Find an answer to your question

How to search the forums

  1. wcutler
    One of our members claims that UBC Botanical Garden Forums is the best place anywhere to find answers to your plant questions. Here are some ways to go about finding what you want to know. This Resource page mostly is about searching these forums for your answer.

    Search the forums to see if your answer is already here
    A lot of plants have been identified here, and a lot of help has been written on what to do about your sick plant, or what to plant on your new site. Whatever you want to know, chances are someone has already had that question and answers have been posted here. If only you could find it. Here is a plan of attack.
    Browse the sub-forum names
    Scroll through the main forums page to see what subject matter areas have been set up. If there is one that applies to your question, click on the name of that to see that forum's threads. Browse through a page or two of thread titles. If you're asking about a plant you just saw, other people might have just seen it too and have asked about it. If you are using any browser other than Edge, when you mouse over a thread name, the first sentence or so of the thread contents pops up, so you might be able to tell right away if the thread is of interest to you.
    Start a search
    There is a Search magnifying glass icon on the upper right of every page.
    Search.jpg
    You can search from anywhere, but if you search inside a forum, you can ask the search to only look for answers in that forum, so you do not need to enter the forum name in your search terms.

    Tips for entering search terms
    • Enter words that might be used in the question or answer you are seeking.
    • If you entered a lot of words and got no replies, do it again with fewer words.
    • If you got too many hits, add another word to narrow down your search. The search seeks exact word matches, so if your plant has wilted and you got no hits on the word "wilted", try again with the word "wilting".
    • If you enter more than one word, any posting with those two words anywhere will be considered a hit, unless you want the words together, in which case use quotes: "wilted leaves". Conversely, if a two-word tag was entered for a thread, the search must include both words in the same order for the thread to be found from a search for that tag.
    More search parameters
    When you enter your terms, some more questions appear to limit your search. There is also a drop down arrow next to the More ... button. If you click that, you will see some more options to limit where the search will look. You can also click the More ... button to go to Advanced Search, which only adds the option to select one forum in which you want the search to look.

    Search the internet to see if you can find your answer
    This has been written up at Smarter Internet searching.

    Post your question
    Instructions on how to post are here: How to post a message and Attach photos and files. Check the other Help Resource files at Using the Forums: Help, Tips and Guides.