Technology has become a part of our everyday lives. There are some fun and helpful tools available that can help with finding a plant ID. They include several Plant ID apps for your smartphone or smart device. These apps can be helpful if you are out in nature or just walking around your neighborhood and come across a plant or a tree that you would like to know its name. Although these apps cannot accurately ID every plant, every time, they can ID many thousands of different types of plants and trees. Over time their accuracy will improve. Some of these apps use artificial intelligence and some use people to determine the type of plant. Most of the apps also offer other features related to plants, such as watering schedules and fact sheets.

Apps

The two apps I have been currently using are PlantSnap and iNaturalist. You can find them on the Apple App Store and Google Play.

PlantSnap - Works on all devices - Free (Shows ads and limits to10 ID's a day)

I have been using the PlantSnap app to help me identify succulents, which are frequently not labeled or mislabeled. From my personal experience, this app has been accurate half of the time. This app is very easy to use.  This app guides you through the process and gives you tips. It also puts the photos you use in a separate folder in your photo app. 

iNaturalist - Works on all devices - Free

This app is a little harder to use and is very different from all of the other ID apps. It is a collaboration between the California Academy of Sciences and National Geographic. It is a unique way to interact with others about your observations in nature. You can record your observations and then share them with others and talk about your findings. You can also get IDs on the plants that you observe, help create useful data, and become a citizen scientist.

Using the Apps

To begin using your app you need to take a photo of a plant or tree. Taking a correct photo, for an ID, is an important part of the process. You can take a photo through the app or use a photo that you have already taken and chosen it within the app. Here are some tips for taking an effective photo that will make it easier to identify your plant. Take a close-up photo instead of a full plant photo. If possible, include leaves, flowers, and fruit in the image area. Make sure your photo is in focus and not blurry. Consider the lighting to make sure that your photo is not too dark. For example, see the photos of the same plant below. The first set of photos shows a full-plant photo and the result of the ID from the app. The app, PlantSnap, was not able to identify this plant correctly. The next set of photos contains a close-up of the same plant and the same app came back with the correct plant name. 

These tools will not replace any of the tools you currently use to identify plants. They can be helpful and fun to use when you do not have your traditional resources handy.

I have been doing my own gardening.  I am, however, getting to the age when I can imagine not wanting to do it or actually not feeling/being able to do it.  Pruning 75 roses, fertilizing, checking irrigation regularly, taking out the old and putting in the new.  All these tasks seem quite manageable at this point.  How to prepare for the inevitable is the question.  And besides aging, sometimes it is good to be able to take time off these tasks which can get demanding.

Finding an able, willing and reliable helper is not easy. It takes a village to tend a garden. I have experienced several individuals that didn't work out.  Some were just unreliable.  Nothing is more frustrating than having an appointment and being stood up.  Or having an appointment and having the person come whenever they want.  As a former Psychologist, during the decades I worked I came to rely on regularity.  I wouldn't have wanted patients to show up whenever they wanted and miss appointment times.  Likewise, they wouldn't have wanted me to not show up when scheduled.

I have experienced potential helpers who were very busy and were always wanting to make last-minute reschedules.  I found myself not liking surprises like calls canceling times on the spur of the moment or even during our supposed meeting time.

Sometimes I had myself to blame for not knowing Spanish or Japanese.  I thought these fellows (and they were all men) were decent potential helpers, but it was difficult to communicate what I needed done and other details.  A no-fault lack of connection which I couldn't bridge.

Then there were individuals who were just going into business and didn't have equipment of their own to bring.  This could also be a person who had had his truck broken into or stolen and he was rebuilding.  I felt bad about this situation, but what to do.  I didn't see myself as a branch of the Small Business bureau.  I should be more generous in my outlook but I have to admit I expected preparedness.

Then there were the prospects who felt like they were on loan from a botanical garden.  They clearly knew a lot – probably more than I did – and prided themselves on telling me what to grow and how to grow them.  Where to put the plants, how to fertilize them, how to prune, and how to cluster the plants.  I am surely an amateur grower, but since I am paying the bill and living with the result, I want to respect my ignorance.

I have not yet had an outright personality conflict.  That will no doubt come probably as I continue doing this search.  I guess when it comes down to it I am realizing that this meshing is an interpersonal challenge.  I can't imagine – or I don't want to think it is true – that I am the only person who runs into these issues.  Patience and determination to finally get it right seems like the only choices.  Staying young indefinitely is just not an option.  Other ideas?

One of the cheeriest parts of spring, in my opinion, is the Johnny-Jump-Up.  No, not the Irish drinking song, but the flower, known officially known as Viola tricolor or Viola cornuta.  The white, yellow and purple pansy-like flower is an ancestor of the modern pansy.  A hardy perennial it is often grown as an annual.  If left for a second year, it will rebloom.  While a native of the mountains of Spain and France, it has spread throughout Europe and parts of Asia as well as in North America.  Thomas Jefferson planted it at his childhood home in Virginia.  Further back, Shakespeare mentioned the flower in his plays Hamlet and The Taming of the Shrew.  In Midsummer Night's Dream it was the source of the love potion.  Ancient Greek mythology has it that the flower used to be white until it was struck by one of Cupid's arrows.  Related to all of those stories, you can see why the flowers have so many other names:  hearts ease, ladies' delight, tickle my fancy, heart's delight, wild pansy, Jump-Up-and-Kiss-Me.  The flower was used to treat rheumatism, respiratory problems, epilepsy, eczema and even venereal disease.  It was also considered a diuretic.  It was employed as a yellow and as a green fabric dye. 

Viola tricolor is spring through fall, a flowering perennial that will multiply and can reseed and naturalize if left through the winter.  In the partial shade, it will bloom from early spring until the first frost.  It can become a groundcover.   I have planted them straight in the ground, but with our alkaline, clay soils, I have had more success with containers.  Johnny-Jump-Ups like neutral to acidic soil.  They attract butterflies.  They are also edible.  I have only eaten them candied on a slice of wedding cake.  All I tasted was sugar.  But they can be picked from the plant and eaten.  They are said to have a minty taste.  The taste and scent are strongest in the early morning. 

A relative of the Viola tricolor is Viola pedunculata, AKA California golden violet, found in open woodlands, chaparrals and sage scrub along the California coast.  I remember seeing this beauty while hiking in the Santa Monica Mountains at Paramount Ranch years ago.  The flowers are a deep yellow, almost orange with a dark brown center and bright green, heart-shaped leaves.