Perennial Flowers and Record Keeping

Some random thoughts about perennial flowers and record-keeping. I got a few comments – on and off-list about my latest blog post so here are the answers.

Do I keep records? Sort of. I keep records of trial plants so I know what’s going on with that plant. I’ll show you the system next spring as I set it up again – basically a cedar stake for each plant with plant data written on it in pencil. This lasts several years and by then, I’ve either killed it, loved it and written about it or moved it into the main garden (or compost pile). The stakes are then sanded down and reused. Simple and elegant.

How do I know the names of plants? Hmmm, here’s the honest answer. It’s like your kids. You know the names but sometimes you can’t quite place which one is which. (and yeah, my kids already know I have to run down the list of names sometimes to pick out which is which – one of the ‘rents more endearing qualities I like to think when you have 4 wonderful kids he says covering his butt)

But if a plant is good enough – I remember its name (it’s my business). If I can’t remember a plant name – then it’s not that great. And yes, I forget names (not my kids though) here and there when it comes to varieties. We once ran a trial in the nursery with Heuchera and one of the guys brought in a sample of all the Heuchera leaves. Nobody could identify all of them (these are professional plants-people who live and grow these plants) and many were indistinguishable. (particularly the reds) So I don’t feel badly about this.

Wouldn’t it be better to keep written records or some form of plant diary. Darn right it would and I’d really suggest you do it. Me? I’m genetically unorganized and have to figure out systems (like my trial bed staking system) to get me through. Writing a diary is a one-day event for me (I’ll write it one day and then tuck it away in a safe place so I can find it again – someday).

How can you tell visitors to your garden what the plants are? I solve this by not having visitors to my developing gardens other than friends who don’t talk about gardening.

But let me highlight one dirty little secret in the horticultural world along these lines. There is a kind of gardener who delights in “knowing” the names of everything and equally delights in “telling” you those names. It’s like a game. “I know it but you don’t. I have it and you don’t”. And rhyming all those latin names off in incomprehensible strings of sheer delight. So, it’s my business to know the Latin and it’s my business to be able to communicate those things to you but I don’t make it an obsession in my own garden. I like to think it’s a question of degree – yes, I’ll tell you that Latin but I’ll also be able to tell you the common name. And if you’re a friend, I may not be able to tell you the variety name but when I dig up a chunk to share with you, we’ll both discover the name.

You see, I plant the plant-tags along with the plant so I can always find out what it was when it dies. The tags are always placed in the front of the plant and buried in the soil so they don’t show. This way the sun doesn’t degrade them and they’ll last for years. Mind you, sometimes when the perennial grows really well, it “eats” the tag (but it’s still there)

So in answer to your questions – bottom line. I garden. I write about new plants and review them but once they’re in my garden, I simply love them for what they are – and I really don’t care what the name is. It either works – or it doesn’t. I do remember many of the variety names but for me, it’s a garden and not a memory contest. I love to grow new plants and I do record those for my writing purposes but really, I’m a gardener and plantsguy first – and a compulsive record keeper of plants- not at all.