WHO KNEW Figuring Out What Plants Are Growing in Your Yard Could Be So Easy?

Maybe you participated in No Mow May and resisted mowing your lawn until June. Maybe you even stopped mowing a whole section of your lawn permanently to allow native habitat to flourish. But what’s really growing there? There could be some great native plants—golden rod, wood asters, milkweed—but you might also have aggressive invasive plants like garlic mustard.

If you leave an area of your yard to grow wild for a couple of years in a row, you’ll be surprised at the increasing variety of plants that appear. It can be exciting to see the proliferation of growth, until someone points out to you that you have an infestation of some non-native, invasive plant that is actively inhibiting the growth of beneficial native plants.

Luckily, there’s an easy way to identify what plants are colonizing your yard and to learn which ones are welcome and which ones need to go. There are several phone apps which greatly simplify the identification process. My favorite is PictureThis. I take a photo of the plant in question, and the app does the rest. It tells me everything I need to know about the plant, including whether it is native to our region, as well as informing me about the health of the particular plant in my yard. I use the app for plant ID, but you can also use it to identify birds and insects, take gardening courses, or get help with landscaping.

If you google plant identification apps, you’ll find plenty of choices. Once you find one you like, you can keep track of what’s really growing in your yard and help keep your native habitat native.