Garden view
Helping others with their plant ID is all part of sharing our wonderful hobby, says Katrina Roche. Thank goodness help is at hand!
Find out why identifying plants gives columnist Katrina Roche the jitters
Any idea what this is? My heart sinks whenever I get a text message like this. It’s usually accompanied by a photo of something green and out-of-focus with the flowers cropped off. Like a TV quiz contestant asked to name a famous painting, I’m suddenly put on the spot, hoping my brain is up to the challenge.
If I’m lucky, the image is in focus and shows a familiar flower, in which case I’ll answer straight away. But sometimes it’s a blurry entanglement of leaves and stems and I haven’t a clue.
At this stage I’m faced with a dilemma, do I a) ignore the message b) make something up or c) resort to using a plant identifier app on my phone? I really don’t want to spend hours of my evening hunting on Google for a ‘tall plant with small yellow flowers’.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m flattered to receive such requests. It’s an occupational hazard for a professional gardener; people expect me to be a fount of wisdom on all things horticultural. And there’s the added jeopardy that I might blight a friend’s property by assuring
Modern tech makes plant ID quick and easy them that no, those heart-shaped-leaves don’t belong to Japanese knotweed, but to a vigorous form of innocent persicaria instead. It’s all too easy to get things wrong.
Pernicious weeds often masquerade as desirable garden plants before showing their true colours. Who hasn’t delayed digging up clusters of large green furry leaves expecting them to develop into a generous clump of foxgloves? The forget-me-not flowers of green alkanet are pretty enough, but not when you were expecting a cottage garden favourite like digitalis, abuzz with bumble bees. By the time you realise your mistake the alkanet has developed huge taproots like champion parsnips, impossible to dig out.
Identifying plants for friends is something of a performance art. Answer too quickly and they think you’re showing off. Worse, they’ll ask again and again and assume you’re happy to perform this little ‘party piece’ at the drop of a hat. If you seem too polished, there’s a risk they’ll start asking on behalf of their friends and family, and the nice lady who runs the local corner shop, or the chap at the bus stop.
On the other hand, if you ’fess up and say you don’t know, they assume you’re an unhelpful idiot. Crucially, you don’t want to let them down and suddenly, your entire self-worth hangs in the balance. You’ll be constantly fretting about that damn plant all day. Fortunately I have a support group of gardening friends who are happy to help name these mystery plants. It’s the horticultural equivalent of ‘phoning a friend’. There’s no cash prize, just our group reputation. Between us, we usually come up with an accurate ID.
I confess I’m also a convert to plant ID phone apps too. I do it on the sly, though: I pretend I’m casually checking my messages when in fact I’m peering at the screen while the clever App processes the photo in question. In less than 30 seconds it will issue a list of likely candidates. How good is that?!
So for now I’m turning over a new leaf. Instead of shying away from the next plea for botanical help, I’m going to embrace the opportunity to name that plant – with or without a little help from technology. ✿
I really don’t want to spend hours Googling a ‘tall plant with small yellow flowers’
Don’t miss our guide to plant apps next month!