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Identify your plants and flowers using your phones... amazing and free.

ObsessedPlantswomanObsessedPlantswoman Posts: 33
in Problem solving
So I might be a bit slow off the mark here but rather than use Specific flower identifying apps, anyone with an iPhone can just use the camera to take a photo and press the i info icon to find out the name of the plant. (It also identifies artwork and breeds of dog 🤯)

..and If you have an android phone you can download the lens app and take photos with that instead.

hours of fun! Would love to here from excited luddites like myself 🤩
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Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Central Norfolk UKPosts: 79,566
    edited 3 August
    They’re not foolproof … several  of us have spent a fair while correcting the IDs given by some of these plant apps. I’m not impressed I’m afraid.  :/

    Sorry if that sounds a tad curmudgeonly, but it’s my experience. 
    “I am not lost, for I know where I am. But however, where I am may be lost.” Winnie the Pooh







  • ObsessedPlantswomanObsessedPlantswoman Posts: 33
    I have been merrily testing the ‘lens’ app and so far so good. It even identified my friends Chinese oak tree, which had stumped  her regular plant app. 

    The good part is that it shows you the pictures of the similar plants is has identified from the internet, so it’s easy to see if it has picked the wrong one.
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 32,482
    " amazing and free " but not always reliable
    Devon.
  • UffUff SW Scotland but born in DerbyshirePosts: 2,186
    Quite so Hostafan. I've just taken this pic of a rodgersia in my garden and the iphone tells me it's an oak leaf hydrangea. Similar, it's true but not correct.
  • FireFire North LondonPosts: 15,723
    PlantNet and ObsIdentify is pretty good. Apps are getting more accurate all the time. 
  • ObsessedPlantswomanObsessedPlantswoman Posts: 33
    edited 4 August
    Uff said:
    Quite so Hostafan. I've just taken this pic of a rodgersia in my garden and the iphone tells me it's an oak leaf hydrangea. Similar, it's true but not correct.
    I just took a photo of your photo using google lens, and it identified it as a Rodgersia.

    havent used the iPhone, but Recommend google lens.

    the negativity on this thread is Odd. I don’t expect perfection, but appreciate how technology is useful as a gardener.
  • thevictorianthevictorian Posts: 585
    I think it's actually pretty amazing how far tech has come in just my lifetime but you can't beat a bit of experience basee knowledge. I heard a really fun name/term, which I can't remember, that basically described why people don't need to know anything today because they just Google it. 
  • ObsessedPlantswomanObsessedPlantswoman Posts: 33
    edited 4 August
    ..and once they google it, they then know the name! Quicker than coming on here and asking people, or consulting a text book.

    I was joking about luddites, but now I am not so sure. I think posters are giving away their age on here....
  • nutcutletnutcutlet PeterboroughPosts: 26,572
    I see ID apps as part of the instant and shallow attitude to everything around us. You may get an instant ID, maybe even the correct one, but have you learnt anything more than a word (or 2 if using a binomial)? 
  • ObsessedPlantswomanObsessedPlantswoman Posts: 33
    edited 4 August
    Of course....you can then google the word and find out how to look after that plant. What is shallow about that? 

    I have the classic huge RHS encyclopaedias that I used for years. As well as now being out of date with so many new plants out there, they are time consuming to use. Why on earth wouldn’t you want to use the digital encyclopaedia that is google?
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