A Thoughtful Approach to Building a Living Plant Catalog with AI and WordPress

For years, growing plants has been something I genuinely enjoy—starting in Baltimore and continuing in South Florida. Over time, my collection grew, but it was never formally documented. As I prepared for a move to Canada, I saw an opportunity to change that. I didn’t just want to bring my plants with me—I wanted a clear record of each one, where it came from, and what it meant to me.

My goal was to create a searchable plant catalog that captures each plant’s genus, attributes, and journey—something I could revisit, share with others, and continue building over time. As I met people who adopted my plants, I also wanted to document where they went and who welcomed them into their own spaces—a living system shaped by both data and connection.

That idea became Sansefuria.com (name is a a blend of Sansevieria and Furiosa), built using WordPress and WooCommerce, with AI-assisted development shaping both the structure and workflow.

From there, the process became clear—turning a personal collection into a structured, usable system. Let’s walk through how it all came together.

Organizing the Inventory

First, I went through every plant I owned, sorting and grouping them while deciding what to keep and what to let go. Preparing for a move to Canada forced me to be selective—I couldn’t bring everything, so I focused on keeping unique specimens and plants that would be difficult to find there. This process gave me a clear understanding of my collection and a strong foundation to document it with purpose through photography, video, and proper identification.

Building the Digital Catalog

EEach plant became its own entry, with key details like genus, story, and care. I organized them into categories and collections, designing the catalog to be non-linear—so it can be explored from multiple entry points. Whether browsing by collection or category, each path leads to meaningful information and connections between plants.

The goal was to make the catalog feel interactive and natural to move through, no matter where you start.

This allowed me to:

• Organize each plant clearly
• Group plants in meaningful ways
• Navigate the collection without friction

With the basic system in place, the next step was to catalog each plant as a structured data point with multiple attributes.

AI Workflow

AI was pivotal in making this project possible—especially within the five-month timeline I set for myself. To complete it, I had to fully utilize AI across the entire workflow, combining my years of conventional experience with newer AI-assisted approaches.

Rather than replacing the process, AI enhanced it. It allowed me to move faster, stay consistent, and execute across multiple areas at once—from content, web development to video and organization. What would typically require a small team became something I could manage on my own, with AI acting as a practical and reliable assistant throughout.

Content and Article

A large part of the project involved writing—both for individual plant entries and supporting articles. To keep everything consistent and concise, I created a custom AI agent to assist with the process. I first defined a clear structure and tone for the site, then used AI to generate and refine content so it remained easy to read and aligned across all entries.

AI supported this process by:

• Drafting and refining plant descriptions
• Maintaining a consistent tone across entries
• Assisting with long-form article creation
• Improving clarity without overcomplicating the writing

This approach made it possible to scale content while maintaining a consistent voice—from blurbs to headlines to full articles. It also allowed me to stay focused on the bigger picture, such as structure and organization, while building supporting content that connects back to the catalog and creates a more complete experience.

If you’re curious how these entries come together, you can browse the articles here:
https://sansefuria.com/article/

Video Creation

I wanted to add a visual layer to the project, so I began creating videos of my plants—both for personal documentation and to share on YouTube and Facebook Marketplace. I had experience using a more traditional production setup, but once I shifted to a mobile-first approach, everything changed. Instead of using my Canon R8 and a full production workflow, I recorded everything on my iPhone 15 Pro and built the process around speed and simplicity.

AI supported this process by:

• Speeding up video editing and post-production
• Music creation (Luminkai on Spotify)
• Helping turn raw footage into short-form and long-form content quickly

The difference was immediate. What used to take significant time became incredibly fast—almost lightning speed. The production efficiency was honestly surprising, and it completely changed how I think about creating video. I no longer feel the need to go back to a heavier setup. This approach made it easy to stay consistent, document my plants, and share content without slowing down the overall workflow.

You can see some of these videos here: https://www.youtube.com/@sansefuria

AI-Assisted Web Dev

On the development side, I approached the project with a focus on efficiency, flexibility, and purpose. In the past, I relied more on pre-built plugins or spent more time troubleshooting manually. With AI integrated into the workflow, the process became faster and more direct. Instead of overbuilding, I focused on solving exactly what was needed—moving quickly, testing ideas, and refining solutions without getting stuck in long development cycles. It fundamentally shifted how I approach building.

AI supported this process by:

• Generating targeted PHP snippets for WooCommerce
• Modifying how data is displayed and structured
• Helping troubleshoot issues quickly
• Reducing reliance on paid plugins

I also documented and organized these solutions in my GitHub repository, which you can view here: https://github.com/jsohndata?tab=repositories&q=wooCommerce

Plant Identification

Not every plant in my collection was something I could immediately identify in detail. In the past, this meant going through multiple websites, cross-checking sources, and confirming accuracy—a slow and often laborious process. With AI, this became much more direct. I could simply photograph a plant, upload it to tools like GPT and Gemini, and use their agreement as a form of double confirmation before moving forward. This approach significantly sped up the process while maintaining accuracy, and it often revealed additional details about the plants that I wouldn’t have easily found otherwise.

Building Connections Through Sales

As I reduced my collection, Facebook Marketplace became part of the process. What started as a practical step—selling plants I couldn’t bring with me—quickly became something more meaningful. I connected with people, had real conversations, and built a reputation as a reliable, top-rated seller with strong reviews and repeat interest. Along the way, I began documenting where each plant went—who received it and the interaction behind it—turning the site into a record of shared experiences. Over time, the human connections became just as meaningful as the plants themselves.

You can explore the people who have welcomed these plants into their homes here: https://sansefuria.com/plant-lovers

You can also see what others have said about their experience through my Facebook Marketplace reviews: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/profile/611922628/

Performance and Optimization

I focused on keeping the site lightweight and responsive, especially for mobile users, so the experience feels fast and easy to navigate.

In practice, this made a noticeable difference. When I shared the site during plant sales, the speed and clarity helped build trust and credibility. People could quickly browse, understand the plants, and engage with the stories without friction—making the sales process smoother and more confident.

The site was built with:

• A CDN for faster global content delivery
• Server-side and browser caching to reduce load times
• File optimization (minification and compression)
• Image optimization for efficient loading
• A WordPress multisite setup for structured scalability

Performance testing reflected this approach.

Metric	Mobile	Desktop
Performance Score	96	100
Accessibility	97	97
Best Practices	100	100
SEO	100	100
First Contentful Paint	1.4s	0.4s
Largest Contentful Paint	2.7s	0.6s
Total Blocking Time	0 ms	0 ms
Speed Index	2.4s	0.7s
Cumulative Layout Shift	0.001	0.001

Google PageSpeed Insights: https://pagespeed.web.dev/analysis/https-sansefuria-com/lkfmke6iak?form_factor=mobile

Bringing It All Together

What stood out most from this process was experiencing the full lifecycle of the project—from its initial idea to build, and now into ongoing maintenance. This is something I had wanted to do for years, and I’m glad I did it now with the support of AI. Without it, I likely would have created a simple catalog—more like a listing. Instead, AI made it possible to go deeper and build something structured, scalable, and meaningful. In many agency roles, I’ve either managed projects or contributed as part of a larger team. This was different—it was a full, hands-on experience across the entire production cycle, from preparation and system design to content, development, and delivery. It’s a workflow I plan to continue refining and applying to future projects.

What had the most lasting impact, though, was the people. During plant sales, I noticed that many people were asking the same questions—about lighting, care, and how I maintained my plants. Instead of replying with the same message each time, I began turning those questions into articles that lived on the site. When similar questions came up, I would simply share the link. Some of the most shared pieces were around indoor grow lights and how I use starch water as a gentle fertilizer. People appreciated having something they could revisit, and it allowed each interaction to become a lasting, reusable resource.

Sources and Further Reading

• Sansefuria – Bespoke Plants Grown with Love and Care
• Sansefuria – YouTube Channel
• Facebook Marketplace Profile
• Google PageSpeed Insight for Sansefuria.com