With this column, we continue our survey of online resources for gardeners. We recently considered solutions to garden problems. Other categories of online resources include plant identification, strategies for plant selection, ideas/approaches to garden design, and plant cultivation practices.
The objective in using these resources is to gain essential knowledge about the various aspects of working plants. The familiar quotation, “Knowledge is power,” is attributed to Francis Bacon. Thomas Jefferson later expanded its meaning, equating knowledge with power, safety and happiness.
Gardeners can succeed in gardening by having the power to grow plants successfully, garden with health and safety, and enjoy the experience. For many gardeners, knowing your plant’s correct botanical names is more satisfying than having a collection of “mystery plants.”
We associate gardening with the pleasures of experiencing time outdoors, communing with nature, exercising our bodies, and appreciating the beauty of horticulture.
How could we achieve the positive aspects of gardening while browsing websites and pursuing artificial intelligence tools?
One perspective: drawing on online resources is preparation for getting your hands in the dirt.
In support of that consideration, many online resources are accessible on a cellphone. When the gardener carries his or her cellphone into the garden, online resources can be drawn on while standing next to the garden problem, plant identification or cultivation issue that has arisen.
Some resources are more appropriately pursued while not gardening. These include plant selection and garden design projects.
Let’s dive into today’s online resources survey, focusing on plant identification, which is the logical preparation for cultivation and problem-solving.
There are different circumstances when the gardener needs to identify a plant.
Knows the plant’s genetic and specific names
Accurately identifying a specific plant’s botanical name supports follow-up efforts to gain information for cultivation. These efforts could involve searching the index of a directory of garden plants. A favored resource is Sunset’s “New Western Garden Book: The Ultimate Gardening Guide” (2012), which is available in hardcover and flexibound versions. Another excellent resource is the American Horticultural Society’s “A to Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants” (2004).
When you know the plant’s botanical name, online resources are abundant. The process involves a search for the botanical name, using Google or a different engine. A simple search could lead to websites of online plant suppliers, who typically provide marketing information for the plant of interest. To search for horticultural information, include “-.com” (without the quotes) after the botanical name. This approach leads to the websites of non-commercial sources, e.g., genus-oriented plant societies, gardening nonprofit groups, universities, etc.
My favored sources include the nonprofit Wikipedia (wikipedia.org), which provides extensive background information about a vast collection of plants. It provides little or no aesthetic or cultivation recommendations, however.
A “go-to” commercial site, San Marcos Growers Wholesale Nursery (smgrowers.com) offers information about plants that the nursery grows or has grown. This information is brief and reliable and includes aesthetic descriptions and cultivation recommendations.
Knows only the plant’s genetic name
This plant identification task focuses on determining the plant’s specific name, which is of interest in gaining cultivation information. Some plant genera could include only a few species, or up to several thousands of species. While all these species have characteristics in common, they could have evolved in different environments and consequently vary in their cultivation needs.
A search for the plant’s genetic name on Wikipedia (wikipedia.org) often leads to a list of the species within the genus. Such lists might include common names, country of origin, or helpful sub-categories, but do not include descriptive details. If the descriptive information suggests that a few of the species could be your plant of interest, search for the plant’s botanical name on Wikimedia Commons (commons.wikimedia.org) to generate images of that particular plant. Scroll through the images to find a match for your plant.
Knows only plant’s common name
An internet search for the common name of your plant could lead to a link that includes its botanical name. Again, add “-.com” (without the quotes) after the common name.
Unknown plant in view
A large and growing list of artificial intelligence tools, generally cellphone accessible, will match a snapshot of the plant of interest to one of the plant images in the tool’s collection. Some of these tools are free or inexpensive, but subscription requirements are common.
Here’s a short list for you to consider: Picture This, Plant AI (includes problem diagnosis), PlantID, Plant Identifier, PlantNet, PlantSnap, and others.
Effective use of these tools requires a clear photograph. Take time to create a well-lit, well-focused, and well-composed closeup of the plant of interest.
If the AI tool provides more than one possible identification of your plant, it should include the botanical name of each option. Google the botanical name of the plant to verify the accuracy of the identification.
Another excellent online resource is the National Gardening Association’s Plant ID Forum (garden.org/forums/view/plantid/). This resource also requires a good photograph of the plant of interest. The identification is not by artificial intelligence, but by knowledgeable gardeners who monitor the forum and share their plant knowledge. The forum’s experts have identified my “mystery plants” quickly, accurately, and with a conversational message. I also verify the ID by searching the botanical name on the internet.
Knowing your plant
In a future column, we’ll explore another category of garden-related online information.
Tom Karwin is a past president of Friends of the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum and the Monterey Bay Iris Society, a past president and Lifetime Member of the Monterey Bay Area Cactus & Succulent Society, and a Lifetime UC Master Gardener (Certified 1999-2009). He is now a board member of the Santa Cruz Hostel Society, and active with the Pacific Horticultural Society. To view photos from his garden, https://www.facebook.com/ongardeningcom-566511763375123/ . For garden coaching info and an archive of On Gardening columns, visit ongardening.com for earlier columns or visit www.santacruzsentinel.com/ and search for “Karwin” for more recent columns. Email comments or questions to gardening@karwin.com.
