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Pomarium - About the Project

Inspiration

We kept bringing home plants with the best intentions, only to forget about them once the initial novelty wore off - especially in the early weeks, when growth is too slow to notice. Meanwhile, we spend hours a day on apps that use streaks and progress bars to keep us engaged. Pomarium borrows that same feedback loop, but points it at something real: instead of pulling us away from nature, it pulls us back toward it.

What it does

Pomarium turns caring for a real plant into a stage-by-stage journey - sprout, vegetative growth, flowering, fruiting. Each stage comes with tailored care tips (watering, sunlight, nutrients) from a friendly in-app gardener character. The catch: users can't skip ahead by tapping a button. To unlock the next stage, they upload a photo proving the plant actually got there, verified with AI. Digital progress only moves as fast as the real plant does.

How we built it

We prototyped the UI in Figma before settling on a warm, hand-drawn look. The app runs on a React frontend and an Express backend, with Firebase storing users and plants. Photo uploads are analyzed through the Gemini API to verify they match the claimed growth stage before unlocking progress. We deployed on Render and used Claude to help build and debug both ends of the stack.

Challenges we ran into

Getting photo verification to feel fair rather than arbitrary was the hardest part - the same species can look very different depending on lighting and angle. We also had to generalize our life-cycle model to fit very different timelines, from cacti that mature over months to crops that cycle through stages in weeks.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

A working end-to-end app: real accounts, a growing plant "nursery," and an AI-backed photo validation flow that ties in-app progress to real-world evidence - not timers or self-reported checkboxes. We're also proud of the cohesive, journal-like visual identity we landed on.

What we learned

We learned how much harder it is for a model to judge whether an image satisfies a condition than to just describe it, picked up a lot of species-specific plant care knowledge along the way, and got a better sense of how gamification mechanics can be redirected toward a healthy, offline habit instead of pure screen engagement.

What's next for Pomarium

Social gamification - a feed to share plant progress and get recognition from other users.
Automated diagnosis - visual AI to catch disease or nutrient deficiencies early.
Weather-aware notifications - care reminders that adjust to real local conditions.
Exportable health reports - per-plant growth history for individuals, schools, and reforestation projects.