r/whatsthisplant vs r/gardening
Side-by-side using public descriptions, members, growth and rule titles from SubMouse. Missing fields show as n/a. Adult communities are excluded.
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Related to r/whatsthisplant
Related to r/gardening
Plant ID requests vs gardening discussion
r/whatsthisplant is for uploading photos of plants you want identified and helping others do the same. r/gardening frames guides, pictures and discussion of plants and their care more broadly.
In our directory, gardening is larger (about 9.0M, rank #85) than whatsthisplant (about 1.8M, rank #600). Activity samples show gardening posting more often (~112 posts/day vs ~32). whatsthisplant’s sample is image- and gallery-heavy with unidentified/identified flairs; gardening mixes galleries, images and text. Our directory lists each name among the other’s related communities. SubMouse already compares gardening with houseplants and homestead; this pair is specifically ID versus growing.
Rule titles: whatsthisplant requires ID posts and bans marketing and overly rude behavior; gardening bans advertising, abusive content and pointless reposts.
- Choose r/whatsthisplant when the post is “what plant is this?” with a clear photo.
- Choose r/gardening for growing, care, plots and broader plant discussion.
- gardening is inside the current Top 100; whatsthisplant opens via the info tool.
Written comparison based on public descriptions and rule titles · updated 2026-11-07.
r/whatsthisplant
What's This Plant
A community of plant enthusiasts where anyone can upload photos of plant(s) they would like identified. Everyone is encouraged to help each other identify plants.
- Members
- 1.8M
- 7-day growth
- +774
- Posts/day
- 32.3
- Directory rank
- #600
- Created
- May 21, 2011
- Submissions
- Text or links
Sample mix: galleries 57%, images 40%, text posts 3%
Topics: Houseplants
Rule titles (short names we collected)
- Posts must be about identification of one or more plants. (Mushrooms accepted too.)
- No marketing, advertising, soliciting or selling allowed.
- No being OVERLY rude, mean or antagonistic.
- No political argument/debates
Open r/whatsthisplant on SubMouse
r/gardening
Gardening, Plants, and Agriculture.
A place for the best guides, pictures, and discussions of all things related to plants and their care.
- Members
- 9M
- 7-day growth
- +2.1K
- Posts/day
- 111.5
- Directory rank
- #85
- Created
- Mar 20, 2008
- Submissions
- Text or links
Sample mix: images 40%, galleries 36%, text posts 20%
Topics: Gardening, Houseplants
Rule titles (short names we collected)
- No Advertising or Self-promotion
- No Reposting Unless it's for a Good Reason.
Open r/gardening on SubMouse
Supported differences
| Aspect | r/whatsthisplant | r/gardening |
|---|
| Public focus (from each community’s public description) |
A community of plant enthusiasts where anyone can upload photos of plant(s) they would like identified. Everyone is encouraged to help each other identify plants. |
A place for the best guides, pictures, and discussions of all things related to plants and their care. |
| Size r/gardening is larger in our directory (about 5×). |
1.8M members |
9M members |
| Posting activity (our sample) |
32.3/day |
111.5/day |
| Common post types in our sample |
galleries 57%, images 40%, text posts 3% |
images 40%, galleries 36%, text posts 20% |
| Topic tags on SubMouse |
Houseplants |
Gardening, Houseplants |
| Selected rule titles (short names we collected) |
Posts must be about identification of one or more plants. (Mushrooms accepted too.); No marketing, advertising, soliciting or selling allowed.; No being OVERLY rude, mean or antagonistic.; No political argument/debates |
No Advertising or Self-promotion; No Reposting Unless it's for a Good Reason. |
What they share
- Shared SubMouse topics: Houseplants
- Our directory lists each of these communities on the other’s related list.
Rules and posting patterns we can verify
whatsthisplant short titles: posts must be about identification of one or more plants (mushrooms accepted too); no marketing/advertising/soliciting/selling; no being overly rude, mean or antagonistic; no political argument/debates. Our sample flairs include unidentified and identified.
gardening: no advertising or self-promotion; family-friendly—no trolls, no abusive or sexual content; no reposting unless for a good reason.
Where this comparison comes from
Public descriptions and member counts from SubMouse’s safe-for-work directory. Short rule titles and activity samples SubMouse collected. Mutual related-list links. Short titles only. Related curated pages: gardening-vs-houseplants, homestead-vs-gardening.
Members and public descriptions come from SubMouse's safe-for-work directory (as of 2026-11-02 UTC); 7-day growth measured from 2026-10-26. Posts/day and post-type mixes appear when we have an activity sample. Rule lines are short titles, not the full sidebar. Directory rank is listing order — communities outside the current Top 100 open in the info tool instead of a full community page.