A new online resource for Wisconsin”s commercial herbaceous ornamental industry is now available from the UW-Madison Department of Horticulture, says outreach specialist, Eileen Nelson. The web site includes: a forum for questions, answers and observations, links to information from industry, professional organizations and educational institutions, a calendar of upcoming events that allows you to set reminders, the ability to “subscribe” to portions of the site to know when new items are posted, opportunity for feedback, comments and questions, and access to a bi-weekly newsletter.

The site”s goal, according to Nelson, is to provide growers with a portal to information. “A grower doesn”t have time to sit and surf the web looking for the information they need,” Nelson says. “The goal is serve as a hub, accumulating the latest information on topics like production, marketing, and management. There is a lot of information available from academic and commercial resources all over the world. If we can pull some of it into one spot, we”ll save our growers time and time is money.”

The web site is public, although to participate in the forum section a visitor must register. Some basic individual business information is requested when registering in order to tailor parts of the site to particular needs expressed by visitors.

“We are new and have a long way to go”, Nelson says. “As we grow, the feedback from our site visitors will shape what we”re able to provide and how the information is presented.”

Web Site: http://www.wisconsinornamentals.com/