Plant ID Business

While trying to figure out what I could do for the environment in a voluntary capacity, I came up with this idea with the help of my dad. I can't remember if he suggested it first or if I came up with it first. Since I love plants and am a professional botanist with lots of experience identifying plants, we thought that I could offer to identify all the plants in people's yards. I could start out doing it voluntarily or charge a small fee, maybe $10, for my services. Unfortunately, it doesn't solve the problem of being out work in the off-season (September/October-Feb/March) when plants are dead or covered in snow. But it offers me a way to help the environment.

In addition to being a passionate botanist, I am also an avid environmentalist. If I go to people and offer to identify all the plants in their yards, I will get the opportunity to educate them about native vs. non-native species. I have walked around a few towns and noticed some highly invasive, List A, plants. I was shocked and appalled to discover myrtle spurge (Euphorbia myrsinites) growing in people's yards in my hometown. Then, while walking down the streets in Durango, I noticed tiny myrtle spurges along a fence that followed a sidewalk. I don't think people are intentionally planting these plants in order to do harm. Maybe a previous owner planted them years ago, but most people don't realize that they are harmful. They don't know about the problems with non-native plants or the benefits of native ones. Having identified the plants in the yard at my permanent address, I'd say that 95-99% of them aren't native. This isn't because we planted them either. Some were planted by our ancestors who didn't know any better. For instance, we have this nasty, thorny, woody vine that one of my ancestors planted to attract bees. It has taken over the backyard and is extremely aggressive and hard to control. We cut it, but it comes back quickly. I've heard that herbicides are the only way to really take care of it. (As a side note this plant is called matrimony vine or Goji berry (Lycium barbarum) which you can find in your local health food stores.)

If I can find a company that specializes in native plants, I can direct people towards them. Maybe it will encourage people to learn more about native species and invaders; maybe it will motivate them to remove their non-natives and put in native species. I would go out and ID all of their plant species, just making a list as I went along. I would offer to photograph each species or I could bring along a photo herbarium--a book filled with pictures and descriptions of common native and non-native species in the area. If people wanted, I could make them their own personal book with pictures and descriptions of the species that are in their yard. Plus, I could probably get ahold of literature and free stuff that I could give anyone who was interested, such as brochures on invasive plants, weed calendars, and weed playing cards.

So what does everyone think? Would people actually be interested in this? Plant identification by sight is dying out as molecular techniques take precedence, and many people don't seem to be all that interested in plants. (My teenage brothers seem to hate botany. The only one who likes it was influenced by our father, who is also a botanist.)