Question: What value lies in a reference work? Why should you bother to consult these books?
Answer: Reference books help create a framework around your topic. They can help guide you in asking the right questions. Reference books can help researchers become more efficient database searchers - in formulating which keywords (or search terms) to use. Scholarly reference books also contain bibliographies (!!) - a listing of some of the most respected secondary and most useful primary sources on a topic. In a nutshell.... reference books are a great way to begin your research.
Use the following terms in a subject search to find related items in the library catalogue.
Subject headings to explore:
• • Nurseries (Horticulture)--Safety measures.
• Nursery stock--Management
• Horticulture
American Horticultural Society encyclopedia of gardening by 
Applied Principles of Horticultural Science by 
Canadian encyclopedia of plants and flowers by 
Mabberley's plant-book : a portable dictionary of plants, their classification and uses by 
The American Horticultural Society encyclopedia of plants & flowers
The names of plants [electronic resource] by 
The Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary Index of Garden Plants by Article databases contain information about articles, and often include the full-text of the articles as well.
While searching our discovery service will find articles for you, databases allow you do more controlled and precise searching.
Provides full text from 11,200 sources, including more than 1,100 scholarly business journals. Daily updates.
Scholarly collection, spans nearly every area of academic study. Updated daily.
Provides current and retrospective bibliographic information, author abstracts, and cited references found in over 1,700 of the world's leading scholarly sciences journals covering more than 50 disciplines. Also covers individually selected, relevant items from approximately 3,300 of the world's leading science and technology journals. Updated weekly.
Some really great resources to consult are: