Plant (i.e. pretty flowers) software...

[wiggy]

Morning

"We" (the head gardener and I) are trying to make a inventory of garden/land contents and are having problems finding anything of a horticultural nature commercially that's reliable and would fit our needs.....most stuff we've looked at is either too mickey mouse (some apps only allow 10 plants, we might be talking 1000s :uhoh: ) or are horrifically expensive (mainly the academic stuff)

Sort of info we need to store is plant names, dates bought, where from and where it is planted - since plants sometimes get moved from one flower bed to another, and or keel over and die ( usually when I get involved) we'd need some sort of history function....guess we'd like other sorts of knobs and whistles but that's the basics.

I suspect there must be readily available stock inventory control templates that we could personalise to fit the bill - anyone have any suggestions?

[Ancient Observer]

Maybe e-mail someone in the RHS? They have the knowledge, and probably have a similar need. One suspects, tho, that they solve this problem by shoving money in to a bonfire.

[wiggy]

Thanks AO, despite my better half being a member of the RHS we never thought of giving them a try :ugh: ...I like your comment about the bonfire....


We have had quick look at some of the products used by some of the larger institutions/organisations but we didn't find many and those we found weren't cheap, sometimes 4 figures for the product and then annual licence fees well into the hundreds....niche market I guess...guess it might be back to the box of index cards...

[Gibon2]

I'm no gardener, more the scorched earth type, but from your description what you want to do seems fairly straightforward, and the kind of thing that general-purpose spreadsheets like Excel do pretty well. There are probably templates available - a quick search turned up this (https://templates.office.com/en-in/Garden-planner-TM00000057) - and you can then customise it however you like. Having 1000s of plants would be no problem, and you can search, sort, analyse, make tables and graphs, etc etc. Presuming you already have Excel or a similar app, it's free (apart from the muttering and cursing time you spend setting it up).

[wiggy]

Many thanks Gibon, MBH is tinkering with an "open office" template as I type, I will show her the link you've sent..

apart from the muttering and cursing time you spend setting it up

Ooo, yes.........;)

[Ancient Observer]

Another wild, uncultivated (!) thought. If you have spent loadsamoney with one of the nurseries over the years, maybe they could help out?