It's that time again.

Once again, the dog days of summer are upon us. Which means it's also the moment we've all been waiting for - the second annual August PDB challenge! Last year the goal was to add 3,000 plants/photos/descriptions. It was a stretch, but we met and exceeded that goal. Thanks to the efforts of many of you, the database doubled in size that month, and just kept on growing!

This year, the challenge is to "fill in the blanks" with details, photos and ratings/comments. Here's how:

Step 1. Look through the Plants Database (click on the link in the right-hand column;

Step 2. Browse around, and find a plant that you're familiar with...

Step 3. See if it needs some data added (hardiness, height, bloom color, etc.) Or upload a photo (only your own photos, please.) And if it's complete, with nothing more to add? Well, then how about your opinion? (You know what they say...everybody's got one :)

You can have one or one thousand favorite plants, so don't be stingy - give as many positive (or negative or neutral) ratings as you'd like, just so long as you add a comment to support the rating. Your comment can include your personal experience with the plant, or an interesting factoid about where it got its common name, its native habitat, etc.

Step 4. Go back to Step 1 and repeat the process as many times as you'd like.

This year's goal is to add 2,000 photos and 1,000 new ratings/comments between now and midnight (12:00 am EDT) August 31. As with last year's challenge, this is a contest of sorts, with neat prizes and recognition for the top contributors. So grab a tall cold drink, gather up those photos and notes you've got scattered around your desk ... and have fun!

This sounds like fun. I love sending prizes to the winners of these kinds of contests.

Question: When does this begin? If members added plants yesterday or last week, do they get included?

dave

Has it been a year already? Holy moley, Batman! :D Yay!

For practical purposes, the contest begins with today's announcement. However, we have had some database contributors who have been hard at work adding things all summer, so we decided we will also take into account everything that has been added since summer began. Which was officially June 21 (midnight ET, to be precise.)

(And just in case anyone is wondering - especially those of you who weren't here for last year's contest - I'm not eligible to win any prizes since I get to have the fun of organizing it :)

Terry,

I'm glad you're going back a bit as I just added a number of photos to the PDB a week or so ago. Thanks. :)

Question for you...Can we photograph OTHER people's plants, too? I can take pictures at my parent's house, my cousin's house, the local botanical gardens.... What counts? Anything as long as it's "MY" photo?

Thanks for organizing this, Terry. You deserve an award.

Wow, I finallygot around to adding a few things to the PDB today... and didn't even know there was a contest afoot! I seldom add plants because what I have is just plain jane and/or the botanical or even common name is unknown to me. Did add a couple of new ones today, and a few pics of existing ones, tho'.

Hope we make our goal. Go, Go_Vols! You have done a great job with our PDB.

smiln32: Yes, as long as you snapped the photograph yourself, it's fine. I frequently post pictures of plants that I find on the side of the road, in a public park, or what-have-you.

dave

Well I tried it, and did manage to post a couple of things. But when I went back and looked at my photo....it was HUGH! I mean it was so fuzzy that it wasn't even a real picture..I
know that Dave told me once how to fix my pics by resizing them...but I just didn't get it. Call me dumb, but til I figure out how to resize the pics I will have to wait about adding to the PDB. :( He could tell me a million times, and I probably still wouldn't get the gist of it :(

Ah, Go_Vols... that brings to mind the Geranium entries to the database. I worked on many of the pages, but can't recall if I sent them to you. It's been a busy summer and just beginning to slow down a bit for me.

Weezin, I don't think so, but I wouldn't swear to it. I'll take a look (we've switched computers, so I'll go back and look on the old one.)

Molly, I know there are many who can help walk you through how to edit photos - I finally figured out my software (although it took me a while!! If you use the same software I do, I can help you; otherwise you're better off asking somebody else :)

darius, I saw your additions coming in - thanks!!!!

Smiln, as Dave said - with the PDB, the photo can be taken anywhere, as long as it's your own photo. (Which is different from the photo contests we have now and then.)

(And my reward is watching the database grow with tending, nurture and care from so many members!)

Terry,

This is from your message above...

Step 3. See if it needs some data added (hardiness, height, bloom color, etc.)

When I posted my other message on the Dave's Garden forum, this was what I was referring to. I just got confused, I guess, thinking that since it was mentioned in the original thread, it would be counted in the totals.

Just trying to clarify this as I may not be the only one with questions. Or, then again, I may be the only person who notices such things. :)

Carla, true enough. And in the last paragraph, I set out the goals for this year - which is for us to add 2,000 photographs and 1,000 comments to the PDB.

Speaking of which, we're well on the way - did anyone notice that we added 200+ photos in a single day earlier this week? I think that might be a new daily record!

Go_Vols: One of the things I've noticed about the PDB is that many entries are just different cultivars of the same plant. My assumption was that the additional cultivars would be added as photos with a comment, or just comment. Any differences to the stats could be reflected there. What is your feeling on this?

Weezin, we made the decision to give each cultivar its own entry when we changed the PDB format.

It makes it easier to denote specific bloom color/time, foliage, fragrance, and other differences when the entry is dedicated to a particular cultivar. Plus for someone interested in that cultivar, they see only photos of the one they're interested in, instead of having to click on many photos to find the one they're interested in. And comments/ratings can be provided for the cultivar - and we probably all have examples of a time we've planted several cultivars and some performed better than others.

For a few species, it's true they could reasonably fit in one entry. But for most plants - especially the big genera like roses, daylilies, hostas, etc. it would be impossible to navigate an entry containing all the cultivars.

I do think the heightened interest in the PDB is due to people finding entries matching the specific cultivar(s) they grow, and feeling more confident in placing a photo in that entry.

May I also add that for many cultivars, the species of the genus is unlisted in so many good sources. This is often because the parentage is very complicated or just unknown and argued about among botanists. The latter is especially true of old cultivars.

Wow! Will all my roses count? LOL Still working on them, sorry it has taken so long; got lost there among the species for a little while :)

Gotcha, Go_Vols. I've added a photo or two of a particular cultivar under someone else's entry, but perhaps I should have started my own...I'll ask more questions when I have time to spend on the database... too much sunshine and good weather here in Seward right now!

Terry,

Is there any way to determine how many "hits" the PDB gets from "outside" Dave's Garden members?

lupinelover, I'll email you - you should certainly get credit for the work you're doing on the roses...

Weezin - I hear you loud and clear - gotta make hay while the sun shines, especially in climates like yours!

Smiln, that's a Dave question. I know he can (and does) track hits to each part of DG, including the PDB. But whether he can (or does) differentiate between members and non-members, I dunno :) I do know we get a lot of traffic in the PDB, and it seems that increasingly, my Google searches bring me "back home". Which probably means that others are finding the PDB (and DG) when searching for plants, too.

Hi smiln,

Interesting factoid about the PDB - it gets more readers than DG does.

In July of 2002, the Plants Database received 51,665 unique visitors.

That same month, DG received 49,973 unique visitors.

Most of the people come in to the PDB via Google. We had about 31,000 hits on the PDB directly from Google searches. (still talking about July, 2002 here). About 13,000 came in from MSN searches.

1,800 came from Altavista.
2,000 came from Ask Jeeves

So the PDB is a huge resource that is relied upon by tens of thousands of gardeners worldwide!

dave

That is absolutely amazing and WONDERFUL. What a great resource for all gardeners.