Woodbine, MD – June 2004 -- Allan Armitage, best known for his landmark book: Herbaceous Garden Perennials - a standard textbook and reference text classrooms today -- has joined GIYP.com (Green Industry Yellow Pages) as a resident plant expert.

Dr. Armitage, Professor of Horticulture at the University of Georgia, will direct the development of GIYP’s annual and perennial plant database for Virtual Plant Tags – the lawn and garden industry’s most innovative and powerful online plant search tool for home gardeners and professionals alike.

“In the world of horticulture, Allan Armitage’s name is synonymous with perennials and annuals,” says GIYP founder and CEO Steve Cissel. “We are thrilled to have an expert of his caliber on our team. His background and experience make Virtual Plant Tags the distinctive customer service and plant information tool we have envisioned since its inception.”

Virtual Plant Tags (VPT) , developed by GIYP.com, provides online “tags” of plant cultural information to educate customers and promote plants simultaneously. Each plant tag contains information that customers are seeking: colorful photographs, growth/bloom characteristics, as well as alternate photos - more than is typically found on a traditional plant tag.

In addition, when combined with the search capability of www.giyp.com, Virtual Plant Tags give users the ability to locate garden centers or growers who sell that specific plant. “Customers simply point and click their way to find the plants that they want and sellers have an educated customer at their virtual doorstep”, explains Cissel. “Sellers can even have a customized, password protected VPT link available on their web site if they want. Only GIYP.com offers a resource of this magnitude with so many features and the breadth of knowledge from experts like Dr. Armitage. ”With a total of eight books, some 500 articles and papers and two CD-ROM projects for gardeners and plant professionals to his credit, Dr. Armitage will lend his world-renown expertise to VPT. He currently writes a monthly column for Greenhouse Grower, and as a teacher and speaker, Dr. Armitage has lectured in the United States, Canada, Colombia, New Zealand, Australia, and Europe.

Of the VPT database, Dr. Armitage says, “I believe that a good image and concise facts will enhance anyone’s success with plants. There is no doubt that an educated customer is a happy consumer, and that results in additional sales.”

GIYP.com was founded in 1999 as a directory utility for the green industry to bridge the gap between the message and the target audience by influencing undecided buyers and driving decisive buyers to suppliers. It currently provides information on over 150,000 businesses and over 25,000 plants. Visit www.giyp.com or e-mail at inquire@giyp.com. Phone: 888-999-5133 or call the Garden Media Group at (610) 388-9330 for more information.