App to identify plants?
January 10, 2016 9:42 AM   Subscribe

Both my apartment complex and workplace have lovely landscaping. I am new-ish to this area/climate (SoCal) and realized I know the names of almost none of the plants or flowers used. I would like to gradually fix this, in part for future reference for when we hopefully are able to buy a house with yard in a few years. What iphone apps or other resources will help me to easily identify one plant a day so that I can do this over time? Not really interested in trips to arboretums or nurseries right now, I want to do this as an ongoing project.
posted by ellebeejay to Home & Garden (10 answers total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
I remember when we moved to San Diego some of the plantlife seemed Suessian and paleolothic. In fact, Geisel did model some of the plants in his books after those he saw growing around him in La Jolla.

There's a charming public television show produced out of San Diego that you might start with. It covers all sorts of things, but as it is a very Californian show, at the least it will set the tone for your further exploration. "A Growing Passion" https://m.facebook.com/AGrowingPassion/
posted by Mo Nickels at 9:52 AM on January 10, 2016


I recently downloaded an app called myGardenAnswers (for iOS) that uses your photos of plants to help identify them. I was able to get a positive ID on an interesting plant outside my kids' school using it (wax mallow, for the record). Easy to use, seems to have pretty good reviews.
posted by little mouth at 9:54 AM on January 10, 2016 [1 favorite]


This looks like a possibility.

A lot of the beautiful plants around here are succulents (agaves, echeveria, sedum, sempervivum,...) if you get a little familiar with some of the common types, it gets easier to identify similar ones. So it might be helpful just to go to a succulent nursery's website and get familiar with some of the general families of plants.
posted by car s at 9:57 AM on January 10, 2016


And aeoniums!
posted by car s at 9:58 AM on January 10, 2016


Sorry for the multiple answers but I also use the mountain crest gardens website for identification/window shopping.
posted by car s at 10:10 AM on January 10, 2016 [1 favorite]


This says it's focused on houseplants, not outdoor, but I've had better luck with it than any of the apps I've come across.
posted by jameaterblues at 10:20 AM on January 10, 2016


For casual browsing. Also, maybe use this as an opportunity to get to know the people who maintain your apartment building/workplace's gardens. If there's one you can't figure out, ask!
posted by clone boulevard at 10:45 AM on January 10, 2016


The Planet Plant ID Facebook group crowdsources plant identification. You post a pic; group members almost immediately tell you what it is.
posted by brushtailedphascogale at 1:42 PM on January 10, 2016


I use LikeThat Garden (the app car s linked to), and it works pretty well.
posted by jeoc at 3:56 PM on January 10, 2016


So Google goggles or Wolfram alpha imageidentify use reverse picture search to identify many things including plants. Plants with distinguishing leaves like fern , maple etc are pretty easy to identify using the app
posted by radsqd at 6:52 AM on January 11, 2016


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