First disclosure – a real person (me) wrote this article, not Artificial Intelligence (AI). Second disclosure – I am not a technology expert. In fact, I often say that I was dragged kicking and screaming into the computer age, but….
It started at a public park. I was in Albuquerque visiting my daughter and her family. A new and beautiful little girl had just entered our family, and the excitement and fatigue registered a full 10 on a ten-point scale. We all went to the park. As my daughter and our new baby settled in on a shaded bench, I headed to the playground with our 3-year-old grandson. While Lucas and I played, I noticed my son-in-law slowly taking pictures of all the plants surrounding the playground. Later, I asked him about it. This smart dad told me that he was checking for plant toxicity and showed me an app he had installed on his phone called PlantNet (or Pl@ntNet at https://plantnet.org/en/). I was impressed! I immediately installed this free app on my phone.
Since that day, I have discovered multiple helpful garden and plant apps. Some identify plants, some identify plant disease, some identify plant care needs. All these apps call upon a growing database of plant information on the web. Most are free, available for both Apple and Android phones, and super easy to use. You open the app and, using the camera feature on your phone, you take a quick photo. The app scans its database for a match and up pop some comparison photos with identifying names. It’s easy to match your plant with others that have been uploaded by other plant enthusiasts. Some apps allow you to save your plant within the app for future personal
reference.
A quick Google search will give you many plant apps from which to choose. My installed app, PlantNet, appears to be both popular and accurate (hooray!). Another popular and accurate app is PictureThis (https://www.picturethisai.com/). PictureThis also has a feature to assist with diagnosis and prevention of plant diseases. Super cool! I also found an app that identifies all forms of nature – bugs, birds, snakes, spiders – as well as plants and trees. Uploads to iNaturalist contribute to a large community of international naturalists. The website also includes hints for using the app for classroom observations and data collection.
On a lark one day, I decided to check out ChatGPT (https://chatgpt.com/) and its knowledge base of plant and garden information. I typed in “Design a garden for Hardiness Zone 9B that attracts butterflies, bees, and birds,” and oh my! In a matter of seconds, a response appeared on my computer screen that addressed:
• Garden design overview
• Plant list by category (with blooming season and notes included for the plant recommendations)
• Bird friendly plants (with seasonal interests and benefits included with the recommendations)
• Structural features (water features, nesting boxes/shelters, and plant layering recommendations)
• Garden layout tips
• Maintenance tips
• And an offer to provide a sketch or image for the design
Wow! My own on-line landscape architect … and it was totally free! I have used ChatGPT for some professional tasks – article/book summaries and letters of recommendation, for example. I have found it moderately helpful for this type of work. The text produced is more mechanical than my own composition and it lacks the personality only a real person can provide.
So, here we are, becoming more deeply entrenched in a technologically complex world. I don’t think kicking and screaming will be helpful, but it’s worth a try.
The Red Bluff Garden Club Inc. is a member of Cascade District, California Garden Clubs, Inc., Pacific Region Garden Clubs, Inc., and National Garden Clubs, Inc.
We meet on the last Tuesday of the month at 1 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall, First United Methodist Church, 525 David Ave., Red Bluff. Our next meeting will be on Tuesday, July 29. Visitors are always welcome.