Check out these great library resources on gardening:
Take a look at these materials to get tips on plant selection, design, watering, and fertilizing.
Decorate your yard with colorful flowers this summer!
Discover landscaping and garden design ideas with the help of these useful resources.
Try some fiction and mysteries with a gardening theme. These stories may grow on you.
Learn about herb gardening, growing herbs, plantation information, and more.
Planning to create your own vegetable garden? Browse these selected resources that includes information on garden planning, soil preparation, and planting vegetable seeds.
Back to Top
Library Online Resources
Read articles about gardening or some of these other topics from General OneFile:
Use this Virtual Gallery to learn about ecology, how to save energy, and live greener.
Browse gardening Internet resources reviewed and selected by Library staff.
One of the best resources for local gardening is the (full-text) Orlando Sentinel database. Tom MacCubbin is a retired Orange County Extension Agent and writes for the Orlando Sentinel. Just type in "MacCubbin" and the name of the plant (or gardening topic) you are interested in. You must connect your terms with the word "and."
Back to Top
Kids & Teens
Library Online Resources
Do you have a question about plants, gardening, or the environment? Enter a search term or browse the Environmental Science subject heading for information on soil science, pollution, and waste treatment.
Everything you want to know about flowers, fruits, and vegetables is just a click away. Dig up information on plants of all kinds with World Book Kids.
Library Materials
Water the garden of your imagination with stories. Grow green thumbs as you dig into these fun books on gardening.
Unearth some of these titles for kids and learn about everything from containers to vegetables. Get your hands dirty with gardening fun!
Website
Find out about the secret life of flowers and get the dirt on soil and plants. Explore the Science of Gardening with this informative, interactive website.
Back to Top
Social
Get a new perspective on gardening from this opinionated group of serious gardeners.
Get reports from a local garden right here in Central Florida. They have the same weather that you do.
Join this online community of gardeners for a wide selection of discussion groups. Find a discussion group by title, topic, plant name, or garden type. Definitely check out the Florida section of the forum to find solutions for problems in your Florida garden.
Go shopping for your garden or sell your own items on Craigslist. Look at these free classifieds for plants, equipment, and materials. Sometimes people will even give their plants away, you just have to dig them out.
Back to Top
Library Materials
We have many, many titles on gardening, here are some links to a few specialized topics.
Some plants don't like to live in Florida sand. Container gardening is a good way to grow herbs and vegetables too.
Explore this comprehensive collection of "how to" books for Florida gardening.
Try some fiction and mysteries with a gardening theme. These stories may grow on you.
Find countless ways to improve your outdoor living areas.
See demonstrations of gardening techniques on DVD.
Create your own vegetable garden. Browse these selected resources that includes information on garden planning, soil preparation, and planting vegetable seeds.
Back to Top
Websites
Find information on rose grafting, fertilizers, varieties of roses, pruning tips, pictures of Florida roses, and more.
This website, provided by FloridaYards.org, contains an interactive Florida-friendly Plant Database to help you make landscaping decisions. Just enter your requirements and it will give you choices for your garden conditions. You can also use the Florida-friendly Interactive Yard to design and transform your yard!
Plant low maintenance native plants. Here is a selection for Orange County. The Florida Native Plant Society promotes the preservation, conservation, and restoration of native plants.
Get scientific information on Florida gardening from the University of Florida. This is a huge searchable website. Browse the index or do specific searches for topics like xeriscaping, citrus diseases, or turnips.
Find out about gardening classes and how to become a Florida Master Gardener. Also from the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, you can get tips and recommendations on how to make your lawn green.
Back to Top
Free Compost
Orange County composts yard waste and it is available free of charge. Bring a shovel and containers or just fill up a pickup truck.
Call the Solid Waste Hotline at 407.836.6601 or one of the transfer stations to check for availability:
- McLeod Road Transfer Station
5000 LB McLeod Road, Orlando, FL
407.245.0931
- Porter Transfer Station
8750 White Road, (Corner of Good Homes and White Road) Orlando, FL
407.296.519
Back to Top
