Did you know that the Miller Library holds many periodicals that are not available online? Many articles found in our print collections can be located in our Garden, Landscape, and Horticulture Index, available here in the library and through the
Student Tools section of our website. This unique bibliographic database is designed for gardening enthusiasts, professionals and students of horticulture and of garden and landscape design and history. It provides indexing and abstracts for over 250 journals with articles related to gardening topics, with special focus on environmentally sustainable horticultural and design practices.
Once the articles have been located, the bound volumes on the shelves can be used to access the materials. For example, if you are researching baptisia and you would like to propagate it, you might search the database for baptisia AND propagat*. The search phrase using AND is a Boolean search rule using AND to narrow a search by combining terms. The asterisk is used for truncation to include all words that start with “propagat” so that you get “propagate,” “propagation,” and “propagating.”
Searching for baptisia propagation information, I found a few articles and when I checked for full text (articles that have been digitally scanned into PDF format), I found that the articles are not available in that format. However, many are available in the library in print format. In the citation you will note the name of the journal and the publication date. Take that information with you to the compact shelves, where our journals are kept, and you will be able to locate the article within the journal. Our newer publications within the last 2 years are displayed in open shelves. Articles can be photocopied or scanned using the copier in the library. Photocopies are $0.10 and scans are free!
In case you do not find anything, another source to consult is Plant Information Online,
https://plantinfo.umn.edu/, a database of
sources in 984 North American nurseries for 81,872 plant. Here you can find 428,616 citations to 154,576 plants in science and garden literature, and access information on 2,683 North American seed and nursery firms. Plant Information Online is a free service of the University of Minnesota Libraries.
Many of the resources are not just plants in nurseries but articles and useful information about plants.
