to narrow your search.  This is an extra step that I don’t care for.  There are limited photos of the plant on the list page and the individual plant pages do not include (or give limited)  pest and disease information.