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<br />
<br />002G:~6
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<br />Arizona Water Resource
<br />
<br />7
<br />
<br />March-April 1997
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<br />obtaining information on desert plants - looking them up in
<br />a reference book, visiting a botanical garden, and questioning
<br />a plant expert. The reference book analog is an alphabetized
<br />list of plant names, which the user can switch between
<br />common names and botanical names. A name is selected
<br />either by typing it or clicking on it with a mouse.
<br />The botanical garden analog is a series of award-winning
<br />landscapes, including front and back yards, patio areas, and
<br />poolsides. After selecting a landscape, the user explores it
<br />with the mouse. As the mouse cursor passes over particular
<br />plants, their names pop on screen. Clicking on a plant
<br />selects it.
<br />The plant expert analog is the CD's Plant Selector. This
<br />is perhaps the most useful approach for selecting plants.
<br />From a screen of plant attribute categories, the user first
<br />selects one or more broad plant categories, such as trees or
<br />groundcovers (see screen shots, bottom of previous page). At
<br />this point, the user can search for all plants in that category,
<br />or can narrow the search by selecting plant characteristics.
<br />For example, one can search for deciduous vines with blue
<br />flowers that can withstand full sun and is native of Africa.
<br />The search displays matching plants as small "thumbnail"
<br />picrores. Clicking on one of these pictures selects that plant.
<br />If the search produces too many or too few matches, the
<br />search criteria can be tightened or relaxed.
<br />The plant selector can be used as a research tool to
<br />answer questions and discover patternS among desert plants.
<br />How do the colors of flowers vary with the time of year in
<br />which they bloom? Why are so many trees native to Austra.
<br />1ia relatively short-lived? What percent of drought-tolerant
<br />shrubs are native to Africa? What color flowers attract
<br />hummingbirds?
<br />Regardless of the approach used to select a plant, or
<br />which plant is selected, the program displays the same basic
<br />plant information screen (see screen shots). Common and
<br />botanical names and their pronunciations, pictures, basic
<br />information and a quote from a plant book or authoriry all
<br />are displayed. More detailed botanical data, such as leaf
<br />description and area of origin, are revealed by clicking the
<br />"additional information" button. Every picrore on the CD
<br />can be enlarged to full screen size by clicking on it, and all
<br />screens can be printed out.
<br />While the heart of the program is the searchable plant
<br />data base, other useful information is included. The Land-
<br />scape Tips section covers 24 topics including selecting plants,
<br />what is a desert, how to kill bermuda grass, a primer on
<br />native plant laws, how to attract wildlife to your garden, and
<br />the fundamentals of insect and disease control. Over 200
<br />screens of information address the most common questions
<br />and problems facing the desert landscaper.
<br />Other features include a plant trivia game and bibliogra-
<br />phy. The trivia game tests your knowledge of drought-
<br />tolerant plants and deserts with hundreds of questions orga-
<br />nized into six categories and three levels of difficulry. An
<br />illustrated bibliography reviews 24 of the most valuable
<br />desert plant reference works, describing the particular
<br />strengths of each.
<br />A follow-up grant from the Tucson AMA is being used
<br />
<br />to develop touch-screen electronic kiosk versions of Desert
<br />Landscaping. The goal is to make the information available
<br />in public places to all persons, even those completely unfa-
<br />miliar with computers, mice and keyboards. Eventually,
<br />some kiosks will be permanently located in public places
<br />such as botanical gardens, while others are temporari1y
<br />placed at water conservation events and plant shows.
<br />Desert Landscaping is the product of much of the staff of
<br />the Water Resources Research Center, some extension per-
<br />sonnel, a dedicated expert advisory panel, and dozens of
<br />others. Their combined talent and expertise, as well as their
<br />deep interest in water-efficient landscapes, is reflected in this
<br />CD-ROM.
<br />The CD-ROM represents the Water Center's ongoing
<br />efforts to use "new media" to more widely and effectively
<br />disseminate water resource information. Clearly, traditional
<br />print media stil1 is highly useful means of communication,
<br />and will constitute the bulk of the Water Center's publica-
<br />tions for the foreseeable future. But new media has unique
<br />strengths as well, and additional publications in the form of
<br />CD-ROMs and Web sites are being planned.
<br />Desert Landscaping is available for either Windows or
<br />Macintosh computers with double-speed or faster CD-ROM
<br />drives. Hardware requirements for PCS are a 486 or
<br />Pentium",lass CPU, Windows 3.x, NT, or Win95, and 4mb
<br />RAM (8mb highly recommended). A sound card is optional.
<br />Requirements for Macintosh systems are a Centris 650
<br />(68040, 25 mHz) or better, System 7.1 or later, and 8mb
<br />RAM (12mb highly recommended).
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