Thoughts From The Bellysize=+2>

copyright December 2005

By: Dan Mays Ironbelly1@aol.comsize=-1>

Once again, we have essentially consumed another year. December is a month of holiday celebration with cold weather slowing down the hectic pace  at least outdoors. Of course, again this year, a number of people fond to me will be receiving the gift I annually encourage others to give; an amaryllis. In spite of their low price (around $5.00 for a kit) they provide weeks of anticipation culminating in a burst of flower power. Undoubtedly, amaryllis is the perfect gift for someone difficult to buy for.

Looking back over this past year, it was not the drought that holds my attention but rather the way that technology is evermore creeping into the garden. When I first became a Master Gardener, there was an uncertainty whether it was "proper" to answer questions via email. Of course now, that question seems silly. Many people would now prefer to receive email responses because they can also receive additional links. Additionally, they receive their desired information immediately instead of waiting a day or two for "snail mail".

Generally, I find gardeners are becoming much more knowledgeable due to the explosion of electronic information. I see many of the old wifeÂs tales starting to lose ground. On Internet gardening forums that I visit, many of the well-entrenched false beliefs have a short life span once they are posted. An example would be that peonies need ants for the blooms to open (they do not). A statement of this nature used to be seen often. Now-a-days, such silly "facts" are quickly dispatched with because so many astute people will quickly set the record straight with numerous links to fortify their knowledge.

I am starting to hear more botanical nomenclature being used; no doubt because of horticultural websites like the one from the University of Connecticut (http://www.hort.uconn.edu/plants/index.html) which lets you hear the words being pronounced with a single click of a button. Of course, numerous photos also abound on these websites showing various aspects of the chosen plant in great detail.

I was able to identify an unknown native grass that I have been experimenting with from a new website (http://www.eeob.iastate.edu/research/iowagrasses/picture-key.html) at Iowa State University which features a grass identification key. In case you donÂt know, most grasses are extremely difficult to positively identify. They have a strong tendency to all look alike. Often there are only very subtle differences separating the species. However, this photo key unequivocally nailed the species just by following a series of either/or choices. Only a year ago, I would have needed access to a university botany library and probably would have spent several hours running down the same information. I did it in about ten minutes online.

If a gardener is curious about something, a computer keyboard can provide the desired information in short order. We used to wait for the local newspaper or garden magazine to announce what the new All-American plants were going to be for the coming year. Now we can get that information (and the winners for the past ten years) any time we desire.

Perhaps it was a recent meeting that really caused me to take notice of the way technology is having a positive influence on gardening. I was asked to attend a meeting in Muscatine to assist with some storm water planning/rain garden issues. Four of us gathered to share and coordinate our area of expertise and personal information that we had independently developed. At the end of the meeting, we were all so impressed with each otherÂs information that we quickly made copies of our compact disks and swapped them with each other. Bam! In an instant, each of us walked out the door with more information than would have been feasible only a few years ago.

High tech gardening  I like it!