Exploring the Botanical Pools on Flickr

Flickr and Flickr Groups are very useful for seeing a plethora of species shot in the their wild habitats, and plants in private collections. It’s like a million garden tours, and 10,000 plant society journals in full color, all came together into a search engine and then bred with Facebook. It’s informative and fun to explore online, and the quality of images and the knowledge available, is far more than what one can find on a simple Google search. Plus, you can write and contact the grower personally, or ask someone where they took the photo. It can be be very useful. Just about any plant family, genus or species is represented, and if one is not, you can start your own group or pool.

There is even a group called Plant Geeks.

…and Daffodil World


And..Dogs on Roofs, but I digress.

I tend to be very active on the social and image storage site Flickr, and then, I don’t use it for 5 months. And so it goes, with these sorts of things, but flickr is my first choice for image sharing and research when I am looking for images and info on something the is not available on a Google search. For plant geeks, it’s so much more. Last week, one of my images was requested for a pool on camelia’s called Las Flor Mas Bella ( Only Camellias), and…..there are 1719 members in this particular group, with 9078 images as of last Sunday. Just Camellia images that people have taken. Amazing.

Exploring Flickr can surprise even the most experienced of growers. There are groups for most everything, and ‘Pools’ where members can post within a theme or subject be it the ‘What’s in my Refrigerator door letter’ pool,

‘Refrigerator door art’ pool. and a ‘What’s in my college roomate’s refrigerator pool. But check this out…there is a pool ( group) for Lachenalia.

And, one on Hyacinthaceae

and, saxifragaceae

Flickr groups are very useful for seeing other forms of the same plant you are growing, and for connecting with others who have either photographed the plant in the wild, or who are growing it in a collection. Sure, there are some who are less experienced, or in some groups, such as BLUE FLOWERS, are more visually oriented rather than botanically savvy, but by and large, the majority of the botanical groups are composed of well informed people who have a wealth of information. I particularly like seeing the images of many of the plants that I grow, shot in their native habitats, such as South Africa.