And though traditionally spurning what I considered to be the cruder electronic versions of such catalogs, I've come to realize they've improved greatly in the past couple of years. Like their print counterparts, Web-based catalogs vary greatly in length and quality, ranging from the equivalent of a single-page list to full-color books as satisfyingly inclusive as "The Joy of Cooking."

As I spent more time sorting, searching and updating my increasingly cumbersome collection of catalogs, I was forced to acknowledge the advantages of non-print plant resources. I've noticed lately that many of the smaller specialty nurseries (which often carry the most intriguing plants) have stopped printing catalogs altogether, publishing only online to save costs.

Perhaps the greatest advantage of online catalogs is their currency. Most are updated weekly. By the time a catalog hits your mailbox it is usually out of date. Even when I'm placing an order from a print catalog, I generally check a vendor's Web page before sending in my check, to make sure what I want is still available. The frequent updating helps avoid the heartbreak of not receiving what you've ordered, let alone the hassle of credits, substitutions or refunds.

			If you prefer learning about online resources from a book, look for the 9th edition of "The Northwest Gardeners' Resource Directory," edited by Debra Prinzing (Sasquatch Books), due out in March. Here's a preview: • Aesthetic Gardens (www.agardens.com). Washington and Oregon growers who have gotten together to offer rare and unusual plant material, from "A" (alpines) to "V" (vines). Great online images, plus a "mystery plant of the month" contest. • Klehm's Song Sparrow Perennial Farm (www.songsparrow.com). Klehmıs has long been known as a great source for peonies, and now has expanded to offer a wide variety of plants, including introductions from breeders around the world. • Yucca Do Nursery (www.yuccado.com) An organic nursery in Southwest Texas, this Web site offers humor along with sought-after drought-tolerant plants such as agaves, palms and subtropicals.

Other advantages to the online catalogs: lots of color, photos you can zoom in on for detail, and the ability to ask questions by e-mail. Sales and special deals are offered exclusively to online shoppers, and ordering is usually fairly quick. Most sites provide a search mechanism that works like a print index — you put in the name of a plant, and the photo, description and ordering information appears before your eyes. Plant descriptions are often more detailed than in the limited space of a printed catalog. Perhaps most conveniently, you don't need to send in your couple of dollars and wait for the catalog to come in the mail.

Navigating through the vortex of possibilities can be time-consuming, but general search engines are so good that the basics are easy: Simply call up Google (www.google.com) or Yahoo (www.yahoo.com) and put in carnivorous plants, or whatever you're looking for, and a smorgasbord of choices will come up.

A good place to start is the Web page produced by the Miller Library at the Center for Urban Horticulture (www.millerlibrary.org), designed by information experts as a gateway to the Web for Northwest gardeners. Just click on "resource center," then "sources for plants." The Web page also contains a link to the supreme source (the best I've been able to find): Cyndi's Catalog of Garden Catalogs, a directory of more than 1,900 mail-order catalogs in the United States and Canada. Arranged by type of plant (bulbs, lilies and houseplants are just a few), the guide describes each catalog and rates it for quality, service, variety and priciness. Click on the catalog you'd like, and you're linked right to it. If a company doesn't offer online ordering, Cyndi's provides its order form, which you can print out and fill in as you go through the catalog.

"Collecting catalog names is just plain fun, and I'm the type of person who makes lists," Cyndi Johnson says of the Web site. She gardens on several acres in the high desert of Southern California, works a full-time job, and creates this useful site, which she updates weekly. Johnson advises ordering only from companies that give clear plant descriptions, and suggests avoiding ones that use lots of exclamation points, made-up plant names, amazing bargains and exaggerated claims.

If you're wondering why Northwest gardeners even need to bother with ordering plants by mail, you have a point. We do have a bounty of fine local nurseries. But online catalogs provide a starting place, an education and quite often unusual plants you won't find anywhere else. There's also nothing wrong with learning about a plant online, then heading for the nursery to scout for it.

Browsing the Internet may never replace tucking your feet up in an armchair and flipping through the pages of the newest White Flower Farm catalog, but I've slowly come to realize the two methods aren't mutually exclusive and may even be complementary. Gardeners can quickly compare prices to find the best deals, track down that elusive winter-blooming iris or even ask their favorite nursery owner by e-mail what to plant in a certain location. Now if only our gardens would expand as quickly as the Net, we'd be able to take proper advantage of all these lovely opportunities.

Valerie Easton is a horticultural librarian who writes about plants and gardens for Pacific Northwest magazine. She is co-author of "Artists in Their Gardens" (Sasquatch Books). Her e-mail address is vjeaston@aol.com.