This week a friend showed me an app that identifies trees, birds, weeds, insects and several other things, among them allergen identification, tree ring identity, and plants that are toxic to pets.
What a find! It's called Picture This, and I have never been so excited about an app. Many times, I have seen a tree that I couldn't identify. With this app, I take a picture of the tree, and in a few seconds it identifies it.
Just this afternoon, I took a picture of a tree in my front yard that I have been calling a spruce. Now I know it is a white spruce, or Picea Glauca. A lovely spreading tree in my neighbor's yard across the street has always intrigued me. I had no idea what it was until I took a picture of it with my new Picture This app. It is a white mulberry, or Morusalba.
My next door neighbor has a beautiful tree that I have always enjoyed seeing. Now I know it is called an oriental arborvitae, or Platycladus Orientalis.
I am grateful that my friend, a ping pong buddy, told me about this amazing app. We were playing ping pong at a local church Tuesday morning because the city recreation center where we usually play was being painted. During a short break, I looked outside one of the glass side doors and saw a bush I did not recognize. I asked my friend if he knew what it was.
He didn't, but he said he could find out. He opened the Picture This app on his cell phone and snapped a photo of the bush. In just a second or two the app identified the bush as a weeping forsythia. I was hooked! I downloaded the app, which has a seven-day free trial. The annual charge is $29.99, and it is worth every penny to me.
I am ecstatic! If I could turn cartwheels, I would be turning them in glorious glee. I have only run across one tree that the app couldn't identify. It is an unusual looking tree that grows in my next door neighbor's yard. When I took a picture of the tall, gracefully shaped tree, the app told me the connection was not good enough to identify it. I may take a picture of the tree again sometime tomorrow to see if the app can identify it then.
Now I have an easy-to-use tool in the palm of my hand that identifies trees for me. I am giddy with delight! I am totally mesmerized by an app that one or more people developed to do what I have been wanting for so long!! Many thanks to those creative, innovative people who have come up with the perfect product for me.