Plants for Windows

Do You Want to

Print Catalogues and Lists?

Print Plant Labels?

Keep your Plant Lists up to date?

Find Plants for Difficult Situations?
Publish your Plant Catalogue on the Web Easily?
... and only use ONE software package?

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Plants for Windows Order Form (inc. Overseas Orders)

Plants for Windows^© is a plant database manager, plant locator and printing software system for Microsoft^© Windows^©. Designed for the serious gardener or small nursery, Plants uses the familiar Point and Click interface PC users are so familiar with, making it’s operation both intuitive and quick to learn. Using powerful Database Query techniques, plants for a wide variety of different positions and conditions can be located, viewed and printed quickly and easily. Plants automatically builds a description of the position, temperature, exposure, soil type and condition that each plant prefers, while further information may be provided by adding descriptions, general notes and cultivation instructions. Sophisticated printing algorithms allow the choice of producing output ranging from a simple plant list to a full commercial quality catalogue with opening message, prices (any currency) or price codes, descriptions, notes and cultivation instructions, with plant heights printed in metric or imperial measurements. Page layout can be adjusted by changing font and font size, paper size, left and right margins and gutter size (for binding). Gutters can be mirrored to allow the production of camera ready copy for large scale printing (printer resolution permitting).

The Opening Screen

The useful Tabbed box interface means that a great deal of information can be stored without taking up too much space on your screen. By default, Plants starts up showing the Plant Details tab, as shown above. Adding a plant to the database is simple - just press the Add New Plant button and type in the Species, Subspecies and variety. Plants takes care of the alphabetic sorting, so that plants can be entered in any order. Each plant can be categorised as IN STOCK or WANTED and can also be marked to be EXCLUDED from a Catalogue of plants. Prices and Price codes are fully customisable, including a Special option for plants which do not fit into your normal pricing structure. Heights are entered in metres and centimetres, but are also immediately converted to imperial units and are automatically shown alongside the metric measurement. Clicking on the Conditions tab allows you to enter the conditions preferred by the new plant: To change the conditions, simply click on the check boxes to put an X in it. Click on the Soil Types tab to enter details of the types of soil this plant prefers. Again, simply click on the check boxes to change them. Notes and cultivation instructions can be added by choosing the Notes tab: Vast amounts of information can be entered here if required; simply click on the little Scroll arrows to the right of each text box to move up or down the text.

Selecting Plants for Different Conditions

Your database will obviously contain many plants when you have entered them. In some cases, the details of many thousands of plants will be available to you, your clients or your students. Having plants in alphabetical order is a useful and logical way of organising them, but there are times when you will want to know which plants are most suitable in conditions, for example, of Dry Shade or for sites which have Poor Soil and are exposed to Salt Wind. Clicking on the Select tab gives you the opportunity to identify plants which are suitable for these and many other conditions: For example, clicking on DRY in the Soil Condition frame and both FULL SHADE and LIGHT SHADE in the Shade and Sun frame, then clicking the OK button would search the database for plants prefering Dry soil and either Full Shade or Light Shade, then select them for you to either view their details or print them out as a list or catalogue.

Printing - and EXAMPLE PLANT LISTS

Selecting the Print tab allows you to choose the options for printing a catalogue or list of your plants:

Click on the check boxes to select those Plants you want to print; Plants in stock, plants wanted, the option to override the EXCLUDE FROM CATALOGUE instruction or even a list of those plants which are marked to be excluded from a catalogue. The plant species, subspecies and variety is automatically included in any list or catalogue. Next, choose what additional information you want to print about each plant; the Description (from the plant description box on the Plant Details tab), Price Codes, Cultivation/Propagation notes, Heights ( metric or imperial measurements), General Notes and/ or Conditions. The Conditions section is automatically generated by Plants for Windows from the details entered in the Soil Types and Conditions tabs, e.g. Hardy. Prefers full sun, in any type of well drained soil. Tolerates Salt Wind. Note that Printing can be carried out in one or two columns, in any scaleable font, in any point size, in portrait or landscape format. When printing in two columns, there is a further option to number columns as pages, thereby allowing the production of an A5 booklet format catalogue. Printing options are accessed through the File/Print Setup menu option. Having selected which plant types to print, what to print and how to print it, press either the Print Plant List Only or the Print Full Catalogue button. Printing a full catalogue will include an opening message, (customisable via the Edit/ Opening Message menu item) and, if you have chosen to print Price Codes with your plant details, a Price Code Table. Print Preview allows you to see what you've chosen to print, then allows you to move through the pages, print the current page or print all pages.

Use the "Print to File" check box, together with the option/radio buttons to save your catalogue as either straight text or as an HTML file suitable for uploading STRAIGHT ONTO THE WEB!
Choose from all the standard printing options, for example, Group by Genus or Group by Category... Note that these are EXAMPLE CATALOGUES ONLY, so don't try to order from them! Imagine being able to update your catalogue IMMEDIATELY it changes and for your customers to download it as soon as it's changed. Imagine the savings in postage and printing you could make while, at the same time, your catalogue circulation increases!

Printing Plant Labels

Plants for Windows comes complete with an integrated plant label printing module (see screen shot below). Any number of plants may be "Queued" for printing, e.g. 10 of one plants, 5 of a second and 100 of another etc., then all can be printed together on a suitable printer (not supplied).
Suitable printers will need a Windows printer driver and will need to produce print which is both water and fade resistant.

Label sizes are fully customisable, as are the label descriptions. Prices/Price Codes and heights may also be optionally included on the labels. All installed True Type fonts can be used and excessive font sizes are automatically sized to fit the label.

Plants for Windows comes complete with comprehensive on-line help and options for backing up your database to any fixed hard disk, floppy diskette or other storage device. Supplied for the IBM PC or compatible on 3.5 inch high density floppy diskettes. Requires 4Mb of RAM.

Plants for Windows is priced at just £34.95, from

Chris Rundle
Grove House,
Haimwood,
Llandrinio,
Powys
SY22 6SQ
UK
Tel/Fax ++44 (0)1691 830065
Mobile 07989 819534

Plants for Windows Order Form