So as part of this journey, I decided to start looking at Plant ID apps to help me learn about local plants and trees. I was hoping to get something that was free and I looked at several reviews. Most still have in-app purchases. I also mostly tested them on trees, and I quickly learned that they were not always super accurate for tree identification.

I ended up playing a little more with:

PictureThis:

• Seemed good for plants, less so for trees

(it would give several names for the same tree)

• It tries too hard to get you to subscribe

PlantNet:

• Again really great with plants, but has a hard time identifying trees

• Good for a free user, and you can make a donation if you enjoy it.

• I like the way it keeps an ongoing gallery of your pictures

Seek by iNaturalist:

• This app has a lot of features and is free (you can make a donation).

• One of the coolest things about it ( that I need to play with more) is that it allows for user interaction and for people to contribute to plant identifications (I.e you share your photos and people can also confirm the identification, eventually it gets “verified.”).