HERE’S what to do with your plant labels, since Amy asked. They belong, as she correctly noted, NOT in the frickin’ garden, but in your garden book, which I know you all have because you’re serious gardeners. Now in the unlikely event that I’m wrong about your garden books, I’ll wax rhapsodic for a while about my own, if you don’t mind.
Picture me, if you will, showing people around my garden. They ask about a plant and I can tell them exactly what it is and they can go buy one of their own. Visitors love it when gardeners can do that! Or if I want one more of something, I can buy one more of the same plant because I know what it is. See how this works? When someone asks how fast a plant grows I can tell them oh, I bought it in 2002, so there you see three years of growth. Again, nifty information to have at your fingertips. Same goes for where I bought a plant or whether the nursery thinks it’s drought-tolerant or not. See, it’s all there in the book.
How it works is real simple. I make a page for each plant that’s currently in the garden and I tape the label to it, then write down the date of acquisition and the source. If there’s no label I write what I know about the plant, from whatever source. I have a tab for annuals, perennials, shrubs and trees. If I’m super busy, I just tuck the label in the book until I have more time – like winter.
Now at the risk of seeming a tad compulsive, maybe a Myers-Briggs type J (guilty as charged), I’ll mention in passing that I also have binders for bulbs, for plans, and for miscellaneous gardening information. But please, readers, don’t hate me because I’m organized.
I don’t hate you for being organized, but I am a little “green” with envy over the information you have in your books. I just tack all my plant tags up on a bulletin board in the garage. I also have spreadsheets with seed lists for each year, and I record a few notes in a 10 year garden journal. (I am on year 6). But all this seems scattered and haphazard compared to your system. I am a “J” as well!