Hello I start out Identifing a few plants in my area, then a few more plants caught my eye. The funny thing is that I became hooked on plant identification only after a few new discoveries. I am handicapped, bound to a wheelchair and transfer and use a four wheeled electric cart to travel the perimeter of the woodland that surrounds the apartments where I live. I have found there are many species of beautiful plant life to see even if one travels the perimeter and If there is a plant out of reach I have friends retrieve a sample for me. I use a small digital camera to capture the different stages of the plants around the area and with the use of a computer I study these plant images well after the winter snows has fallen. my main point here is not my handicap but how interesting and beautiful nature can be if you just simply look around. I am a lover of science, nature and have a curiosity of the world that surrounds me. I am looking forward to future Forum topics that I can give an input to. Thanks Curiousinmichigan
Hello Curiousinmichigan, welcome to the forums. Learning to indentify plants is fun. The Plant Identification forum is the most popular one here. If you find strange plants that you can't name in the woodland please post pictures and feel free to offer your input on other's plants. I guess getting into nature can be different from a wheelchair. I am glad you are finding ways to reach nature. Using the internet to increase your knowledge about plants is a good way to enrich your experience. Enjoy your explorations,
I'll second Eric's comments and greetings. I'll also add that it's amazing what one can find if one just stops to look.
I see this post is quite old, but I suppose that my "welcome!" is better late than never. Yes, Botany and the search for different species is a grand hobby. Myself, I've a particular fondness for fungi, but the indicator plants I use to find them has shown me that botany can be equally fascinating. I now know the names of some of the "weeds" at the sides of roads whereas I never gave them so much as a glance before. Indeed, it puts a whole new light on things, and can turn even the most casual of strolls through a park or empty lot into a potential for a new find --- for instance, maybe there's this last one of a bunch of Mustard species you have listed in a book but hadn't yet personally found "in the wild" of the parking lots, roadside, etc. where your likely to see them. In Nanaimo, I found an Absinthe Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) by a roadside/rail-road crossing close to downtown central. UVic even kept my specimen, so it's kind of exciting to be able to add to the world's knowledge even if you don't have a bunch of letters after your name.