From the wild and wacky files, Botanicalls.com has developed an interesting application that leverages Asterisk to have plants call their plant caretakers if they are thirsty or hot or cold. For instance, when a plant gets thirsty it initiates a call over the Asterisk system and plays a message.

In the demonstration video the ivy plant calls the "scientist" and says, "Hi this is the ivy, I'm desperately in need of a drink. Do you think you can find it in your heart to maybe water me a little?"

You can even call your plant to show how much you care and the plant will tell you its status and a little bit about itself. Boy, people already have unhealthy relationships by spending way too much time with their gardens and plants. Gardening can be a fun hobby if you don't go overboard. I dunno bout you, but I'm thinking that calling your plants is straddling that line blew right past that line.

And another thing - what's up with using a high-tech open-source phone system like Asterisk in their video demo but using it along side an antique touch-tone phone that looks like it goes back to the 1970s? i.e.:


(Yes I see the Lucent logo and I know Lucent didn't exist in the 1970s) Finally, below is the architecture of this wacky use of Asterisk to monitor your plant's health and to help build a relationship between you and your plants. Just don't blame me if you start spending more time communicating with your plants than your spouse!