Plant Talk Colorado: Facts at your fingertips!

 

Jane Rozum, Douglas County Extension

Colorado State University provides research-based information to the public via campus and Extension offices, websites, and blogs.  There’s A LOT of information out there and sometimes it takes time to find exactly what you need. How do you find information about horticulture and landscape issues that isn’t too long, technical and detailed?  What if you are just looking for a short and sweet synopsis on seeding a lawn? Bromeliads? Butterfly gardening? Selecting trees? Click on over to Planttalk Colorado™ for quick facts for your garden, landscape, houseplants and lawns

Planttalk Colorado provides reliable, timely information on more than 600 horticultural topics. Planttalk is sponsored by CSU Extension, Denver Botanic Gardens (DBG) and the Green Industries of Colorado.  All of the information is researched-based, and not just ‘what I read on the internet’.  On the left hand side of the Planttalk web page, there’s an index with topics such as annuals/perennials, design, insect/diseases, water-wise landscaping, etc. Under the topics, there are a plethora of informational scripts about individual subjects that you need to know. Don’t want to wade through 600 individual Planttalks? No problem! There’s a search feature on the right hand side of the main page. Type in what you’d like information about and it will list the Planttalk scripts on your topic.

But wait, that’s not all! On the main Planttalk webpage, there is a list of ‘Hot Topics’ which are timely for the season. It’s finally spring, so those hot topics include pre-emergent crabgrass control, buying trees and shrubs, growing onions from seed, etc. Click on those topics and go directly to the Planttalk script.

You want more? We got it! On the right-hand side of the page, there are Planttalk scripts on many topics en Espanol. You can learn to ‘cultivo de cebollas a partir semillas’ and practice Spanish at the same time.  There are also videos on specific topics such as pruning trees, reseeding a lawn, roses for Colorado and other topics. Hear and sometimes see your favorite horticulturist as they talk you through various subjects.   There’s also a list of CSU and related blogs on the Planttalk site, such as CSU CO-Hort blog (you’ve already found that one!) as well as DBG blog, Plant Select and our own Carol O’Meara, CSU Extension Horticulturist-Boulder County, on her ‘Gardening after Five’ blog.

 A favorite feature about a Planttalk script is it also provides links to other pertinent CSU information about the subject matter. So if there’s not enough information on lawn aeration on the Planttalk script, there’s a link to another Planttalk script or Fact Sheet on the same subject with even more information.

So head on over to Planttalk Colorado and locate seasonal gardening information you need for your landscape. Can’t find a script for a subject you’re interested in? Please leave us a comment and let us know. We’re always looking for new ideas for Planttalk scripts to provide to you and other Colorado gardeners with timely, reliable and fast information.