Lavalette Nursery of Huntington, West Virginia

You don't need a thousand-volume library to be an expert gardener. You have a garden library on the World Wide Web! And so much easier to look up information on the Web than try to find it in a book. Thousands of sites cater to gardeners, and it's easy for even a beginner to find them. Here are some to get you started. Just click any of the green titles in the paragraphs below to visit a site.

Monrovia sets the standard for excellence in providing plants for your landscape. The company also provides lots of information about those plants on its web site. You'll find information about the plants, along with new introductions and a gardening information center as well as sections on drought-tolerant gardening, tropical plants, soil and fire-safe landscaping. Of particular interest is the plant catalog. You can search for a catalog description of a particular plant by name, classification or category, or by common name or botanical name. Click on a letter of the alphabet to see all the plants starting with that letter. Each listing contains a photograph of the plant with a general description, care instructions, information on size and flowering, plus a list of recommended companion plants and design ideas.

Garden Launch Pad Here's one that certainly should be included in your browser's "favorites." There are links to 4,592 garden sites, 95 percent of which are not commercial. This is a user-friendly site, well organized and containing lots of articles and information, tips and humor. It's a good place to start when you're looking for gardening information.

.Garden Web This is a comprehensive database of information about all kinds of plants. It also offers a seed and plant exchange, an emailed newsletter, links to garden-related mail-order businesses, a calendar of garden events, a directory of garden-related societies and nonprofit organization on the Web, and forums where you can ask for help from other gardeners.

American Horticultural Society. The site offers a wide range of information, links to garden events, a seed exchange, a list of frequently asked questions and a section for Master Gardeners.

National Gardening Association, offering articles, information on how-to projects, a newsletter, a library of frequently asked questions, message boards, a seed swap, and free e-cards and wallpaper.

bot anique.com. This site lists more than 2,300 gardens, arboreta and nature sites in North America as well as a list of gardening events and links to other resources for gardeners, including sites for many gardening magazines.

Horticulture magazine is well-endowed with information. It's easy to skip over the "please subscribe" ads to find useful articles on a wide variety of garden-related topics.

Rebecca's Garden, sponsored by the HGTV series of the same name, this delightful spot provides information about planning a garden, recipes, projects, tours, message boards and step-by-step instructions for many projects featured on her show. Well worth checking out.

Prairienet's Garden Gate provides databases for every type of plant, FAQs, links to commercial sites, virtual garden tours, a section on house plants, a guide to mailing lists, online magazines and gardening software.

Government Garden News, operated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, contains a vast database of articles about all aspects of gardening, backyard conservation, horticulture solutions, and informational graphics explaining how-to projects.

Sunshine Farm, the home of Barry Glick's famous Renick, W.Va., farm. Lavalette Nursery offers a wide selection of unusual plants and herbs from Sunshine Farm.

Burpee catalog. In addition to the items in the Burpee catalog, this site features online courses, a nutrition guide, gourmet recipes and a "plant wizard" to help you select the perfect plants for your garden.

FindHow The How To Search Engine- Gardening is a good information and shopping guide, well organized by plant groups, gardening types, equipment, products, information and services.

Gro-Wise, national headquarters for the Growise Centers across the nation that help solve your gardeningchallenges and supply you with the materials and green goods.

KoiVet.com, a life-saver -- literally -- for water gardeners, this is a site devoted to all kind of information about fish and related topics.

The American Hosta Society operates this site to help hosta collectors of all kinds, from beginners to experienced growners. And The Hosta Library provides a fantastic photographic resource for researching hostas, incidentally.

The Azalea Society promotes knowledge and use of these delightful and easy to grow flowering shrubs.

For rose lovers, here are a trio of major online resources:

For water gardeners, here are three great sites:

The UConn Database of Trees, Shrubs and Vines It's a good one for looking for a specific plant even if you don't know the botanical name or exactly what your looking for. Great pictures too.

Novalis, Growers Cultivating Innovation, with more than 1,000 varieties, Plants that Work® are selected for quality and performance.

Proven Winners, with information for home gardeners, garden center professionals and professional growers.

Hort Couture offers the most sought after new plants and genetics from the world’s best breeders and plants people. The marketing of upscale plant products as "couture" quality identifies with our industry’s leading demographic. Fashion conscious women make up the vast majority of consumers purchasing color for their gardens and containers. Upscale packaging, marketing assistance and gorgeous plants are what make this program so appealing.