Google does it again

– Posted in: Recommended Links
2 comments

I just discovered this . . . Google is scanning mail order catalogs and making them available for the general public, including a whole bunch of gardening catalogs! The selection is good–I’ve seen many catalogs just clicking through the website briefly that I haven’t heard of before and want to check out. Not only that, it can save you money (be still my frugal heart!) because you can look through a catalog online instead of paying for the print version, when you’re not even sure if you want to order from them. But wait–it gets better. You can type in the name of a plant and it will search all the catalogs in its database and find every instance of it for you. How’s that for convenient shopping? I wouldn’t use it to search for something really common–you’d get too many hits. I just did a search on “hepatica,” and it turned up 23 catalogs in .07 seconds, plus opened each catalog to the right page.

Those of you on dial-up connections might find it more aggravation than it’s worth, because it is so image intensive. Also, this is a beta service of Google’s, which means it’s a little rough around the edges. For example, some of the pages were scanned in crooked, and one price couldn’t be read because of that. Beta also means it could disappear at any time, if the folks at Google decide it’s not working out. So try it while you can, and if you like it, let Google know.

About the Author

Kathy Purdy is a colchicum evangelist, converting unsuspecting gardeners into colchicophiles. She gardens in rural upstate NY, which used to be USDA Hardiness Zone 4 but is now Zone 5. Kathy’s been writing since 4th grade, gardening since high school, and blogging since 2002. Find her on Instagram as kopurdy.

In the end, this may be the most important thing about frost: Frost slows us down. In spring, it tempers our eagerness. In fall, it brings closure and rest. In our gotta-go world–where every nanosecond seems to count–slowness can be a great gift. So rather than see Jack Frost as an adversary, you could choose to greet him as a friend.

~Philip Harnden in A Gardener’s Guide to Frost: Outwit the Weather and Extend the Spring and Fall Seasons

Comments on this entry are closed.

Kathy March 26, 2003, 7:57 am

I’m glad you were able to find it since the link didn’t work when I first posted it. (I fixed it since then.)

erica March 25, 2003, 11:19 am

wow — i just checked it out. too cool!