Gardening in the New Year & Reflecting on 2021

Moving into the New Year, we wanted to take some time to reflect and to thank you for being part of the PlantTAGG family. Gardening has become mainstream. And, we expect it to remain a crowd favorite. It’s a great way to spend time with family, boost curb appeal, and get back to nature. In 2021, the number of users on PlantTAGG propelled into the thousands, a true reflection of the excitement happening in the gardening community. We highlighted some of the achievements in this post. Additionally, we take a look at what’s to come for gardening in the new year.

Technical Update

Plant Identification with PlantTAGG Plant ID 

While our core focus is on plant care, accurate plant identification is critical. We continue to improve our image recognition system for speed and accuracy.  PlantTAGG’s Plant ID uses cutting-edge image recognition. We present a complete plant profile – a digital Plant Tag – for each plant. Now, you can add plants to your yard faster and easier, making your success at gardening in the new year a reality!

Comprehensive Plant Profiles & Care Recs Built for Successful Gardening in the New Year

In the last year, we tripled the size of the PlantTAGG plant library to over 6,000. Through our partnership with NC State, we added 3,400 plants to the system. And, our AI continues to get smarter with new attributes and features added daily. No more guesswork: the result is hyper-local, accurate, and reliable plant care guidance. 

Recently, we soft-launched our new Thrive Scorecard™. Thrive Scorecard helps you make smart plant decisions. It recommends plants based on what’s optimized for your yard. Additionally, Thrive Scorecard can assess the viability of the plants you already have. It’s a game-changer for gardening in the new year! Gardening success depends on understanding what plants will thrive. More to come on this topic.

We also made significant enhancements to existing features like the personalized Care Tasks, Ask an Expert, and companion planting. 

Partnership Update

Dallas County Master Gardener Association

Without a doubt, the most significant partnership we announced last year is with Dallas County Master Gardener Association (DCMGA). We’ve already PlantTAGG enabled 16 community gardens around the Dallas area. This year, we expect to bring on as many as ~50 community gardens as our Master Gardener program expands to surrounding chapters and across the country.

We also launched our At-Home Botanist program through our DCMGA partnership and in conjunction with Texas A&M AgriLife. The At-Home Botanist program provides a unique opportunity for Master Gardeners to earn continuing education or community service hours required to maintain their Master Gardener status. 

At the same time, the program creates unparalleled content for the PlantTAGG plant library. This fantastic team of 20 At-Home Botanists has contributed over 800 hand-crafted plant profiles so far since our launch in April of 2021.

Programs Update

Landscaper Program

We launched our Landscaper Program, and it’s off to a great start. Users can select from pre-configured designs or work with one of the Garden Centers or landscapers in the Sponsored Landscape program. This is a great program for anyone who wants to make gardening in the new year a priority. While you might have general knowledge on how to apply landscape design principles or how to use landscape design to increase your home value, hiring a landscaping service can help.

Garden Center Program 

Our Garden Center program helps top garden centers connect with their customers through the unique PlantTAGG plant care co-branded experience. We enhanced the Partner Portal, giving IGC owners new ways to manage customer interactions and marketing campaigns. Gardeners associated with a PlantTAGG Garden Center partner get “Ask an Expert” capabilities for expert advice when they have gardening challenges.

Community Update

‘The Hive’ Community Forum

We launched our community forum called ‘The Hive‘ last fall. The Hive is an active community where experienced gardeners and novice plant lovers can ask questions and share knowledge about gardening. If you haven’t joined, be sure to check it out! As more people join the community, the momentum will increase user engagement, and you’ll have access to even more great content for gardening in the new year!

PlantBuzz Blog 

We continue to add gardening best practices and tips on the blog. We have a robust editorial calendar planned for this year and are always looking to enhance the content. If you are interested in writing a blog or have an idea for a topic, please let us know! 

Gardening in the New Year – Looking Ahead in 2022 

We expect 2022 to be transformative from a technology, partnership, user growth, and content perspective.

In a short time, and as the temperatures heat up, we’ll kick off another banner year with the Dallas County Master Gardeners Spring Garden Tour. This tour is one of the most sought-after events in the local Dallas community, and PlantTAGG is proud to bring innovation to this incredible event. 

We are working hard on our next cutting-edge features, comprehensive plant content, community engagement, Garden Center sponsorships, and Master Gardener partnership expansion. 

We expect 2022 to be a remarkable year, and we couldn’t have come this far without you. Thank you again for helping propel PlantTAGG as the smartest plant care companion available to help you Discover, Design, Select and Grow plants.

We would love to hear from you – drop us a line!