Outside Resources

Below are links to publications and information that may assist you in deciding how to enhance the landscape of your historic home:

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center promotes landscape restoration by encouraging the re-planting of native plants and wildflowers.  The website contains a variety of resources, including a comprehensive searachable database of native plants.

The Native Plant Center at Westchester Community College is dedicated to educating people about the importance of wildflowers and native plants of the Northeast.  As a community resource, the Center shares information on choosing, growing and maintaining native plants, including sponsoring classes, symposia, workshops and conferences featuring nationally known speakers.  Each spring, the Center holds a wildflower and native plant sale. 

The Brooklyn Botanic Garden website contains publications by some of the nation's leading horticulturalists, including useful ideas for incorporating native plants into your garden that will support birds, butterflies and other wildlife:

• Gardening for Wildlife, http://www.bbg.org/gar2/topics/wildlife/index.html 
•  "Songbird Hedges—An Antidote to the Stockade Fence"
     http://www.bbg.org/gar2/topics/wildlife/2001fa_songbird.html 
• "American Azaleas—Splendid Shrubs That Provide an Entire Season of Delights"  http://www.bbg.org/gar2/topics/plants/2001wi_azaleas.html

The Connecticut Botanical Society website contains a searchable database of wildflowers, ferns and rare plants.

The University of Connecticut website contains a database of trees, shrubs and vines that is searchable according to plant type and site and soil conditions.

The United States Department of Agriculture PLANTS Database provides standardized information about the vascular plants, mosses, liverworts, hornworts, and lichens of the U.S. and its territories.  It includes names, plant symbols, checklists, distributional data, species abstracts, characteristics, images, plant links, references, crop information, and automated tools.

The American Rhododendron Society is a non-profit organization whose purpose is "to encourage interest in and to disseminate information about the genus Rhododendron" (which includes deciduous and evergreen azaleas).  The organization's website includes a complete list of species, searchable according to plant characteristics.