Flowers | Photo by Karen Bradbury ()
With Germany’s warming temperatures and the welcome sight of all nature bursting into bloom, even strolls through familiar territory are a delight. With all the various trees, flowers and bushes reaching their peak of beauty at different times, that route you took just a few days ago might look much different today. There’s hardly time to mourn the passing of the daffodils or the blossoms of the magnolia tree before the scent of lilacs fills the air.
Oftentimes you’ll come across a species that’s so beautiful you’ll long to put a name to it. That’s fine if you happen to be out and about with a plant-savvy native speaker of German, but in the absence of such a helpful pal, just pull out your smartphone.
Although you’ll find a good number of free apps out there designed to help you identify flora, the one I’m presently going with is called PlantNet. This handy tool helps users to pin down what it is they’re looking at either while out and about, or later from the comfort of home. In a nutshell, here’s how it works. Once downloaded, the app prominently displays a large camera icon. On tapping that, a feature titled “New Observation” reveals itself. Two options will now appear. The first one allows the user to snap a photo on the app itself for immediate identification; the second, to thumb through photos stored in the gallery and upload images of any unfamiliar plants.
The app can help to identify flowers, trees, fruit and bark. It will propose not one but several options as to what this plant could be, with the user able to pinpoint the closest match and confirm the sighting.
For best results, get up as close and personal to the blossoms and leaves as possible. Using the camera’s editing function to crop and sharpen a photo will also result in a more exact match.
Another useful resource for those ultra-keen on knowing more about what’s blooming in Germany at any given time is https://was-blueht-jetzt.de/. Use the “Blütezeitkalendar” function to see what’s typically in bloom during any given month of the year. From there, simply google the plant’s Latin name to learn what we’d call it in English.
How wonderful it is to now be able to greet so many beautiful blossoming things by name. Hello, forsythia! Good morning, grape hyacinth. How do you do, Mr. Snakeshead Fritillary?
Which blossoming beauties have you spotted on your recent nature walks?
