Product Description

This CD on House Plants, for PC and Macintosh computers, was reviewed as "Better than any printed volume could be... both the botanical information and the computer expertise on this disk are very impressive". Unlike other plant CD-Rom's in the market, this is a fun, enjoyable and easy to use product rather than a boring data base.

The CD is intended for all those who like to grow plants indoors. It is a user-friendly, enjoyable tool for selecting suitable plants for any location in the home or office, as well as a useful guide to the successful growing and caring of house plants.

The CD presents 210 of the most common house plants and includes 600 high quality pictures. It has extensive and unique search possibilities which allow the user to search by name, type, location (e.g. northern windsill, bathroom etc.), usage, attributes and thousands of combinations. It is rich in full-screen pictures, photographed in indoor settings especially for this CD. For each plant there are 4-5 screens including pictures, practical easy-to-understand information and specific watering and fertilizing instructions. The CD also includes a detailed introduction covering the basics of plant care such as problem identification and solutions, light requirements, feeding, watering, humidity, soil types and pruning methods.

This CD can "play" on P.C. computers under Win95, WinNT, WinME, Win2000 and up with minimum of 256 colors and on Apple/Macintosh/Power computers and compatibles.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3465122 in Books
• Published on: 1998-11-01
• Binding: CD-ROM
• 1000 pages

From the Publisher
Why a CD on House Plants and not a book?

First of all, because pictures are very important with respect to plants and the CD-Rom enables lots of full screen pictures without the high cost. This CD has lots of full screen pictures, a book with so many pictures of similar size would cost a fortune. We capitalized on this advantage and made a real effort on the photography. All the pictures were specially taken in indoor settings for this CD. We photographed the plants in a real house and in natural places with minimal set design or artistic effects. We want to show how the plants would look in most houses under normal conditions, rather than arrange the house to fit the plants.

Secondly, the computer enables us to interactively and easily search for information. We have also capitalized on this advantage and made it possible to search for anything we thought would be relevant or useful with respect to House Plants. The result is that the CD has extensive and unique searches which allow the user to search by all the standard attributes such as name, type, etc., as well as by some new and unique attributes like location (e.g. northern windowsill, bathroom etc.), usage, shape etc. The user can search for any combination of attributes he wishes and hence there are thousands of search possibilities.

It was not for nothing that the CD was reviewed as "Better than any printed volume could be".

From the Author
The idea is to have fun using this CD.

There are many boring CD-Rom's out there that are nothing more then dull databases. I wanted this CD to be fun, easy to use, understandable and an enjoyable tool for selecting, growing and caring for house plants.

We worked to make this CD so user friendly that even those who have never used the computer before will be able to enjoy this CD and will even enjoy the idea of using a computer, maybe for the first time. That's why this CD was also reviewed as "...so user friendly that it doesn't even have to be installed". I believe that a CD or any computer program should be intuitive for the user and require few usage or operating instructions. Watching and hearing from users confirms that we have succeeded.

We wanted to answer all your practical questions regarding House Plants, even the harder-to-answer ones like: how long will this plant live? I believe we have succeeded in presenting practical information in a concise, easy to understand format for the purpose of selecting, growing and caring for your house plants. The CD was reviewed as "...both the botanical and the computer expertise on this disk are very impressive".

We are proud of this product and hope you enjoy it too.

Arnon Sadeh, Producer.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Anthurium Andreanum ("Flaming Flower")

An exotic plant with long-lasting, flamboyant, shiny red blossoms (bracts) with a yellow spike in the center, and large heart-shaped leaves. Particularly impressive standing alone. Difficult to grow. Needs warmth, humidity and bright light. Excellent in cut-flower arrangements. Other varieties blossom in white and pink.

Light: Bright. Sensitive to direct sun.
Temperature: 68-85F (20-29C)
Requirements: High humidity, Soil kept moist in summer, Avoid Drafts
Height: 24 inches (60cm)
Width: 24 inches (60cm)
Flowering Season: April-June
Color: Red
Scent: No
Leaves: Green and heart shaped
Life Expectancy: Up to 3 years
Family: Araceae

Key:
Light Level: Three different light classifications are specified for each plant: Bright, Medium, Low. Light levels required by individual plants are a function both of light intensity and its duration. Further details are available in the Introduction to Light.

Temperature: the maximum and minimum temperatures indicated for each plant (in Farenheit and Centigrade) represent the range of temperaturea suitable for satisfactory development.

Humidity: Water vapor present in the air expressed as percentage. High humidity requires a saturation level of 60% or more. Humidity in an average house is about 50%.

Height/Width: Height/Width specified for each plant indicates the average height/width of a mature plant under normal house conditions.

Life Expectancy: the period of time the plant will flourish under normal house conditions.

Feeding Instructions:
Recommended Fertilizer: Slow release fertilizer for flowering plants.
Time of Year to Fertilize: Spring-summer-fall.
Quantity of Fertilizer: Normal. See instruction on the package.
Flowering plants require fertilizer that encourages blossoming on account of vegetative growth (leaves and branches)
The appropriate fertilizer should contain more phosphorous (9-12%) and potassium (16-19%), less nitrogen (8-11%) and include trace elements such as iron, manganese and zinc.
Watering Instructions:
Watering Method: Top watering. Place the pot in a saucer. Water the soil surface thoroughly. After about one hour discard excess.
Soil Condition: Keep moist in summer. Check soil condition by poking finger into soil.
Watering Frequency:
Summer: 2-3 times a week,
Winter: Once a week,
This is an approximation for maintaining the recommended soil condition.

Customer Reviews

Take The Guesswork Out Of Caring For Houseplants
If you're looking for an easy user-friendly houseplant CD, this is it. The pictures are professionally done, with enlargements for each plant. It takes the guesswork out of caring for your plants. It tells you how to choose the correct plant for your needs. Then it tells you how to water and fertilize and prune if necessary. It even has a section which deals with plant illnesses and how to cure them. If you love plants, but are mystified as to how to care for them, this CD is for you.

house plants made easy
great cd! gives all the information you need about houseplants & pictures. very practical!

Relevant, practical info good searches and beautifull photos
This CD does an excellent work on putting together relevant and practical information, all you need to know for the purpose of deciding if a plant is right for you and for your needs including a view of the plant and its unique features. This CD saves you plenty of time in searching for information.