Whether you like settling in with a photo-laden good book filled with gorgeous gardens and expert advice as to how to create your own, or you’re really happy outside, smartphone in hand, using a state-of-the-art app to give you ideas for landscape design, native plants and more, we’ve got the newest and best of both worlds here.
PLANTUM (FORMERLY NATUREID) – The app formerly called NatureID, now known as Platum, is like having your own personal botanist at hand, as this app will not only identify more than 15,000 plant species, it also will diagnose their ailments and give care advice. And that’s only the beginning of what this app – supported by a team of expert botanists – can do, as it also identifies insects, rocks and even mushrooms, all by just taking a photo and letting the app do the rest. Available on both iOS and Android.
PL@NTNET – Pl@ntNet is another plant-identifying app, but this one lets your inner botanist soar. For while you can shoot photos of plants to find out what they are, you are also part of a worldwide “citizen science project on biodiversity.” Your photos help build the database and contribute to the research they are doing to identify and map plants, without any advertising or data resale. With nearly 15 million images and 35,000 species, this grassroots project is truly a comprehensive database. Available on both iOS and Android.
SEEK BY iNATURALIST – Seek by iNaturalist is an app developed in a joint project by the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society, designed especially for families with curious children. This app allows any aspiring naturalist with a smartphone camera to shoot pictures of plants, birds, amphibians and fungi and then use the info provided to discover more. That’s all done without any registration, data capture or location being shared, keeping kids safe while they learn. And adults love all the info provided here, too. Available on both iOS and Android.
iSCAPE – This is the app to download when you are ready to create a new landscape for your home, the same one the pros use to envision, plan and create a final design of the space you’ve decided to transform. With 2D and 3D design capabilities and an array of plants, trees, water features, fire pits and other elements to put into place, iScape allows your imagination to soar – and gives you ideas as well. Available on both iOS and Android.
Piet Oudolf is one of the world’s leading garden designers – think New York’s High Line, Oudolf Garden on Belle Isle in Detroit, Chicago’s Lurie Garden – whose idea of “responsible horticulture” is a melding of native plantings and ecologically sound maintenance in every garden he creates. “Piet Oudolf at Work” is a coffee-table book designed to inspire, as Oudolf reveals his design process, complete with original drawings, and provides inspiration for creating your own four-season garden that’s uniquely suited to the environment that surrounds your world. Phaidon, $79.95
Join authors Nick McCullough, Teresa Woodard and Allison McCullough for an “American Roots” journey into some of the country’s most creative garden designers, who are forging a new ethos in home gardening. Focusing on regional native plants and on creating outdoor spaces that are a reflection of place, these innovative gardeners are helping to shift the way every element of a garden is chosen. With plenty of specific design ideas and plant suggestions, this book will spark your imagination as to what can be done to create hyperlocal harmony in your garden. Workman, $40
Author Greg Loades wants you to get out and dig in the dirt every day (or at least do some pruning), to use your garden as a place to decompress from the busy world. “The 30-Minute Gardener” recommends dedicating at least that small amount of time each day to nature. He provides a template of how to turn a few moments into a zen-like experience that also improves your garden as you follow his lead. Loades loves flowers, so expect to find particularly useful ideas as to how to add local, native flowers to your garden design. Workman, $30
If you dream of transforming your garden space into a “backyard microfarm,” then author Leah M. Webb is ready to help. Her “The Seven-Step Homestead” offers practical advice on everything from growing vegetables and fruit to filling a small coop with egg-laying chickens. She’ll help you understand how to lure pollinators to your yard and how to cultivate medicinal plants, all with the goal of growing your own food in seven steps – adding one or two new elements every year until you have that microfarm right out your door. Workman, $24.99
Did you know there’s a year’s worth of video programs with Joshua Siskin, the Southern California News Group’s longtime gardening columnist? Siskin’s popular column began in the LA Daily News in 1993. Listen to his advice on a variety of topics with Garden Party, the free virtual program about gardening from SCNG.