HelpMeFind site guests are welcome to enjoy the many features of our website.  All continue to grow everyday thanks to a devoted group of much appreciated volunteers and the gardening community around the world.

• A wealth of information collected from hundreds of resources and tens of thousands of individuals the last 10 years.

• Search our lists of 45,000 plants (38,000 roses alone); 100,000 photos;  10,000 nurseries, gardens, breeders and societies;  2,000 publications, articles and authors;  60,000 member reviews, comments, ratings and journals.
• Learn more about your favorite plants including photos; characteristics; origin; synonyms; growing tips; patents; lineage; references; awards and more.

• Find nurseries offering your favorite plants as well as gardens growing them.

• Enjoy our online Ezine, Q & A Forum, glossary and website link resources.

• And much more.

HMF can help you find nurseries offering the plants you are looking for.  Our plant search feature is easy to use and very powerful.  All plant pages include a Buy From tab listing nurseries offering that plant and a Gardens tab listing gardens growing it. 

• Search for plants using the full name or just part of the name.
• HMF knows the different synonyms each plant is known by and will find your plant, and nurseries selling it, using anyone of them.
• Plants sharing the same name (surprisingly common) are listed with identifying characteristics so you can pick the right one.
• Also learn what gardens grow your search plant.  Go and see it in the public gardens listed or even better, use the member garden list to contact the other members growing it and solicit their opinions about it.

All plant listings include a Reviews & Comments tab for site guests to post their review of, or comment about, the currently displayed plant.

If you can provide some additional insight or have experience to share, please use the POST NEW COMMENT button to contribute your thoughts to HMF.  Registered members can also post a question about the current plant to be addressed by one of HMF volunteers or other site guests - if you find an existing post you can answer or care to comment on please use the REPLY TO THIS POST button.  We welcome and GREATLY APPRECIATE knowledgeable site guests sharing their insight and expertise and helping answer questions.

Member reviews, comments and questions are also available for many of HMF's other listings including nurseries, gardens, societies and publications.

Posts from anonymous site guests are not added to the site until they have been reviewed by an administrator as some people choose to anonymously post inappropriate and sometimes offensive material.  If you are a regular contributor of reviews and comments please consider becoming a member.

Nursery owners, public & private garden administrators and society or association officials are welcome to add their nursery, garden, society or association to HelpMeFind.  We provide the tools to easily and efficiently manage them.

Standard listings are free or you can also choose to help support HelpMeFind and take advantage of the additional features available as a sponsor.  Your listing includes a description, contact information, plant list, events and promotions, message board and much more.  The NURSERIES, GARDENS and SOCIETIES pages include an Add New Listing to HMF tab where you can add your listing.

Breeders, hybridizers and discoverers are invited to add themselves to HelpMeFind and list their plants.

Standard listings are free or you can also choose to help support HelpMeFind and take advantage of the additional features available as a sponsor.  The BREEDERS pages include an Add New Listing to HMF tab where you can add your breeder or discoverer listing to HMF.

Authors are invited to add themselves to HelpMeFind and list their publications, articles and journals.

Standard listings are free or you can also choose to help support HelpMeFind and take advantage of the additional features available as a sponsor.  The AUTHORS pages include an Add New Listing to HMF tab where you can add your author listing to HMF.  The PUBLICATIONS & ARTICLES pages include an Add New Listing to HMF tab where you can add your publications and articles to HMF.

HelpMeFind greatest asset may well be the exchange of insight and experience between its members.  Being able to exchange notes backed by personal experience with someone that grows the same plants you are interested in or dealing with the same garden challenges is enormously helpful.

Telling us about your garden and listing your plants couldn't be easier.  Your member page provides a form to tell us about your garden and your level of experience all without compromising your privacy.  Building your garden's plant list is even simpler.  See the Plant Lists section below to learn how easy it is.

All members are invited to share their gardening experiences by recording their activities in a garden journal.  This is where you tell us about your progress, with photos if you are so inclined, throughout the season.  The HMF community is eager to learn about your gardening successes and failures and apply the lessons learned to their own gardens.

HMF is all about pooling the knowledge and experience of its members, beginner and expert alike.  If you are a beginner and think your insights would be of little value, think again - thousands of other members will be learning along with you.  If you are a seasoned gardening professional, a journal of your activities is an easy and convenient way to share your expertise and make a lot of other gardeners very happy.

Your member page includes a Journal tab where you can use the ADD JOURNAL ENTRY button to get started.  You will also find a MY JOURNAL button on every plant's main tab for adding a garden journal entry about that specific plant.

Site guests can read your journal by visiting your member listing as well as reading your recent journal entries in the NEW / RECENT section of HMF.

Nursery, garden, breeder and HMF member listings include a Plant List tab listing the plants they offer, feature, grow or have bred.  The plant list options provide for customization of those plant lists to better suit your needs.  For example, instead of the default alphabetical list of just plant names, you can choose to list the plants by class or color and include a brief description or a thumbnail photo of each.

If you can provide some additional insight or have experience to share, please use the POST NEW COMMENT button to contribute your thoughts to HMF.  Registered members can also post a question about the current plant to be addressed by one of HMF volunteers or other site guests - if you find an existing post you can answer or care to comment on please use the REPLY TO THIS POST button.  We welcome and GREATLY APPRECIATE knowledgeable site guests sharing their insight and expertise and helping answer questions.

Member reviews, comments and questions are also available for many of HMF's other listings including nurseries, gardens, societies and publications.

Posts from anonymous site guests are not added to the site until they have been reviewed by an administrator as some people choose to anonymously post inappropriate and sometimes offensive material.  If you are a regular contributor of reviews and comments please consider becoming a member.

HelpMeFind provides several methods to build and maintain your nursery, member garden or public garden plant list.  See the HOW DO I … button for additional instructions.

HMF plants lists have the significant advantage of knowing all the synonyms for each plant.  This cross referencing of names allows site guests to find a plant using any of its synonyms.

• Each plant listing's Gardens tab includes a MY GARDEN button to add the currently displayed plant to your member or public garden's plant list.
• If you have a nursery listing, use MY NURSERY button found on the Buy From tab to add the currently displayed plant to your nursery listing.
• Your listing's plant list tab includes a button labeled UPDATE PLANT LIST.  This feature allows you to interactively search for plants to add or remove.  The search form includes detailed help instructions.
• Your listing's plant list tab also includes a UPLOAD LIST OF PLANTS button used to upload a text file of plant names.  You will find detailed instructions on the upload form.  This allows you to load you plant list with a large number of plants very quickly.

Every plant and listing page (nursery, garden, etc.) include a Photos tab with thumbnail image links to member photos of that item.  Members are welcome to contribute gardening photos using the UPLOAD PHOTO button to upload your photo of the currently displayed plant or other listing.

In addition to the individual listing Photo tabs, visit the NEW / RECENT section of the site to browse our 100,000 photos starting with the most recent.  You can also view all the photos contributed by a specific member by visiting their member listing.

Please only upload photos your own or you have received explicit permission from the owner to use.  You retain ownership rights of your photos you upload.

Your member "Favorites" list is just what the name implies - your favorite plants, nurseries, gardens, societies, publications and photos.  Your list of favorites is both shared with the HMF community on your member page as well as included in the site-wide MEMBER FAVORITES section.

You will find the ADD TO FAVORITES button on the opening / first tab for all plant and other listing pages.  Click it and the currently display item is immediately added to your favorites list.  Click again and it's removed.

All members are encouraged to use HMF's rating forms to quickly and easily rate the plants, nurseries, gardens, societies, publications and photos featured on our website.

The Ratings tab found on most pages list member ratings on various characteristics for the displayed item.  These ratings are enormously helpful to other members and it takes only seconds to do - just click the RATE THIS … button on the Ratings tab.  You are free to change any of your ratings should your opinion change and all ratings are anonymous.

Visit the MEMBERS RATINGS section of the site to review the combined member ratings of plants and other listings (nurseries, gardens, etc).

Private Messages allow you exchange messages with other members and HMF listings without the need to reveal your personal email address.  You control your own private message board.

The member pages provide two different buttons for you to contact the currently displayed member.  The SEND PM button is used to send them a message in private - it is only displayed to you and the recipient on your respective message boards.

Alternately, the POST NEW COMMENT button is used to send them a public message that is posted in the Q&A forum and shared with everyone.  Private message should only be used to exchange information of a personal nature and not for messages containing information useful to the HMF community, use the POST NEW COMENT button for those.

Your member page includes a Private Messages tab to view and respond to private messages.

The advanced plant search allows you to search for plants using one or more of the following critera:

• Name or partial name including all common and uncommon synonyms.
• Class group(s) or specific class(es).
• Color and unique color attributes (e.g. Red with white edges).
• Bloom characteristics inclucing bloom form, cycle and fragrance.
• Habit characteristics including habit and foliage attributes.
• Growing characteristics including zone, disease resistence, uses and growing tips.
• Breeding information including breeder, country of origin and year bred.
• Introduction information including introducer, introduction country and year introduced.
• Descendants of a specific parent plant or descendants or a specific cross. Also ploidy.
• Plants having specific listing information like awards, photos, reviews, ratings, patents, etc.

Use the plant cuttings exchange to list plants you want cuttings for as well as those you can offer in return.

Each plant page has a Cuttings tab where you can review a list of members having or looking for cuttings for that plant.  Use the I HAVE CUTTINGS and I WANT CUTTINGS buttons to participate.  Other members can review your list of plant cuttings on your member page's Cuttings tab or in the Cutting Exchange section of HMF. 

The Cutting Exchange pages also includes the My Plant Cuttings tab where you can make changes to your member plant cuttings list.

Even more useful, every night HMF sends alerts to members if any new additions posted during the day match up with their plant cuttings lists.

Please note NOT ALL PLANTS are eligible to be included in the plant cutting exchange.  All patented plants are excluded and will not include a Cuttings tab.  The same applies for plants from a breeder having specifically requesting to have their plants excluded.  Please also be aware if we add missing patent information to a plant all cutting exchange posts are automatically canceled.

The Wish List is one of HMF's most useful and powerful features.  It allows you to build, maintain and monitor a list of plants you wish to (possibly) purchase immediately or in the future (next season).

Tell us the plants you are interested in and we will tell you the applicable nurseries (in your country or ship to your country) offering each of them.  You can view a list of nurseries for each plant or view a list of your plants available from each nursery offering one or more of them.  Optionally, you can limit the nurseries to your list of "preferred" nurseries.

The wish list also shows you when a nursery is selling your desired plant under a different name.

A Premium-membership member wish list shows ALL nurseries offering your wish list plants while standard membership is limited to HMF sponsor nurseries.

Adding a plant to your wish list also alerts us to the need to find a source for your plant and we post a message on the plant's Buy From tab requesting site guests to contact us if they know of a source.  When someone contacts us with one, we update that nursery's listing and notify you that evening (see nightly processing).

In addition, every night your wish list is compared to the the applicable nursery plant lists to see if they have added any of your wish list plants to their inventory or if any new nurseries have been added to HMF which can supply one or more of your wish list plants.  You are sent an email notification if any matches are found.

Building your wish list couldn't be easier; you add plants by clicking the ADD TO WISH LIST button found on the plant page's PLANT tab.  Your member page includes a Wish List tab to view and make changes to your wish list.

Another nice feature of your wish list is the plant availability request.  Nursery listings include a REQUEST PLANT AVAILABILITY button which sends a request giving them the opportunity to review your wish list and indicate if their inventory has changed from their current HMF listing's plant list.  Possibly some of their plants are sold out or stock has been replenished.  HMF will alert you when the nursery has responded and you can review your plant wish list for any plant inventory changes as well as that nursery's updated plant list.

You can request a catalog or newsletter with a single-click.  The request is logged for both you and the recipient nursery, garden or society allowing you both to monitor and update the status of each request.

Use the REQUEST CATALOG and REQUEST NEWSLETTER buttons to notify the currently displayed listing of your request.  Members will find a Requests tab on their member page listing all their past and current requests.

Subscribe to a listing's announcement list.  You'll receive HMF private messages notifying you of their promotions, sales, events or other special notices.  YOU choose the nurseries or public gardens you want to hear from without having to have your address on another mailing list.

Use the SUBSCRIBE button to subscribe to the currently displayed listing.

The plant availabilty confirmation works in concert with your HMF plant wish list.

Appropriate nursery listings include a REQUEST PLANT AVAILABILITY button which sends a request giving them the opportunity to review your wish list and indicate if their inventory has changed from their current HMF listing's plant list.  Possibly some of their plants are sold out or stock has been replenished.

HMF will alert you when the nursery has responded and you can review your plant wish list to check for up to the minute plant inventory changes before placing an order.  The nursery's plant list will also be updated to reflect the changes.

Members have local maps and driving directions available to help them find local nurseries, public gardens, societies and events. To protect member privacy, maps and directions are not available for member gardens.

Where google map information is available, listing's include MAP and DIRECTIONS buttons.

Several features to make HMF's use more convenient.

• The navigation menu on the left and tab headings are removed for a cleaner printout.  It's particularily helpful when printing plant pages and parentage trees.
• Plants with USPTO plant information include a convenient VIEW USPTO PATENT button to display the original patent.  Often it includes considerable detail with much not widely known.  We hope to offer the same feature as other patents become available online.
• Nursery, public garden, and society listings include a convenient VISIT THEIR WEBSITE button to take you to their website with a single click.

Powerful, fully dynamic parentage and descendant reports (sample reports available).

• Extendable parentage tree.
• Parentage lists by name or generation.
• Descendant lists by name or generation.

You can build lists of "preferred" nurseries.  This list is very useful inconjunction with your plant wish list as you can optionally limit the nursery matching to your preferred nurseries.  We also have plans to use this list for some future enhancements.

Use the ADD TO PREFERRED button found on nursery listing.

Your Friends List is a list of members that are your HMF "friends".  It makes it very convenient to follow their HMF participation and to communicate with them.

Each member page's Profile tab includes a ADD TO FRIENDS button to add the currently display member to your friends list.  Your own member listing includes a Friends tab listing all your HMF friends with links to each of their member pages.

We have plans for some future site enhancements that will allow you to limit different searches to your friends.  One example would be the plant cutting exchange.  Soon you will be able to optionally limit the list of members looking for or offering plants cuttings to just your HMF friends.

The private journal entries feature is provided for you to record your personal notes and comments about the currently displayed plant, nursery, public garden, society, breeder or publication listing.

They are for your record keeping convenience and are not displayed to anyone else.  Possibly, it's a plant you grow in your garden and you are noting the need to treat it for susceptibility to a disease or pest next year.  It could be a note to remind yourself of an unsatisfactory shipment of merchandise from a particular nursery.

All plants and other listings (nursery, garden, etc.) include a MY JOURNAL button on the opening / first tab and your member page includes the MY JOURNAL tab listing all your notes.  Your member page also has a ADD JOURNAL ENTRY button allowing you to add general, non listing-specific notes or reminders to yourself.

In addition to designating specific journal entries to be private, you can also designate individual journal entries which are not shared with the public but instead only viewable to the members you have added to your HMF "Friends" list.

The Events Calendar page combines the upcoming events of all the nursery, garden and society events listed on HMF.  You can search for events by name or general location.  In addition, members can use the Local search option to find events within a given distance of their home and view a local map and driving directions.

All nurseries, gardens and society listings include an Events & Promotions tab where they list their events and promotions and add new ones.

Your HMF personal calendar allows you to single out and follow the events and promotions that most interest you.  You add existing events using the ADD TO MY EVENTS button found on every HMF event listing.

Maybe even more useful is the ability to add your own personal events and reminders using the ADD EVENT OR REMINDER button found on the My Events tab.  Write yourself a reminder to call a particular nursery next year or to treat your garden for a troublesome pest the first of every month.

HMF notifies you 3 days before the start each event, promotion or reminder listed on your personal calendar.

Your Watch List is a list of plants you want us to "watch" for you.  We keep track of and report changes made to specific plant listings since you last viewed them. Specifically, we alert you to new photos, reviews, comments or questions and garden or nursery additions.

Use the ADD TO WATCH LIST button found on every plant page's Plant tab to add it to your watch list.

Visit your member page's Watch List tab to review and maintain your watch list.  A plant's reported changes are automatically cleared when you visit the appropriate tab of that plant.  For example, if someone has loaded new photos to one of your watch list plants, an alert is posted and not removed until you visit the Photos tab for that plant.

Your member page includes a Watch List tab to view and make changes to your wish list.

The Question & Answer Forum is a catagorized and searchable list of thousands questions and answers.

Use the POST NEW COMMENT button to post your question or comment and the REPLY button to address the comments or questions of other members.