Have you ever bought multiples of a plant and then have one die and when you go to buy a replacement plant you can't remember which color you need to buy? This happened to me so many times that I decided to do something about it.
I bought several empty thick binders (you might be lucky and already have a few around the house) and those plastic pages that store baseball cards. The plastic pages can be purchased on eBay and Amazon and the binders can be found everywhere from drugstores, office supply stores, and online.
Look for binders that have pockets inside the front and back covers. These large pockets are perfect for the large cardboard identification tags found on bags of bulbs.
If you are like me, then you might need several binders. I have three binders. One for hostas, one for perennial plants, and one for trees and shrubs.
The plant tag goes into the sleeve where you normally insert the baseball card. You may need to trim off the bottom or sides of the plant tag to make it fit, just make sure that you do not cut off any important info. You now have a record of that plant and what variety you purchased, along with watering, sun info, and probably a photo of the plant.
My number 1 tip is buy a lot of those plastic pages. You will use more than you think. Trust me. I learned the hard way and not only reordered once but twice.
In the spring if there is a plant that has died and I decide to go with a different plant then I remove the old tag and insert the new tag.
Having a binder, or in my case binders, comes in handy during the winter when you want to shop the seed and bulbs catalogs. It is easier to see what colors you already have in your garden. Also, by reading the tags you can find out when your garden is lacking blooms. In my case, I need early and late bloomers that are high in nectar for the honeybees. The warm weather is lasting longer into the fall and longer than my flowers are currently blooming. So I need something for my honeybees to forage on without going to their honey reserves too soon.
I, also, need flowers in late winter/early spring and may need to plant some Lenten Roses (Helleborus). They bloom at the end of the winter, they are deer resistant, and are drought resistant. I need to find out if they can survive by my black walnut trees because the plants are rather pricey to just buy and see what happens.
This binder method is a very economical way to organize your plant tags. The next time a friend asks you "what is the name of that flower" you can say "just a minute and I can tell you exactly what that plant is called and the exact color name."
Reuse Repurpose Recycle
FYI The last time I counted my hostas I had over 300 different varieties and since that time I have purchased at least 100 more varieties. That's a whole lotta hostas.
