Looking for answers to your gardening questions? Here are some tips on how to search.

I was out in the back of a big independent retail nursery many years ago.

I saw a sales representative for one of the nation’s largest wholesale growers – a man for whom I have always carried the highest respect. He had arrived early for his appointment with the nursery owner and his chief buyer that day, and he was killing some time.

He hadn’t seen me. Before I could get over to greet him, a customer stepped up and engaged him. Assuming him to be an employee of the nursery, the customer started asking questions about the plants that were near them.

My friend never missed a step. He answered those questions honestly, pointing out the good and bad points of each of the plants – including those that had come from his own wholesale nursery. With my own two ears I heard him tell that customer that a competitor’s variety was actually the better choice. But he never let on that he was anything other than just another worker at that retail nursery.

I stepped back out of sight, but I made a point of finding him before he got into his sales meeting. I wanted to compliment him on what I had witnessed.

Wouldn’t it be great if all the advice that we were given could be that objective?

When I started doing commercial gardening radio clear back in 1978 I promised myself that I would always keep advertising and editorial separated. My goal then, and now, has always been that you shouldn’t be able to tell who my advertisers are by what I say and write in my answers to questions and my editorial in newspapers. Occasionally something new will come along that is a one-of-a-kind product. I may mention it, but I’ll certainly give you that heads-up.

It’s the same with new plant introductions. I’m slow to jump on the bandwagon of newly branded releases.

There was a time when the most common new plants were All America Selections, both in annual flowers and vegetables and in roses. Those were plants that had been tested repeatedly in many gardens all over America. They had been put through rigorous judging trials before they won those prestigious designations.

Similarly, plants introduced by the U.S. National Arboretum such as their crape myrtles and althaeas were given years of screenings. So have Earth-Kind designations from Texas A&M.

But, in more recent years, in a rush to have something “new and shiny” for gardeners to buy, many proprietary brands have come into the marketplace. Some are better than others. Some are little more than collections of varieties that one wholesaler can put together under one umbrella name. It might be 8 or 10 named varieties of azaleas or crape myrtles, but a few years later, several of those might have been dropped due to inferior performance or sales. Personally, my fear is that they really weren’t given the same intense and lengthy level of testing.

I also see some of this happening in the national chain stores where their buyers are booking orders for scores of stores simultaneously. Unfortunately, plants are not like plumbing and paint supplies – they are not universally adapted. What does well in one part of America may not do well in another.

Carry that farther. What does well in East Texas may not do well even here in North Central Texas. Just because a plant is classed as being suited to the same USDA Hardiness Zone, it’s assumed that it will grow just as well in Fort Worth as it will in Atlanta. That’s not always the case.

Where can you get advice you can trust? Where can you ask your questions and know that you’ll get that same kind of unbiased help that my buddy was handing out in that nursery that day?

Land Grant University websites have reliable information. That’s the term used to describe each state’s official agricultural research and teaching university. That’s why, when I do any web-searching for information on plants or topics with which I’m unsure, I’ll enter the keyword “university” first in my search.

Let me give you a real-life example: If I want to find out what might be happening to a Blue Point juniper to cause it to die back from its top, I’ll Google “university plant pathology Blue Point juniper.” Such a search will turn up a bunch of fine matches from Texas A&M, Oklahoma State, LSU, Clemson and Auburn, among other universities.

These are all recognized horticultural research centers, and I’ll look for answers that show up on most or all of their sites. And, just to see if insects could be involved, I’ll also run this search through, too: “University entomology Blue Point juniper.”

If I want someone to look at an actual sample of a plant, either to name it or for identification of a problem, I’ll seek a Texas Certified Nursery Professional. Better yet, if I find a Texas Master Certified Nursery Professional, I’ll ask him or her. These men and women will be at member nurseries of the great Texas Nursery and Landscape Association, and their advice will be timely and reliable.

Of course, you’re always welcome to call my weekend radio programs. I’d be flattered to try to help, too.

You can hear Neil Sperry on KLIF 570AM on Saturday afternoons 1-3 pm and on WBAP 820AM Sunday mornings 8-10 am. Join him at www.neilsperry.com and follow him on Facebook.