BeGONEia Houseplant Website

So, you have a sick plant…

How do you find out how to help it? Google? You certainly wouldn’t be alone in taking that route, as more and more of us take to the internet to find out anything about everything. Even then, plant care isn’t always easy and how do you know that the top result has advice for the problem you specifically are facing?

The below quote from Di Lallo does a good job of succinctly phrasing why simply googling plant health questions isn’t always the best course of action. Armed with this knowledge, BeGONEia was created to help those who are asking the age-old question of “what’s wrong with my plant” to the internet, providing an interactive diagnosis tool based on common diagnostic questions for plants.

“When trying to determine what caused a particular plant issue, whether it is yellow leaves, crispy brown edges on leaves, wilting, or a host of other plant woes, you’ll always hear me say to physically observe your plant and be aware of your conditions and routines. I’ve seen so many plant parents struggle because they blindly believe statements they’ve read on the internet.”
DI LALLO, 2022, P. 87

Why Focus on Plant Health?

Many of us started gardening during the Covid pandemic, and statistics reflect this. According to Statista, 65% of independent North American garden centers had more than a 15% increase to house plant sales from 2019 to 2020, and a US specific survey revealed that only 11.3% of respondents claimed they did not own a plant. Statista also found that UK yearly houseplant sales increased by 30% in 2021, which was 50% higher than pre-pandemic levels.

This fact made me think back to when I initially started collecting and caring for plants myself and what I struggled with at first. The biggest thing I struggled with initially was figuring out plant health questions. As such, BeGONEia was created with that in mind, and is designed to be easy to understand for new gardeners while still providing answers and information.

The diagnosis tool walks visitors through the same questions that are already widely used to help diagnose plants, but with interactive elements to make it easier to use and understand. Following the questions, the user is provided an answer along with some strategies to treat plants affected. There are also links to further information on the websites plant and problem database.

The plant and problem databases provide information on a variety of plants and issues, and allow searching via the name (both common and botanical) or through filters. Clicking on the cards displayed opens a page with more detailed information such as light levels, water requirements and more for plants. For problems visitors can read about the symptoms that they exhibit and how to treat them.

Of course, what good is information if it isn’t accessible? BeGONEia scales the size of its elements depending on the size of the screen you are on. Additionally, all colours for text meet website accessibility standards and colours in the theme are distinct enough through colour blindness simulators.