Amazon Alexa just gave plant lovers a neat free boost

The brand has teamed up with leading botanist, James Wong, to offer real time plant care advice from your smart speaker

Jason Wong with the Amazon Alexa plant care update
(Image credit: Amazon)
Quick Summary

Plant lovers will be rejoicing at a new suite of Amazon Alexa functions.

Those use questions and routines to make life easier for plant parents, and should help to keep your potted pals alive.

If you're a plant lover, you'll likely already know how temperamental they can be. Each variety has different needs, and keeping on top of that can prove to be a mammoth task.

Fortunately, there's now a solution thanks to your Amazon Alexa enabled smart speaker. After teaming up with leading botanist, James Wong, the brand has unveiled a new suite of features to help users keep their green friends alive.

For starters, there's a massive range of questions which users can now ask their Alexa-enabled device. That covers a range of the most popular plants owned by individuals, with a few of the most commonly asked questions per plant.

That's not all, though. Users can also take part in a new routine to help them with their plant maintenance. The routine makes use of existing smart home products – like smart thermostats and smart lighting – to automate some of your care schedule.

That includes a reminder to check in on or water your plants, turn on your lights, turn on your heating to achieve the optimal conditions for your indoor jungle and more. I'm not sure whispering a positive plant affirmation or playing plant-friendly music will have quite the same effect. But hey, who am I to question?

All in all, it's a nifty free upgrade for plant lovers. The integration is simple, but effective, and should make it easier than ever for novice plant parents to get answers to some of the most commonly asked questions.

The routine function is also pretty nifty. While I'm not convinced that every step is entirely necessary, being able to remind users about key things like watering plants on schedule and using a smart device to create the right temperature for your floral decorations is a really great use of your Amazon Echo or other compatible device.

Users should have access to the new features from today.

Sam Cross
Staff Writer

Online news writer at T3.com, Sam has five years of experience in online and print journalism, with work featured in publications like Metro and Last Word on Sports. After years writing about music and football, Sam now turns his hand to bringing you news about new phones, smart home products, smart watches, laptops and TVs. Sam is a longtime fan and user of Apple products, including iPhones, MacBooks and Apple Watches.He’s also T3’s resident football expert, bringing you everything you need to know about the big games, including how to watch them. In his spare time, Sam is a keen guitarist, watch lover and (very) amateur golfer.