What a very depressing idea.
There are few things I hate more than seeing people in public living their lives on their stupid smart phones.

Rant over.
Apologies all around.

Susan

I don't have a smart phone but I do think it's a good idea! Lots of times when I've been at a nursery I've wished I had access to HMF to look up a particular rose BEFORE I bought it. It would save me having to write down a long list of names, come home to look them all up, and then go back and buy!

For me, besides the class and color, winter hardiness zones and approximate mature size would be the most important things to know. Disease resistance too, I guess, but that's such an iffy, climate/location thing anyway that I don't always weigh that into the mix. What's gloriously clean for you could be a real spotted dog for me.

"Lots of times when I've been at a nursery I've wished I had access to HMF to look up a particular rose BEFORE I bought it."

^ Co-sign 100 times! I hate when I bring home a rose, thinking that it was good, only to find it is extremely blackspot prone. Ugh.

I'm not sure it would be worth it to HMF to spend money developing an app...?

You can already access HMF via your smartphone's webbrowser, which I've done, actually... :)

Like if I'm at a garden, I can look up a rose or take notes on it, etc.

An App for HMF would be fantastic, since I go there often enough on Safari. Of course, I would want it to feature all it now offers, with special emphasis on photos. Would also be nice to have access to information on what care and plant food each gardener that is a member, gives their roses. So yes, bring it on!

Juliet

I am all for increasing any kind of funding source for hmf, but I am not likely to be a buyer for an app for it as I

1) buy on line so I look at hmf before I buy
2) rarely go to a rose garden that has anything except moderns and so am not a customer anyway
3) most distressingly, I am not cell phone oriented anyway. I do realize I am in a significant minority in this particular characteristic

But, what I am doing is compiling an on line list of what everyone grows in my local ARS group.

I am going to link every rose listed to the hmf listing for it. I found that the very lovely people in this group don't know about hmf and haven't been that interested in what I've said. But if I compile this list for them and give them a link to check on the roses they and the rest of the group grow, I think that they will click to read and stay to join. I hope.

While we could use a web browser on the phone or iPad, having an app might maximize info available on the screen, especially on a phone. I dunno personally, I'm finally going to be a late adapter when the iPhone 5 comes out soon, woo-hoo!!! [OT: Partly for the toy aspect, but for those of you with housebound or near so relatives, we've also been playing around with iChat & FaceTime on the parents' iMac with the relatives, so my goal is to have my dad, who can't get around well, get an iPad so he can talk to his siblings & myself face to face. I can't describe how much delight he has gotten from this as he hadn't seen them 'live' since '98 or so. My mom uses the computer, but my dad (who I thought would be the main user) hasn't really adopted it, so I'm hoping the iPad would be better size than the phone and yet he could still take pics and send them off to the siblings. If I get the phone, he can get me anytime with a home WiFi iPad.... For this purpose, I think it's worth the money.]

Back to the garden. My viewpoint right now is probably different from most in that I have a lot of roses to get in (ok, upon reflection maybe not so different ;-) so I am in a 'big picture' planning phase and can't keep them all straight when I see the tags in the pots. Once they get out in the garden and have bloomed, it won't be a problem.

And, while yes I could always drag my dirty shoes and self through the house to use the computer, it would be nice to have it portable out in the garden or when I'm waxing poetic at a friend's house about my lovelies and can answer when they ask how old it is or how big it gets when I've only got a gallon-size. OR, when I'm out and about and see something that I thought was popular here, I can check in order to find out that no, it wasn't popular but instead prone to mildew (heaven knows, the search engine here doesn't work that well...)

For those of you with clients, it would be handy for that as well.

As for cost, mobile apps generally don't cost that much. As for development, not sure what would go into it so I don't know if it would be worth the effort.

I have an IPhone and an IPad and would purchase this. Features? Look up a rose quickly to see photos to make sure what I am seeing in my garden is the right rose. Quick look up to see what others think of a rose I might want to buy while standing in a garden center. Yes, I can do this in Safari but a dedicated app is different.

I would also advise to look into smart tag technology. It's coming to the rose world and most smart phones with a camera can use this.

I use an iPhone, and have an icon to hmf saved on it to easily open the browser. Depending on price (most apps are fairly inexpensive), it would be worth it to me to have a real app, I.e. Be able to enter a rose name and pull up rose photos. Some information - rose type, etc would be helpful. I am not sure what Paul means by a smart tag, but I believe some apps out there can now take a photo of a leaf and tell you what tree it is. I think this would be hard to do with roses since a number of them look alike, but if someone came up with that - rose id from a photo, depending on price that would be something I would treat myself to or request as a gift from family if asked.

Just three weeks ago I found myself at a nursery and tried to use my cell phone to access HMF. I was able to get to the site, and could enter the name of the rose I was looking for, but hitting search didn't do anything but take me back to the same homepage where I started.

I did end up purchasing Therese Bugnet, couldn't resist her pretty leaves and canes! That, and the fact that she was 35% off and reasonably priced even before the discount. I don't have much to spend on roses so any purchase must be well pretty well thought out as well as inexpensive. It would have been great to be able to check her out on HMF first, as the employee there couldn't answer my question regarding it's bloom cycle.

Either way, I'm glad I bought her. Reading a bit about her first would have made the choice a bit easier. It would be great if HMF were optimized for mobile use.

I don't know.

I used my Xoom tablet this weekend (at the National Heirloom Expo) to access HMF.
I was doing so, to show potential buyers what a rose looked like, and provide information about the plant -- I didn't have an App, but Googled the site, and it worked just as it does on my home PC. No problems.

An app might make it simpler to get there, but NOT having an app didn't prevent me from doing so.

Jeri

I'm also an iphone person and am with Paul. A dedicated app would be wonderful. Certainly the younger generation will expect it. A quick id search that brings up the same info now on the rose's main description page, including a photo. Other hmf tabs could be added in later versions. I see it's main uses 1) as on-site info (nurseries, public gardens, etc), 2) planting frenzies so you don't have to keep running back to the house to look up how big or thorny or shade tolerant each rose is, 3) for professionals and friends who want to show others what a rose under discussion is.

An HMF app would be helpful and convenient- not sure if the demand for it would be worth the development cost. I access HMF through the web browser on my iphone when i'm out and about- it has worked just fine.

I would be so on it. There are many silly things available in our digital lives, but the sharing of such a rich, beautiful, historical body of information is not one of them!!! Let's use our powers for good! (I would actually, incidentally, love more of an online presence of the rosarian world in social media, as well. I am ambivalent at best about ego based social networking, but love it as a resource for regular updates on the goings on of my favorite organizations like U.C.Botanical Garden, art museums, urban farming groups, for example, so I am up on their goings much more, and miss much less! For what it's worth. :)

Go for it, I would use it and welcome the convenience.

If you're looking to excite rose interest in the Generation Z crowd, it is an awesome idea. Two avenues for finding would be amazing. The most obvious is for finding a rose with some known characteristics, as most of the searches do now. The coolest would be digital matching - where someone could photograph a rose, then have software that would find closest matches. Then, ability to save favorites - roses and places to buy roses. Then, this may be out of the realm of HMF, but to extend it to then finding place(s) where a found rose is in stock and could be purchased, right now, online (or within driving distance) - would be the cats meow...

In fact if this could be from find to purchase, the sellers might fund it rather than the app buyers having to. I'd use it, and I'm no Generation Z!

I just polled 3 of my rose buddies who, like me, are frequent HMF users. I got these responses: (a) OMG, are you kidding me?; (b) This is something I would have to PAY for in addition to my HMF membership? I don't think so . . . ; and (3) You know I'm a Luddite at heart, so there's no (bleep)ing way I'd be even remotely interested in that . . . "

I concur with my friends.

Kim, I think an app for HMF would be great. Yes, I can get the information on my laptop and maybe even on my phone. I seem to remember trying at some point and it didn't work all that well.

One thing I wish HMF had was a listing of the ARS rating. Yes, I know people's opinions, but the helpful information in the comments section are people's opinions as well. For me, the ARS rating is like a quick view of the comments section without all the detail--sort of a 30,000 foot view.

I don't have any apps that I've had to pay for but would consider buying this one.

I used my tablet quite a bit yesterday, at the Ventura Co. Rose Society Celebration of Roses -- and when I wasn't using it, Kim was. :-)

I was jumping back and forth from the Vintage Gardens website (how am I going to get along without Vintage?) and HMF ... And I agree that under circumstances like that, an app WOULD be easier.

OTOH, we managed quite nicely, anyhow.

Jeri