Our Favorite Informative Websites

"Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions."  Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
  1809-1894

The internet offers answers to virtually every question imaginable, but finding a reliable source of correct and current information is often difficult and frustrating. Hopefully the lists below will make it a bit easier for you to find the gardening or nature related information you are looking for. Happy surfing!

• All About Birds - Excellent! Cornell University Lab of Ornithology
• Bug Guide  - A useful website to help identify any bug you may find
• Butterflies and Moths
• Dragonflies & Damselflies
• Ornithological Resources - Excellent interactive site! with lots of interesting bird info, filters for children or adults, and eight different resource types, such as facts, teaching materials, and projects for birds, like building nesting boxes or bird feeders.

• Connecticut Botanical Society
• GoBotany.org - Native Plant Trust’s simple plant ID tool
• Ontario Wildflowers
• Plant Native
• Scientific American on Plants  - Interesting scientific articles on plants
• UConn Plant Database

• Mushroom Observer - A great site to help with fungi identification
• Learn Your Land  - MORE THAN EXCELLENT, WITH OVER 100 EXCEPTIONALLY WELL DONE AD-FREE VIDEOS! If you are interested in plant and mushroom identification, wild food harvesting, nutritional and medicinal components of wild foods, and the benefits of a nature/human connection, look no further. 

• Arbor Day Tree Planting Guide
• A Way To Garden - An excellent 'When to Start Seeds' calculator
• Cornell Flower Guide
• Cornell Vegetable Guide
• North Carolina Cooperative Extension Gardening Page
• Plant Finder - Excellent site! Info and photos for over 6,800 plants by scientific name, common name, and/or selected plant characteristics. Also, audio pronunciation of the scientific names of most of the plants. 
• Watering New Plants - Seattle Water Partnership

The best way to raise children who care about nature is to give them lots of time to play in nature. Below you'll find links to some excellent websites on the subject.

• Children's Nature Network - Their vision is to create a world where children have access to the benefits of nature wherever they live, learn, and play.
• National Wildlife Federation - Lots of Great Resources! For decades, the National Wildlife Federation has worked to connect children and youth with nature, inspiring children through Ranger Rick® magazine, working with educators to get kids learning outdoors, and helping parents find new ways to engage their children outside. 

Thanks to the Girl Scout Troop from California who inspired me to add this 'Gardening With Children' section and other links above to this page.

• Kids Gardening .org - Excellent! Since 1982 kidsgardening.org has been a leader in the school gardening movement. The website has an 'Educator's Resource' section with free lesson plans, activity ideas, gardening tips for kids, and much more! 
• My First Garden - University of Illinois
• How to Grow Your Child’s Cognitive Skills through Gardening  - A blog page from 'Therapy Works', a pediatric therapy services company with a simple 4-step process to help improve your child's cognitive skills through gardening. 

"Plant a garden with your child and watch their test scores, behavior,

and language skills bloom."  Therapy Works

Thanks to Dakota for sending me a page of gardening resource links.

I included a few of her links in the above sections, and the first link below

in our new Dakota-inspired 'Composting' section.

• Composting Basics - Brooklyn Botanical Gardens
• Composting for Kids This Excellent Website was sent to me by Barry E. who volunteers at local schools, somewhere in the UK, to help children learn about composting and gardening. Thanks Barry!
• A Homeowner's Guide to Composting - A Composting 101 guide including over thirty links to composting website on topics such as 'How Composting Works', the 'Benefits of Composting', 'What and What Not to use for Composting', how to 'Build and Maintain a Compost Pile', and more! Shared with us by Annie P. for her son Sean who recently joined his local 4H program. 
• A Quick And Simple Guide to Coffee Composting - This link was inspired by Ben, a Scout working on his Sustainability Merit Badge. He originally sent me a website about coffee composting, but it was cluttered with advertisements—26 ads, to be exact! So I searched the web and found another site with virtually the same information, but without all the pop-ups. To earn his Sustainability Merit Badge, Ben is required to develop and implement a plan to reduce his water usage and household food waste, and to learn about the sustainability of different energy sources, including fossil fuels, solar, wind, nuclear, hydropower, and geothermal. Thanks for your commitment to sustainability, Ben! We need more youngsters like you.

Note: If you know of a website that you think is worth listing here,

please Contact Us. We would love to share it on our website.

BE ADVISED!

We usually will not share links to websites with commercial advertising.