Talea, your gardening app. Forever.
Born out of love for plants: caring for them, rushing to cover them when frost comes, putting gardeners in touch so they help each other, passing cuttings around.
Start, it's free
Free. All of it, forever.
ADDING A PLANT
Add your plants however you like. Four ways, all easy.
01
Type the name
Talea finds the species and hands you its care sheet, already written by us.
02
Take a photo
Point the camera at the plant: we recognise it and link it to the right sheet.
03
Ask your AI
If the species isn't in the database yet, paste the answer here: Talea turns it into a sheet.
04
Write your own
Create your own care sheet. It's your plant — you know its rules.
THE CARE SHEETS
Exactly what you need to know. And when you need to know it.
The light it needs. How much water. What temperature it survives. How big it will get. When it flowers. And whether this month there is something to do to that plant — beyond watering it.
Geranium 'Rozanne'
Hardy perennial · pot on the terrace
WATER
Medium
LIGHT
Full sun
HARDINESS
H7
FLOWERS
Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct
MATURE HEIGHT
30-50 cm
MATURE SPREAD
50-100 cm
also lives in Francesca's garden
Spot
Outdoor
Indoor
Tell us where the plant lives — its spot shapes the alerts you get. Greenhouse? It counts as indoors.
This month
Shorten over-extended, spent stems in midsummer to encourage a second summer–autumn flush.
WEATHER ALERTS
The weather where your plants actually are.
We tell you if extra water is needed because it will be too hot, if a plant should come indoors because this week's low puts that specific plant at risk, or if you can relax and enjoy your garden.
Extra water
Wednesday 34°. Dahlia 'Mister Frans' and the Hydrangea need an evening soak too.
Bring it indoors
Thursday night 4°: the Pelargonium won't take it. The rest are fine outside.
Nothing to worry about
Mild, rainy week. Nothing to do: enjoy the garden.
THE ADVICE
What to do this month. And what to do to your plants.
On one side the tips of the month, good for anyone with a garden. On the other, the jobs that concern only the plants you own: Talea lines them up in an activity calendar, every month.
TIPS FOR JULY
20 of 21 jobs done this month · Calendar ›
Water in the cool of morning or evening, aiming at the roots rather than the foliage.
Keep deadheading roses, sweet peas and perennials to keep flowers coming.
Feed tomatoes and other hungry container plants weekly.
Trim lavender lightly after flowering, and give wisteria its summer prune.
Watch for red spider mite in hot, dry conditions and powdery mildew where soil has dried out.
Support heavy-headed dahlias and tall perennials, vulnerable to summer storms.
Arrange watering cover if you're away, particularly for containers.
Harvest ready vegetables and soft fruit regularly to keep plants productive.
Activity calendar
Feeding
Give a second light feed to support repeat flowering.
Rosa 'The Pilgrim' ›
Give a second light feed after the first big flush.
Rosa 'The Generous Gardener' ›
Give a second light feed after the first main flowering.
Rosa 'Malvern Hills' ›
Apply a potassium-rich fertiliser every 2-3 weeks.
Dahlia 'Rhubarb and Custard' ›
Apply a potassium-rich fertiliser every 2-3 weeks while flowering.
Dahlia 'Mister Frans' ›
✓ Mark all
Watering
Staking & tying
Tie vigorous new shoots to the support to guide their growth.
Rosa 'The Generous Gardener' ›
Guide and fix new shoots to the supports without bending them too far.
Rosa 'Malvern Hills' ›
Add stakes if the plant grows in windy or very exposed spots.
Anemone × hybrida 'Königin Charlotte' ›
Add stakes if the stems are wind-exposed or unusually tall.
Anemone × hybrida 'Whirlwind' ›
✓ Mark all
Pest & disease checks
KEEP AN EYE ON
What to look out for this month.
The pests and diseases that do damage this month, and how to try to prevent or treat them — Talea tells you, drawing on its almanac.
Red spider mite
Fine speckled mottling on leaves and, in bad cases, fine webbing, worse in hot dry weather. Raise humidity around susceptible plants, hose foliage occasionally, isolate badly affected pot plants.
Powdery mildew
As June, more severe where drought stress has weakened plants. Water deeply and consistently; remove worst-affected leaves.
The almanac
Pests, techniques and the glossary, in one quiet place
Red spider mite
WHAT YOU SEE
Fine pale speckling (stippling) across leaves, and in heavy infestations, very fine webbing between leaves and stems.
WHEN & WHY
Thrives in hot, dry conditions, both outdoors in a hot summer and indoors in centrally-heated rooms; breeds fastest above roughly 25°C.
PREVENTION
Raise humidity around susceptible plants, avoid prolonged drought stress, damp down greenhouse floors in hot weather.
ACTIVE MONTHS
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
How to treat it
Two paths. Organic comes first — it usually gets you there.
ORGANIC — RECOMMENDED
Increase humidity and hose down foliage regularly, which this mite dislikes; a biological predatory mite, introduced into a greenhouse, gives excellent lasting control without any residue.
CHEMICAL — IF YOU CHOOSE
Chemical miticides are a last resort and increasingly limited for amateur use — raising humidity and introducing predatory mites usually solves the problem without needing them.
IN BLOOM
What is flowering now, and what will flower next month.
IN FLOWER NOW
Geranium 'Rozanne'
Cosmos atrosanguineus 'Chocamocha'
Dahlia 'Rhubarb and Custard'
Rosa 'The Generous Gardener'
Rosa 'The Pilgrim'
Rudbeckia hirta
+7 more
Collection ›
Coming in August: Anemone × hybrida 'Whirlwind', Anemone × hybrida 'Königin Charlotte' — Deadhead relentlessly to encourage repeat-flowering plants to keep going; feed dahlias to build towards their best late-summer display.
COMMUNITY
But Talea is more than that: it has a community spirit, and lives on it.
Your circle of gardening friends
See what plants the others have, ask advice about one specific plant, answer when it's your turn.
YOUR CIRCLE
FrancescaStrawberry Hill
1 in flower now
The cuttings you have spare
Offer them to your circle: it's easy and fun. That cutting keeps a record that it came from you — and if more cuttings are taken from it, you will watch it spread through the neighbourhood, the city and beyond. Talea keeps track of it in your Cuttings Passport.
From you→Anna→Marco→+4
Appoint your Garden Angel
A neighbour, a friend, someone you trust: they look after your garden while you are away. Talea generates and delivers them a detailed plan, built on your plants and on the weather forecast for your absence.
Mike the Gardener is your Garden Angel
Since July 28 · his emails are in Italian
AWAY · DAY 3 OF 4
July 28 – July 31
20 plants · 3 groups
THE WORK, IN ORDER
The pots outdoors — 1 plantevery day
The pots outdoors — 3 plantsevery 2 days
The plants in the ground — 13 plantsevery 3 days
He gets the plan by email the day before you leave, on a page he can open without installing anything.
Cards made from your own flowers
Use photos of your plants to send greetings, to say thank you for an evening, or for whatever you like. You choose the words.
Thank youWishesA flower for youJust because
Made on your device · shared where you choose.
YOUR PHOTOS
They stay on your phone. Always.
Photos matter and Talea knows it: add as many as you like, admire them in your collection, watch the plants grow, send them to friends as cards. But Talea is free, and cannot afford much storage: that is why photos stay on your phone, tablet or computer. Make a backup now and then — it is easy and safe.
Backup
Your photos live only on this device — this is the only way to move them to a new one, or keep a safety copy of everything.
Export backupImport backup
One file, on your device. No photos on our servers.
FREE
Talea is completely free, and will live thanks to its community.
Share it with your friends. Tell us how to make it better. And if you want to and can, help it with a donation, to cover the costs and let it grow.
Pass Talea on
Talea grows the way a garden grows: one cutting at a time. Send your link to someone who gardens.
No cuttings rooted yet
1 more to reach First root
Contribute to the project
Talea is free, but it does cost: it survives thanks to the support of the Community. No obligations — you choose how much and when, even a coffee now and then.
Support Talea ↗An idea for Talea
A feature you'd want, something in the way. I read everything and reply to almost nothing — the reading is the point.
A feature you'd want…THE KNOWLEDGE BASE
Everything we know about plants. Read it here, even without the app.
Care sheets, the almanac for this month, step-by-step guides and pests. The same knowledge Talea uses, written by hand for the British climate.
PLANTS245 care sheetsA to Z, in five sections: flowers, shrubs, houseplants, veg, herbs.Browse ›
ALMANAC · THIS MONTHSeptember in the gardenWhat to do this month, for the British climate.Read ›
GUIDES36 jobs explainedPruning, sowing, taking a cutting: step by step, with the mistake to avoid.Learn ›
PESTSPests and diseases42 sheets to recognise them. The organic remedy always comes first.Recognise ›