Error Adding Plant / Invalid Error (Adding a New Plant to Our Master List)

Issue

You saw one of the following error messages when attempting to add a plant to our master plant database:

• Error adding plant
• Invalid

You may be not seeing a common type of plant, and you're seeing the error when you try to add it by clicking New Plant.

Cause

This error can have several possible causes, including:

• You may have attempted to add a new plant that is already in the master list.

 

For example, you may be attempting to add the plant with an incorrect plant category selected. Plants that are typically only shrubs are hidden from the master list while you're adding plants to the Trees category, and vice versa.

• The plant may be listed under a different species.

To ensure that plants are listed under the botanically correct species, our database manager looks into the taxonomic parentage of every cultivar that is entered into the database. This vetting sometimes leads to a conflict with common nursery listings, so a plant may not be listed under the species you're expecting. For more information on how we ensure plant names are correct, see our database nomenclature protocol.

• The plant may have a hard-to-find cultivar name ...

... and you're searching for the trademark name. Based on the nomenclature rules set out by the International Society for Horticultural Science, the trademark name cannot be listed in single quotes (as a cultivar typically is). As a result, you may have difficulty locating the plant in our database. If you want to know why we list plants in this way, see our database nomenclature protocol.

Solution

Step 1: Ensure that you have selected the correct plant category.

When clicking New in the Plant Manager, verify that you have the correct plant category selected.

 

For example, if you're trying to add a plant that is typically a shrub, select Shrubs or Shrub Areas in the Plant Manager when clicking New.

You should then be able to see all the species and varieties in that plant category – including, in most cases, the plant you're looking for.

Is the plant you want not listed in the category where you expected to see it?

You can change the plant's category yourself.

 

If the plant you want is not listed in your desired category and you haven't added it to your project yet, select the plant in the Add Plants dialog box and click Data.

You can then select your desired category using the checkboxes in the top left corner of the plant data dialog box that opens.

 

After selecting your category, you can add the plant to your project.

You can also find any plant in our database by searching for it under the Shrub Areas tab. All plants in our database are listed in this category. If your plant isn't listed there, it's not in the database and should be added as a new plant.

 

Still getting the error after ensuring that you're using the correct category and then attempting your search in the Shrub Areas category? Move on to the next step.

Step 2: Use a keyword for searching.

Now use a keyword in your search. Enter any keyword into the search – not just a genus name.

Tip for keyword searches:

The smaller the keyword, the more likely you are to find the plant. For example, when looking for The Rising Sun Redbud, a search just for the keyword Rising is more likely to pull up the plant in question than a search for the entire phrase.