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RHS website - does anyone else find it unusable?

borgadrborgadr Posts: 718
in Problem solving
Bit of a rant here about the RHS website - it seems like a brilliant resource and I really like the idea of the "My Garden" section (I'm a member), but the website is so painfully slow that it's almost impossible to navigate, and sometimes so slow it causes my browser to crash.

Does anyone else have this problem? It seems crazy that an organisation of this size and prominence would have such a poorly-performing website.
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  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Posts: 8,328
    Yes, @borgadr - I find it very slow indeed, and clunky as well.  Even when I sign in it still invites me to take out membership - and I've been a member for years.  I think they badly need a revamp.

    However, if you have a problem and really want information and help, an individual enquiry can be very rewarding.  For instance, I asked for positive ID of honey fungus and asked a lot of supplementary questions, which the scientific officer answered at great length.  That part of the service works well for me.
    Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    I use it a few times a week to check on a particular plant's needs before sowing/buying/planting as I'm still learning what does well here.   I occasionally use the My Garden section to send requests for info from their plant or soil science experts.

    Never had a problem except, occasionally, plant searches come up without the cultivation info I need so I ask again and it gets it right.

    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • LG_LG_ Posts: 4,360
    I don't find it unusable because I've got used to it, but it's certainly got a lot of problems! The information, once you get to it, is good and that is my priority. But yes, clunky as anything.
    'If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.'
    - Cicero
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    I find it slow too. At my last house where Internet was poor it was hard just to look up a plant.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    edited May 2022
    I don’t find it slow to load at all but most of the plant info is often so general as to be useless. Everything like sun and partial shade, can be planted EWS or N facing. Worst of all, everything likes moist, well draining, water retentive soil, which is an oxymoron. 

    Erigeron apparently likes to grow in well drained clay. 
  • borgadrborgadr Posts: 718
    Thanks all, glad it's not just me.  
  • ShepsSheps Posts: 2,236
    Obelixx said:
    I use it a few times a week to check on a particular plant's needs before sowing/buying/planting as I'm still learning what does well here.   I occasionally use the My Garden section to send requests for info from their plant or soil science experts.

    Never had a problem except, occasionally, plant searches come up without the cultivation info I need so I ask again and it gets it right.

    I use it for the same reasons as, Obelixx,...to research a plants requirements.

    Sometimes it doesn't work as it should be we there in the end.
  • parrotfeather*parrotfeather* Posts: 188
    I don't find it especially slow but I don't find it all that useful either.  The plant searches are not very helpful because  if you fill in most of the fields to narrow it down you end up with either no suggestions or one or two which you would have thought of anyway.  As has been suggested, it is most useful for looking up the needs of specific plants or finding stockists.  The advice service for RHS members is excellent, though, for identifying fruit varieties, and also for help with identifying plants.
  • BlueBirderBlueBirder Posts: 212
    I'm a member and find the My Garden section pretty useful. The advice section is excellent if you are a member. I also like browsing plants, although I take the requirements with a pinch of salt... The site is quite slow though, and it does crash my browser sometimes on my phone. I've got used to it and work around it but it can be a pain sometimes.
  • WilderbeastWilderbeast Posts: 1,415
    Slow slow slow. This has been brought up o here before and it's not improved at all. It's not due to signal as we have high speed broadband, it's even worse on our Chromebook then a phone 
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