Our series on ways that gardeners can use artificial intelligence began with tools for identifying plants and diagnosing plants’ issues, solving plants’ problems and designing landscapes.
This column focuses on scheduling plant care and maintenance. We begin by reviewing different ways that gardeners acquire information about broad categories of plants (shrubs, trees, etc.), plant genera (roses, irises) or particular plants (genus and species). We follow with examples of using AI for in-depth information on individual plants.
Pre-AI sources of plant care and maintenance
Offline sources: To be thorough, we should mention gardening friends and educators, books and periodicals. I have valued these traditional sources and still do. The skilled and experienced gardeners who manage my garden are indispensable. Still, online sources often draw on large plant inventories and are useful to both casual and professional gardeners.
Searching the internet: When browsing, search for “care and maintenance of (plant name).” A search based on only the genus name or the common name might yield relevant information, while the binomial botanical name is more reliable. Including the plant’s cultivar in the search can reveal the most relevant information. To avoid sales information, include “-.com” in your search. Popular internet search engines include Google, Microsoft Bing, Yahoo and DuckDuckGo. Most of these search engines have recently introduced AI-based brief summaries in support of searches. The results often include links to online sources that are the basis for the summary.
Drawing from apps: The internet provides access to specialized applications for iOS or Android cellphones or desktop computers. Some are available free, and some require a subscription. To explore such apps, browse The Best Gardening Apps of 2026 (myplantin.com/blog/best-gardening-apps) or Top 12 Gardening Apps for Green Thumbs (tinyurl.com/2ch36hjy).
While walking in a garden, the gardener can get quick information from a cellphone app. I trialed one highly rated app, Planta, to gain information about my Eureka lemon tree. When I entered the plant’s botanical name, citrus x limon, Planta presented several options. I selected the “Eureka lemon” option, and Planta produced the following:
• Advanced: Lemon tree.
• Light: Full sun.
• Humidity: High humidity, twice per week.
• Fertilizing: Citrus plant food. Liquid fertilizing not needed now because of overwintering.
• Soil and repotting: Cactus, palm and citrus soil/potting soil plus extra drainage/all-purpose potting mix.
• Repotting: Every second year.
This basic, very brief information was helpful, but left me wanting more. I questioned the repotting recommendation for my mature 10-by-10-foot tree.
AI sources of plant care and maintenance
Gardeners can access AI for in-depth information on a particular plant.
Here are two examples of my recent searches using ChatGPT (chatgpt.com).
Eureka lemon tree
My initial prompt: “How to prune a Eureka lemon tree to manage size.” ChatGPT produced five pages of text and additional pages with 44 images. A summary would be too much for this column.
The initial report included ChatGPT’s request: “If you want, describe your tree’s actual height, trunk diameter, and whether it’s grafted, and I’ll convert this into a precise cut-by-cut plan (including which limbs to remove this season).”
My follow-up prompt: “The tree is 10 feet high and wide, with a trunk diameter of 3 inches. Not grafted.”
ChatGPT produced three pages of information more specific to my tree (again, too much to summarize here), and the following summary and request: “Your tree is already at the perfect intervention moment. With modest winter thinning, aggressive summer sprout removal, and zero topping, you can keep this Eureka lemon compact, productive, and handsome indefinitely.
“If you’d like, you can describe (or photograph) one or two specific branches you’re unsure about, and I’ll tell you exactly whether to remove, shorten, or leave them.”
I already had enough information to absorb, so I declined, at least temporarily, the opportunity to generate additional advice.
Salvias
My prompt: “Provide a month-by-month plan for maintaining a salvia plant collection, which includes four categories of plants: Rosette-growing, herbaceous perennials; evergreen, woody species; deciduous, woody-stem varieties; and deciduous or semi-evergreen types with soft stems.”
ChatGPT: “Below is a month-by-month maintenance plan for a diverse salvia collection, organized around the four growth habits you specified. The calendar is tuned to a Mediterranean-climate garden (cool, wet winters; dry summers; occasional frost but rarely hard freezes), such as coastal and inland California.”
Note that ChatGPT oriented its response to my garden’s environment, which I had not specified. The AI tool retained information about my garden from previous prompts.
I edited AI’s maintenance plan for my salvias to four-plus pages. The report included the following summary and request: “Timing matters more than severity: most salvia failures come from pruning too early or too late, not from pruning too hard. Know where new growth emerges (because) basal vs. woody buds dictate success. Summer pruning is cosmetic, and winter pruning is structural. Drainage is non-negotiable, especially for evergreen woody species.
“If you’d like, I can adapt this into a one-page printable chart, a side-by-side comparison table, or a salvia-only pruning calendar keyed to common California species for publication use.”
I did request a one-page printable chart, but I won’t include it in this column.
This week in the garden
I encourage interested gardeners to use online sources of plant care information appropriately, depending on their level of interest in particular plants. ChatGPT’s detailed reports provide ample information for thorough plant maintenance.
In future columns, we will explore ways you can use AI in the garden, including seasonal planning and journaling.
I will also include follow-up comments on the use of AI in landscape design, comparing the gardener’s empowerment with the landscape designer’s role.
Enjoy your garden!
Tom Karwin can be reached at gardening@karwin.com.
