We are a start-up group focused on helping people get started with native gardening, and the use of local plants to reduce environmental costs and promote biodiversity. We need your thoughts and advice on this app development!
You could scan the QR code to get to the google form!

Thank you so much!!

What's it called? That digital picture is meaningless to me.

Looks like a app with a fee, is that correct?

I think you mean gardening with native plants, rather than native gardening?

-- It's like bread baking and baking with bread. Two different things.

Rubi said: What's it called? That digital picture is meaningless to me.

It's called MyBiome but we're still in the developing phase, so it would be great if you could answer it and let us know what you think! Thank you so much!

crawgarden said: Looks like a app with a fee, is that correct?

We're still deciding on the business model, but it's highly possible that it will give information for free but pro feature such as garden designing comes with a fee.

Leftwood said: I think you mean gardening with native plants, rather than native gardening?

-- It's like bread baking and baking with bread. Two different things.

Native gardening would be our ultimate goal but gardening with native plants would be our first step. Thank you so much for your feedback!

I don't use 'apps'.

With that said, when I hear the word native I sometimes think 'invasive'. Now that will start a fight.

Realize that native means it is able to survive with no help from 'you'. That pretty much means you will be pulling seedlings for the rest of your days. I've made that mistake before. I like well behaved plants that don't throw seeds everywhere. The bunches of red bud seedlings, and black eyed susan and that firecracker loosestrife I bought at a Master Gardener plant sale. Went to their annual sale today and seen wild violets for sale. First who in their right mind pays for those? Second, seriously? who would do that? I have them by the MILLIONS literally choking out my iris and coneflowers. They are horrible. Native plants are great in their place, but my garden is not always the place. Of course there are plenty that are well behaved and that's fine, just saying if a person is not careful it can get out of hand and hearing the word 'native' has this romanticized or nostalgic notion which may not be accurate in reality.

Frillylily said: I don't use 'apps'.

With that said, when I hear the word native I sometimes think 'invasive'. Now that will start a fight.

Realize that native means it is able to survive with no help from 'you'. That pretty much means you will be pulling seedlings for the rest of your days. I've made that mistake before. I like well behaved plants that don't throw seeds everywhere. The bunches of red bud seedlings, and black eyed susan and that firecracker loosestrife I bought at a Master Gardener plant sale. Went to their annual sale today and seen wild violets for sale. First who in their right mind pays for those? Second, seriously? who would do that? I have them by the MILLIONS literally choking out my iris and coneflowers. They are horrible. Native plants are great in their place, but my garden is not always the place. Of course there are plenty that are well behaved and that's fine, just saying if a person is not careful it can get out of hand and hearing the word 'native' has this romanticized or nostalgic notion which may not be accurate in reality.

That's such a hilarious and fantastic story to be shared with us! Definitely, more caution should be taken handling them. Thank you so much!

BlueSocks said: Native gardening would be our ultimate goal but gardening with native plants would be our first step. Thank you so much for your feedback!

Then I think "MyBiome" is a good name, as it denotes a natural ecosystem that is self-sustaining. Lots of people won't take that last step, so it's good to have both options.

Frillylily brings up a real concern, especially if this is an app that you won't always have contact with the end users. You should be clear and responsible with the information you relay. It's not that wild plants in general are invasive at all, but in a garden situation where plant competition is minimal compared to natural environs, yes, it is very common for them grow "everywhere". The more I think about it, the more I believe you need to delineate the difference between gardening with natives and native gardening. Along those lines, developing separate lists of suitable plants for each is crucial, in my opinion.

You will also need to note regional differences, and recommendations accordingly.

Leftwood said: Then I think "MyBiome" is a good name, as it denotes a natural ecosystem that is self-sustaining. Lots of people won't take that last step, so it's good to have both options.

Frillylily brings up a real concern, especially if this is an app that you won't always have contact with the end users. You should be clear and responsible with the information you relay. It's not that wild plants in general are invasive at all, but in a garden situation where plant competition is minimal compared to natural environs, yes, it is very common for them grow "everywhere". The more I think about it, the more I believe you need to delineate the difference between gardening with natives and native gardening. Along those lines, developing separate lists of suitable plants for each is crucial, in my opinion.

You will also need to note regional differences, and recommendations accordingly.

Thank you so much for the follow-up. Yes, I definitely agree there are different expectations from various users. Your suggestion on making the difference clear and giving recommendations accordingly is really valuable. In terms of different regions, we wonder if it would be feasible and attractive to the users if they could enter the soil types themselves because the current soil map we have is not accurate enough.

if you have soil maps that are accurate, but not accurate in the sense of geopositioning with respect to normal human street addresses, it might be better (at least in some cases) to ask what kinds of vegetation grow there, and/or request downloading both macro images and close ups for species identification. Along with a general description, you could interpolate from that. I don't think most people can discern different soil types. Although, you could request that they seek an educated opinion, and stress that that will heavily influence your recommendations and thus the success of their project.

Leftwood said: if you have soil maps that are accurate, but not accurate in the sense of geopositioning with respect to normal human street addresses, it might be better (at least in some cases) to ask what kinds of vegetation grow there, and/or request downloading both macro images and close ups for species identification. Along with a general description, you could interpolate from that. I don't think most people can discern different soil types. Although, you could request that they seek an educated opinion, and stress that that will heavily influence your recommendations and thus the success of their project.

Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment! That is definitely feasible with the present technology of plant species identification techniques. The only concern that brings is that people in urban areas may have less source for "natural plants growing in this region" and it could be difficult for them this way. However, having the options open and provided is definitely worth doing. Thank you again and looking forward to more valuable suggestions, advice, and feedback!

I wouldn't recommend people going out and digging up local native plants for their native garden. I think in most places it is illegal though I will admit in my youth I am guilty of bringing a few things home. Mostly I just collected a bit of foliage for my herbarium.

There are legitimate nurseries that propagate native plants.

pardalinum said: I wouldn't recommend people going out and digging up local native plants for their native garden.

There are legitimate nurseries that propagate native plants.

agree 110% (though I don't know if the app suggests digging local plants from 'wild')

What exactly are you hoping people do- use their available land to grow only plants that are native to their region? What info are you hoping to offer to help them in this?
Your app will appeal to people who know little about natives or gardening. You can't expect them to photo random plants nearby and have any clue whether they are native. It's the invasives that are well established and prolific in many parks and waste places in my suburban area.

sallyg said: agree 110% (though I don't know if the app suggests digging local plants from 'wild')

That was my initial thought, too, but it would be logical to accept that as an ensuing possible outcome. I think it is good that Connie brings it up so the issue of responsible plant material procurement is addressed in the app.

Your app will appeal to people who know little about natives or gardening. You can't expect them to photo random plants nearby and have any clue whether they are native. It's the invasives that are well established and prolific in many parks and waste places in my suburban area.

Even the presence of invasives can help to indicate the characteristics of an area. Anyone worth their salt will know it is the mix of biological materials that is more important, not individual plants. It's the major reason for taking macro (landscape) shots I mentioned before.

I'm not contradicting your reason for photos.
Only wish to point out the (potential? probable?) lack of knowledge of native/invasive in the pool of people who will turn to an app for 'easy answers' but also look at a 'park' and think it's all native, because, well, it's a park, right?

Will you have live people to ID plants in macro shots? Team up with an ID app? I don't know that Google images does well with combinations and landscape photos.

I also have to respectfully disagree with Frillylily about the generalization that natives need no special care in one's garden and will take over. Some may (damn violets! I'm even tired of red bud seedlings!) and some may not. The non-gardening app user cannot use that as a way to judge nor a guarantee that when they bring a native plant home it will thrive and multiply. I agree there is 'romanticizing' of natives.

I love the responses from all of you! From your responses, I think a macro-photo-based plant identification would be a good feature to add to the app. Also, a general suspicion on how "wild" these native plants would behave can be felt here. Our team now consists mostly of the tech people and we'd love more feedback from the gardening practices and your experiences. We'll also continue to consult with landscaping experts too. Please keep the feedback coming! Thank you all so much!

Get the pros lined up now. I bet there are enough that need the job. The feedback here should give you some respect for the technical gardening side of this thing. But this is a tiny random sample of completely unvetted responders.

I've read this entire thread and still don't understand what you are attempting to accomplish. However, your recent post caught my eye:

"Our team now consists mostly of the tech people and we'd love more feedback from the gardening practices and your experiences."

I interpret this as a group of tech-savvy entrepreneurs brainstorming to figure out a way to jump on some current trend to make a fast killing before anyone figures out their product has no value. "Hey! There is a lot of Internet buzz from influencers about native plants! Let's do something with that even though we know nothing about botany, horticulture, gardening or ecology!"

"Native gardening" sounds appealing but . . .means what? (Growing crops on Tribal lands?) On the other hand, there is no shortage of books, videos, articles and websites offering advice about incorporating native plants into commercial and residential landscaping...is that your aim? Only a small fraction of plants sold and grown in the US are true natives, technically species that grew here prior to European settlement. But importation and crossbreeding of plants started the moment Europeans set foot on this continent and some distinctions have gotten fuzzy. There are many introduced species that aren't invasive exotics that have adapted to survive and reproduce in local ecosystems over time and provide food or shelter for local fauna. Most true natives vary from region to region—some are only truly indigenous to a few square miles. Some have grown for hundreds of thousands of years and some adapted more recently, but where do you draw the line? Is a Penstemon native to arid high-altitude Colorado that has been bred to tolerate lower and wetter environments no longer native? Are Mediterranean plants that are exquisitely well adapted to similar California climates less valuable to the environment because they didn't originate there 1000s of years ago?

There is a well respected site from the Native Wildlife Federation that also has a native plant-finder feature, plus the added cred of being developed by the US Forest Service and University of Delaware. Is this what you're trying the replicate? What are your credentials?
https://www.nwf.org/Garden-for...

Sorry if I sound cynical, but admittedly I am. Gardening is about so much more than can be accessed through technology and apps and trendy-sounding phrases. It's a combination of education, experience, instinct and a passion in the soul that is indescribable to those who don't have it.