Landscape Horticulture Subject Guide

Getting Started: Handbooks, Manuals and Reference Works

As you begin your research, refer to sources such as these for an overview, background information, and definition of terms. (More specialized references are available, too. Talk to the reference librarian if you'd like suggestions and assistance.)

AHS great plant guide. American Horticultural Society.
MAIN SB407 .A37 2004

The American Horticultural Society A-Z encyclopedia of garden plants.
REFERENCE SB403.2 A45 2004

American Horticultural Society encyclopedia of gardening. Rev.and expanded ed.
REFERENCE SB450.95 .A45 2003

The complete gardening encyclopedia. Sue Phillips.
OVERSIZE SB473 .C648 2002

Dictionary of horticulture. National Gardening Association.
REFERENCE SV45 .N38 1994

Diseases of trees and shrubs. Wayne Sinclair and Howard H. Lyon.
REFERENCE SB762 .S56 2005

Grounds maintenance estimating guidelines. 8th ed. Professional Grounds Maintenance Society.
REFERENCE SB472.565 .G76 1998

Horticopia: perennials and annuals. Edition II.
AUDIOVISUAL SUPPLEMENTS SB405 .H678 1997 ed. 2
(CD-ROM + booklet: for use in Library only. Ask at Circ. desk.)

Horticulture gardener's desk reference. Anne Moyer Halpin.
REFERENCE SB450.96 .H35 1996

Landscape estimating methods. 3rd ed. Sylvia H. Free.
REFERENCE SB472.565 .F44 1999

Landscaping with native plants of Minnesota. Lynn M. Steiner.
OVERSIZE SB439.24 .M65 S74 2005

The Oxford companion to the garden.
REFERENCE SB450.95 .O94 2006

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Finding Books

Begin your search with MnPALS, our online catalog. MnPALS provides access to books, audiovisual materials, eBooks, and other resources available at DCTC and at other libraries in the MnPALS system. Our books and audiovisual materials are organized according to Library of Congress call numbers. Items not available from the DCTC Library can be requested online through interlibrary loan (ILL).

The best way to begin a search in MnPALS is to enter one or two keywords on your topic. To focus your search, find the most relevant records in your results and look at their subject headings. MnPALS displays subject headings as links and clicking on them will begin a search for that particular topic.

MnPALS includes the titles of our magazine and journal subscriptions but does not provide the articles themselves. To search for articles, see the Finding Articles section below.

Sample subject headings for Landscape/Horticulture:

landscape plants
landscape gardening
landscaping industry

nurseries
seeds
gardening

turf
horticulture
plants

Most books about landscape, horticulture, and related fields are shelved in call numbers beginning with SB. Browse those shelves for ideas.

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Finding Articles

Use periodical indexes and databases to locate articles, reports, and other documents on your topic. Most of these resources provide full-text articles, which you can print, save, or e-mail. We also have print subscriptions to some magazines and journals that aren't available electronically. We keep the current year and three previous years of most magazine and journal issues. If an article you need is not available at the DCTC Library in either print or electronic format, you can request the article from another library through interlibrary loan (ILL).

Periodical Indexes & Databases

EBSCO MegaFILE (1865 - Present)
EBSCO MegaFILE indexes nearly 24,000 publications and provides full text for over 19,100 publications. EBSCO MegaFILE covers virtually all subjects and includes biographies, company profiles, primary source documents, and images. EBSCO MegaFILE combines four EBSCO indexes and databases: Academic Search Premier, Business Source Premier, MasterFILE Premier, and Regional Business News.

Access World News (1977 - Present)
Access World News provides full text articles from more than 2,000 newspapers, wire services, and broadcast transcripts from all over the world.

ProQuest Newspapers (1980 - Present)
ProQuest Newspapers provides full text articles from nearly 700 newspapers and wire services from all over the world.

Journals

American Nurseryman

Better Homes and Gardens
Indexed from January 1, 1985 to present in EBSCO MegaFILE.

Fine Gardening

Garden Design

Gardens Illustrated

Horticulture
Indexed from January 1, 1984 to present with full text from May 1, 1990 in EBSCO MegaFILE.

Journal of Environmental Horticulture

Landscape Management
Indexed from July 1, 1993 to present with full text from December 1, 1993 to present in EBSCO MegaFILE.

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Web Sites

American Nursery & Landscape Association
Now in its 132nd year, the American Nursery & Landscape Association is the national voice of the nursery and landscape industry. Members grow, distribute, and retail plants of all types, and design and install landscapes for residential and commercial customers.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden: BBG's online Library of gardening information
This site features "gardening articles and growing tips" selected from Brookln Botanic Garden horticultural newsletters, handbooks, and guides. Topics include gardening techniques, garden design, wildlife gardening, wildflowers, kitchen gardening (vegetables, fruits, herbs, recipes), houseplants, urban gardening, botany, ecology, plant conservation, and pests and diseases.

Garden Minnesota
Plant and landscaping resources from the Minnesota Nursery and Landscape Association. Includes hundreds of fact sheets from the University of Minnesota.

Green landscaping with native plants
Tips on how to fill your yard, garden, or other open space with plants that grow wild in your area, which saves on fertilizer and benefits the environment. Although this site concentrates on the Great Lakes area of the U.S., there are resources that are relevant to other areas. Included is an impressive article covering weed laws. From the Environmental Protection Agency.

HGTV: Home and Garden Television
The site for HGTV cable TV station. It covers remodeling, building, crafts, collecting, design, decorating, food, gardening and landscaping, real estate, and finance, providing instruction for home improvement projects, calculators, and details and schedules of regular programs and special presentations. Searchable.

Minnesota Landscape Arboretum
More than 1,000 acres of unique public gardens, spectacular annual and perennial display gardens, collections of plants developed for northern climates, natural and native areas, and demonstration gardens.

Minnesota Nursery and Landscape Association
The Minnesota Nursery and Landscape Association is the state's largest green industry trade association, with more than 1,500 member businesses, including garden centers; landscape contractors and designers; tree and flower growers; irrigation contractors; and lawn, tree, and garden services. Includes many useful links.

My Garden Guide - Plant Encyclopedia
"The Plant Encyclopedia is a vast database of nearly 40,000 plants. You can search by any number of options including scientific name, common name, and plant category. You can also search by a combination of factors. For example, selecting USDA Hardiness, Plant Category, Bloom Time, and Flower Color, will give you a list of plants that thrive in your part of the world."

National Gardening Association
The National Gardening Association (NGA) is devoted to "plant-based education." The site contains articles, how-to projects, information on pests, a gardening dictionary, a buyer's guide, an events calendar, and resources for children and teachers. Also features a "Q&A Library" of "thousands of gardening questions and answers."

PLANET (Professional Landcare Network)
This network of green industry professionals is the green industry clearinghouse for information on educational events, legislative issues, membership, certification, and industry publications. PLANET is the international association serving interior plantscapers, lawn care professionals, exterior maintenance professionals, and design/build/installation professionals.

Professional Grounds Management Society
The Professional Grounds Management Society (PGMS) is an individual membership society of grounds professionals advancing the grounds management profession through education and professional development.

Tree Care Industry Association
TCIA is a nonprofit trade association of companies in the tree care industry, formerly the National Arborist Association.

University of Minnesota Extension: Gardening and commercial horticulture
Extensive online Library of gardening publications, information briefs, INFO-U briefs, Ask a Master Gardener service and newsletters for the public, and listings of noncredit educational opportunities from around the state.

USDA plant hardiness zone map
This interactive document from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows 10 different minimum temperature zones in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, "each of which represents an area of winter hardiness for the plants of agriculture and our natural landscape. It also introduces zone 11 to represent areas ... that are ... essentially frost free." Also includes information about the creation of the map, and indicator plant examples for selected woody plants.

Annotations from Librarians' Internet Index.

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Reference Librarian

The DCTC Library's Reference Librarian is

Barbara Tuttle
651-423-8345

Please feel free to contact me with questions, comments, concerns, or for additional help with your research.

This page is maintained by Michael Kirby and Barbara Tuttle.
Last updated: November 16, 2007.