Every so often a new invention comes along that makes you scratch your head and wonder how - and why - anyone came up with the idea in the first place. Whether or not Botanicalls falls into that category depends on just how serious you are about talking to your houseplants.

Botanicalls, a service dreamed up by some folks at New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program, first devised a way to get your plants call you when it's time to water them.

According to a post on WebWare, those same folks have now advanced the service to interact with your Twitter account. So, instead of calling you, the plant can now send you a Twitter post to let you when it's thirsty. Oh, it will also send a note of thanks once you've given it a drink.

As long as the plant doesn't start chatting with your Twitter friends about your plant-care habits...