By: James Bennett
This article was reprinted with permission from the International Water Garden & Waterlily Society
(IWGS).
We are pleased to announce the launch of the new IWGS Plant Database. This is fully searchable, by
plant or hybridizer, with advanced filters to help you find that next plant for your pond - or help
identify a plant you may already have.
It is two years since the launch of the first IWGS plant database, and while a major milestone at that
time it was not without its problems, the complexities of integrating a custom database into our
existing website proved to be difficult and limiting. Each upgrade to the website could cause problems
with the functionality of the database.
So, following discussions during our 2019 symposium in France and with new committee member Sander
Dekker volunteering to help with development, we started from the ground up to create a new user
interface o n a different platform. The cost of the services required to run the database on this new
platform have been covered through to 2030 thanks to a grant provided by Microsoft.
What’s new?
The basic search function allows you to find plants by plant name and/or hybridizer. With the advanced
filters you can search for plants with characteristics such as flower color, species only, award
winning plants, registered plants, or plants originating from a particular year. Together these search
and filter tools can help you find that next plant for your pond - or help identify a plant you may
already have.
We have also referenced plants from the Victoria Adventure
http://www.victoria-adventure.org and
Plants of the World online http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org websites, and plant information listed from these
sources has been appropriately credited under the source citation for each plant.
At the time of writing, we have 3,247 plant names and more than 1,371 photos of waterlily and lotus
varieties. Our next update will include shallow water, submerged, and floating plants, to create your
number one source for ALL aquatic plants!
Get involved!
Help us make it even better! Another new feature is the ability for you to upload your own photos to
share with the world using the Photo Upload button available on each plant page. To use this feature,
you will first need to register, which is easy, and can also be done through Microsoft, Google, or
Facebook logins (please note login details for the Plant Database are different to your IWGS login).
Once you have submitted your photo it will need to be verified by the committee before it will appear
on the database, so please be patient if you do not see it straight away.
In the first week of the launch of the new Plant Database we received 500 unique visitors, 6,100 views,
over 40 newly registered users and more than 250 new photos within the first 72 hours!
There is no completion date for this type of project, as new information becomes available it will be
added, and we will continue to develop new tools and features over the coming months and years. If you
have any feedback, ideas for future upgrades, or wish to report an error or omission within the
database please email database@iwgs.org.
Thank you all for your support and photo submissions, please keep them coming! Visit at: https://plants.iwgs.org.
About the Author
James Bennett is the owner of Bennetts Water Gardens, Dorset, England, UK. He is on the IWGS Board of
Directors.
|
PDF View
