Over the years we have spent hours scrolling through gardening websites trying to learn more about plants. Reading blog posts, sifting through databases and searching plant photos and catalogues.
Its tedious stuff. But by now we have a good handle on which websites give you the best information with the least amount of annoyances. You know, all those pesky ads, pop ups, chat bots, accept cookies and email sign ups. We don’t like it, so you won’t find anything like that here.
The World’s Best Gardening Websites
Not all gardening websites are created equally. Many are clunky, some have large amounts of information but are difficult to navigate. Some are excellent in all aspects but will beg for your email address or shower your screen with pop up advertisements. A few provide just a sample and won’t give you the rest until you sign up.
Let’s save you some time and share our selection of the world’s best gardening websites.
Garden.org
Many of the best gardening websites are not-for-profit organisations and are run by passionate volunteers. So the first website on our list is a huge plant database. Garden.org is one of the biggest with nearly 800,000 plants covered with almost 1 million images!
The best part is that the majority of the contributions come from its 5000+ members around the world. Its free to join but is just as useful as a guest passing by. If you are looking for information on a particular plant check out Garden.org
Pl@ntNet
Got a plant in your backyard (or your neighbours) and want to know its name? PlantNet is another non-profit website that has a huge database with a clever identification system. Start by taking some photos of the plant. Then find this little upload graphic as seen above, upload your photos and let the database do its thing.
PlantNet is free to use and is also available as an App on Google Play and in the Apple Store.
Dave’s Garden
Dave’s Garden is basically a gardeners forum with an extensive plant library of over 160,000 plants. Most of the plant information has come from its large member base. It is free to join and contains 144 active forums where you can chat with other gardeners. Founded in 2000, Dave’s Garden caters to the needs of gardeners and horticultural professionals worldwide.
There is also thousands of plant and animal photos, informative articles and a nursery directory.
Plants For A Future
Plants for a Future is a non-profit based in the UK that has a database of over 7000 plants. Each plant profile includes detailed characteristics, medicinal benefits and edible usefulness. Plus they also include notes on growing methods and links to relevant studies.
Plants for a Future is definitely one of the most comprehensive gardening websites going around.
Wikipedia
Yes anybody can edit Wikipedia and sometimes that can lead to errors and misleading facts. But Wikipedia has always been a reliable place for us to gather some of the botany basics. There’s often a useful description of the plant, a rough size and usually includes an interesting anecdote on how the plant was used historically.
Simply type in a common or botanical name and see what you can find. Keep in mind, we have found some major errors so it is worth double checking other websites for any important information.
Missouri Botanical Garden
The Missouri Botanical Garden is a majestic looking place to visit but its their website that we often find ourselves learning from. And although the website primarily focuses on plants that are native to the United States its extremely detailed and includes lots of useful photos.
Missouri sounds like a random place to find one of the world’s best gardening websites but its certainly one of our favourites.
World Flora Online
Another website with a huge database of plant photos is World Flora Online. With more than 1.5 million plant names and images it is definitely one of the biggest gardening websites in the world. The website itself can be a little clunky to navigate through but it is so comprehensive, it is worth getting use to.
A key factor is that much of the information comes from native botanists and conservational organisations around the world.
Gardening with Angus
Finding good information on Australian Natives can sometimes be really difficult. So often we’ve ended up finding it on Gardening with Angus. Angus Stewart is a renowned author with years of gardening experience and his website has plenty of native plant profiles, videos, books and gardening products. For everything Aussie natives visit Gardening with Angus.
The Spruce
The Spruce is an American-based website that contains articles on plants, home improvements and lots of great recipes. They have an extensive list of plant articles written by expert gardeners. Each article is usually focused one specific plant and covers every detail on how to grow it. Because the articles are written by experts, rarely explained factors such as common pests, sunlight, various propagation methods, watering and pruning add unique insight into every plant that is covered.
And although you may experience the odd pop up we have found plenty of useful information about plants on The Spruce.
The Seed Vine
It may seem a little cheeky adding The Seed Vine to a list of the world’s best gardening websites. But to our defence we have spent many hours gathering and combining the information from all of these amazing websites. We are constantly updating and improving the information we provide to our customers and as we cultivate of our own seeds are always learning and sharing new gardening methods.
If you are in any doubt, feel free to check out one of our product pages or our Growers Notes page.
Kew Gardens
Kew Gardens is one of the premier Botanical Gardens in the world. Taking up 120 hectares (300 acres) in the heart of London, Kew Gardens is home to over 8.5 million plant and fungal specimens.
The website itself is full of great information and inspiration with contributions from many of the world’s top gardeners. With over 1.3 million annual visitors the gardens themselves make a coveted holiday destination. But until then why not visit the Kew Gardens website?
Daley’s Nursery
Looking for another exotic tropical indoor? Or a magnificent autumn driveway? How about a fruit tree that you thought might involve a trek through the Amazon rainforest? Then it’s time to check out Australia’s best nursery and get yourself some healthy plants or seedlings. Kyogle in NSW has one of the best climates in Australia and is suitable for growing both tropical and temperate plants.
But not only does Daley’s Nursery supply a range of plants for any climate their packaging is first class. If you are looking for a hard-to-find plant, give this website a try. Daley’s Nursery also has a great YouTube channel with plenty of helpful gardening videos.
Epic Gardening
While on the topic of great gardening videos, be sure to check out Kevin Espiritu’s Epic Gardening. Kevin covers many of gardening’s more common problems with easy to understand language and short entertaining videos. With well over 2 million YouTube subscribers, Epic Gardening is now probably the world’s premier gardening video channel.
The Epic Gardening website is also worth a look. When Kevin decides on a plant to write about it becomes the definitive guide for that species. You can check out his extensive list of plant guides here at Epic Gardening.
YouTube
Sometimes the only way to learn a new skill is to see it first, not just read about it. This is where YouTube becomes an amazing resource for gardeners, especially beginners. There are thousands of gardening videos trying to compete for your attention. Each trying to demonstrate a new trick or add polish to an old technique. Once you find a channel you like, hit the subscribe button so that you can be updated whenever that channel publishes a new video.
Here is some of our favourite YouTube channels:
Garden Answer
Garden Answer is definitely a unique gardening channel when compared to the hundreds of options on YouTube. It is hosted by Laura LeBoutillier who is a creative gardener who uses beautifully shot videos to demonstrate some of the harder gardening tasks. Some techniques such as pruning, repotting, grafting and propagation are much easier to follow on video than in a book and Garden Answer creates excellent tutorials that make these difficult skills easy to earn.
Another great feature of the channel is the time-lapsed videos that are used to show how the plant progresses after the demonstration. There is no doubt that Garden Answer is an excellent YouTube channel for anyone looking to expand their gardening skills and knowledge.
Edible Acres
Another great YouTube channel for gardening is Edible Acres. With Sean Dembrosky as host, this channel serves up videos that shows how to turn your backyard into an organic food source and a medicinal cabinet. Using a combination of permaculture and sustainable living strategies, Sean covers topics such as seed saving, soil conditioning and using animals to improve the productivity of the garden.
Whether you are trying to escape the rat race or just trying to grow your own tomatoes, Edible Acres is another great gardening channel to watch on YouTube.
MIgardener
MIgardener is an excellent channel for gardeners growing fruits, vegetables and flowers. The host is Luke Marion, who covers a range of topics in that includes sowing, watering, companion planting, organic gardening, raised garden beds and harvesting your crop. Luke’s approachable style makes videos that are easy to understand for gardeners of all skill levels. MIgardener also features plenty of handy product recommendations and reviews and just recently surpassed 1 million subscribers with over 700 gardening videos.
Whether you are a seasoned gardener or just getting started, it is well worth checking out Luke Marion on MIgardener.
Self Sufficient Me
Self Sufficient Me is hosted by Mark Valencia, an Australian gardener who combines a laid back style, with a bit of humor and great advice when it comes to growing your own food. Mark has almost 700 gardening videos covering topics such as fruits, vegetables, growing with insects and making the most of every inch. There are some really great videos on how to use raised garden beds to grow far more than you think.
Having recently hit the milestone of 2 million subscribers Self Sufficient Me is now one of the biggest gardening channels on YouTube.
Facebook seems like a strange website to suggest for gardening but it makes this list for a number of good reasons. Not only can you join a wide range of gardening groups, get help identifying plants, swap seeds and ask for advice. You can also use Marketplace to buy or sell plants.
To help you get started, here are three of Australia’s best Facebook groups, just search for their name at the top of Facebook’s home page.
The first impressive Facebook group for keen gardeners in Australia is Australia’s home grown vegetable gardening group with over 44,000 members. Although this group is private, it doesn’t take long for admin to accept new members. And once inside you’ll find many daily posts that cater for the backyard veggie patch.
The Fruit and Vegetable growers and Hobby Farmers Facebook group is full of knowledgeable gardeners who are sharing their ideas and experience. Many hobby farmers are constantly trying innovative new methods to achieve self sustainability so this is a group where you can find daily inspiration or bounce ideas off a large number of food growing gardeners.
Its a public group too so you can check out their recent posts prior to joining.
Another great pubic gardening Facebook group is Plant Identification Australia. If you still can’t find the name of that plant after searching through databases or trying out Plant Net you may find 50,000 sets of eyes can help. Take a quick look at today’s latest posts and you’ll see just how quickly these members are at naming plants from an image.
Conclusion
With improved technology and an ever growing interest in plants, there is more information to be found on gardening websites than ever before. That growing popularity has prompted many gardeners to create videos, write articles and share their knowledge and expertise. And as the competition grows, the quality increases which ultimately improves the way all gardeners connect and care for their plants.
This growing grassroots movement has brought along big technology companies that create innovative software and online tools to improve the gardening experience. Most are free to use so why not take the time to learn more from the world’s best gardening websites.