We're going to try a fun game that provides a natural lead-in to my next article, "Identifying Plants in Your Landscape". It's based on my time manning the MG hotline when people would call in to the Ag Extension office, hoping for a plant identification. It was always fun to listen to new MGs take calls, since they didn't know which questions to ask. They would catch on mighty fast after a few calls like the one we'll describe here. You'll see as we go along which pieces of information are the most useful in determining ID.

I'll add clues one at a time until someone gets the answer, at which point the special article will be posted.

Jump in with guesses, or with questions to pose to the caller.

Ring! Ring!

MG: "Agricultural Extension Office, how may I help you?"
Caller: "I want to know why my plant died."

MG: "Well, ma'am, I'd love to help you. What type of plant was it?"
Caller: "It was the one Aunt Edna gave me."

MG: "Perhaps if you described it, I could figure out the type of plant and determine what went wrong. What did the plant look like?"
Caller: "It was real pretty, until it died."

MG: (clearly time for some VERY specific questions)

MG: "What shape were the leaves?"
Caller: "They looked like hearts."

MG: "Was this a houseplant?"
Caller: "Oh, goodness, no! I can't have plants in the house. My cat would eat them."

MG: "What color were the leaves?"
Caller: "Green"

MG: "Did the leaves have any markings or were they solid green?"
Caller: "Solid green."

MG: "How big were the leaves?"
Caller: "Oh, they were pretty small."

Clear as mud weren't they!!

MollyD

Can't you just imagine the frustration of getting a call like this? It makes you want to laugh and cry at the same time.

I promise this example is going somewhere...

MG: In inches, how long and wide were the leaves?
Caller: Oh, about 3-4 inches long and maybe 3 inches wide.

MG: "In inches or feet, how big was the plant?"
Caller: "Well it went up for a few inches, then draped down over the sides of the pot. It was probably a couple feet long."

MG: "By any chance, did the plant turn black when you put it outside?"
Caller: "Yes! It turned black and then it died."

MG: "Ma'am, try googling Philodendron scandens to see if it matches your plant."

Caller: "You mean it's a philodendron? Oh, I thought Edna said she brought it back from Philadelphia. Well, yes, I'm looking at the picture on the Internet now, and that's what it was....oh, it says it's a houseplant. I guess that's why it died when I put it outside in February, huh?"

MG: "Yes, ma'am, that's likely the problem. Glad I could help."

As you can see from the progression of the call, it's as important to ask the right questions as it is to give accurate answers. Terms like big,small, pretty, etc. are relative, and mean different things to each person. Getting specific measurements and descriptions are important. Also, a term like "houseplant" can be misleading. There are no houseplants in nature. By definition, a houseplant is just a plant you grow in the house. The list of plants that must be grown as houseplants varies by geographical location. It was because the caller didn't know the ID, and therefore the proper growing conditions for her plant, that her plant died.

Luckily in this case, the red herring of "not a houseplant" didn't take the MG too far off track. Having looked at some of the possible plants with heart-shaped leaves:

Caladium
Catalpa
Cercidiphylllum
Cercis
Colocasia
Hexastylis
some Hydrangea species
Linden
Paulownia
Philodendron
Pothos

and combined that with 3-4", solid green leaves, and a trailing habit, there weren't too many likely candidates.

You can also see where a picture brought into the office would have yielded a quick and easy ID for a very common plant.

Hilarious call. Really enjoying the forum posts here. Lots of personality. It's hard finding other people that love plants as much as I do. Any other landscapers in here? I am so happy I found a cool community!

Thought answering the phone calls would be a quick way to get the hours in, actually found it took a lot of time to research and get the correct answer. You always learn a lot when you get questions, and yes some are pretty interesting, but than again if they knew the answer they wouldn't be calling. Luckily our MG unit had a huge garden plot (7acres) that the uni let us use, easy to get lots of time in, plus we used it for seed trials. We had a huge rose, iris and peony portion, our veg trials and seed trials portion was 140 x 40, great times.

Mishapr said:A fantastic plant that definitely will not be left out is the artichoke.

You bring it inside?