Starting with a new garden here (and kinda new to gardening in this way in general) and I was lucky to be able to get A LOT of perennials from someone who was overhauling their garden.
However, I find myself identifying the same plants over and over because I forget their names or only remember their main name but don't know the variety.

Furthermore, this will be a 'trial by doing' type of gardening as I planted most of those plants we got not knowing what would come up or how they would end up looking. So I expect some re-planting once we see it all in full bloom. However, it's easy to look at it now, but when replanting season comes they won't be flowering anymore and still need to know what's what.

Of course I can take pictures, and perhaps annotate those. But I'm very curious IF and HOW you are keeping track of your plants and where they are in your garden.

Hi & welcome! You've come to the right place. You can make a free plant list on this site. Inside your list, you can add categories to help organize plants, like "in the back" or "to divide in the spring" or whatever your designations or to-do list might require.

To make your list, find each plant in the database:
https://garden.org/plants/

Once you have clicked on a plant, you will see an "add to list" button.

To access your list later, click on the person, upper right corner, select "your profile" and scroll down to click on your plant list.

If you want, you can look at my plant list to see the various categories I have. The "summer grounded" category helps me remember which plants I've put in the ground as part of the landscape while it's warm outside, and that I need to put those back in a pot or they will be killed if left outside all winter.
https://garden.org/lists/view/...

You can also add personalized notes for each plant.

For some cultivar plants, you may never be able to determine which cultivar you have. For those, you can add the species or genus to your list, and your notes can help remind you which plant you are tracking with those entries.

If you need a plant ID'd, you can put one or more pics of it in a new discussion in the "Plant ID" forum and somebody should recognize it.

Hope that helps you get started!

nik_a said:...I find myself identifying the same plants over and over because I forget their names or only remember their main name but don't know the variety...when replanting season comes they won't be flowering anymore and still need to know what's what.

For your purposes right now, I think just plant markers would suffice. Not saying that creating a personal database isn't a good idea, but when you are out in the garden and want to know what you're looking at, it's handy to have the name right there next to the plant. Especially good for dormant perennials lacking leaves and blooms. The downside is that plant markers can get lost or faded, but I find that by the time that happens I know what the plant is. Don't use the original nursery tag, make a duplicate and save the original for reference or until you record it somewhere.

Plant markers can be simple DIYs or manufactured in every material, shape, size and design. Google Plant markers and click images. Holy moly, way too many choices!

I like the markers idea, but holy moly, I'd be 90 by the time I got done filling some out and putting them next to all my plants.

That's not to say it's not a good idea, just may be something to consider if you have a lot of plants.

Agree, but got the impression Nik_a is just starting out and needs a method to ID the plants in the ground and for when they go dormant so they can be divided and moved. Unless they are in straight rows, I'd think describing their exact location in a free-form bed would be difficult in a database.

I'm curious about how other people keep track of everything, too. I just looked at your plant list to get an idea (don't bother looking for mine, don't have one). Lots of plants! In your shade garden you've got many hostas. Say someone visits and casually asks about a particular hosta, how do you know what it is without checking your online database? I know most species or at least genus of my plants, but can't always remember cultivars/varieties, especially if I plant several of one species.

And if you tell me you know the full ID of every plant you own I may never talk to you again

That's true. And they also may not have an area... quite defined yet other than "garden bed."

A lot of my Hostas are NOIDS (so I guess that makes it easier), but I do remember the cultivar names of everyone else. But, ask me to remember something actually important (I'll forget). I have a photographic memory I think. I could tell you who is where in each bed from memory (even if it's a NOID Hosta, I could describe it to you).

You should check out Purp's lists. :D

When I did a lot of herbaceous perennials in OH, I never did the "fall cleanup" thing. I left the debris there, so it was relatively easy to see where plants were, depending on the snow activity that particular winter. As plants start growing, remaining debris can be removed.

The best way I've used to store location info is taking lots of pics and using PAINT or similar program to write the names on them, And taking pics of individual plants and renaming the files from date/time stamps to plant names. Between logging plants into a database (which I used to do on a spreadsheet) and labeling pics, the names stick pretty well in memory.

Most of them are hard to remember, it's understandable that not everyone would be interested to that level. Some people give plants people names of their own choosing, like, of course, Audrey. Or you could call them 1, 2, 3, etc... You get to decide, they're your plants.

"They're" going to change the names of your plants every few years anyway, don't get too attached, or get used to ignoring that stuff. : ) The names don't matter as long as you are enjoying your plants and gardening efforts. Many people have incredible gardens and have no idea what the "real" names of their plants are, or call some of them by wrong names. For 15 yrs I thought I had a Caladium but it was a Syngonium. Color pics on the internet are much more helpful. "A rose by any other name..., right? The plants don't care at all as long as they get a drink when thirsty.

And if you end up with something tall at the front blocking the view of 5 other plants, the names also don't matter while you're moving them around... : )

And there's nothing wrong with forgetting. I went on vacay for 10 days and had no idea where my potted porch plants were (out where they could get rained on) until I walked around to remind myself and see how they did without me. Ground plants aren't that tricky! LOL!

I don't collect any cultivar plants, generally, so that probably makes it easier. I buy plants with cultivar names sometimes, not because they are a cultivar, but because I liked it and it looked different enough from what I already have. I started down that road with Hostas, realized I couldn't remember the names without some kind of list or map, and gave up on buying new ones just because the name was different and started a new personal rule. I had to be able to convince myself I just needed more at the time or I could really see a difference.

I still call certain plants certain things. People correct me, but I remember the old names and remember what they are.

Thanks for the suggestions. The plant list on this platform is something I was looking for.
it might be me, but tagging the plants is something I never really liked. I get that it's really helpful, I just can't shed the association or feeling with a commercial gardening center and feel like all my plants are up for sale ;)

Identification works quite ok up till now with the app PlantNet. Using that a lot on the flowers and bigger leaves. But if things are just coming up it's more difficult. So that's why I also kinda need to keep track a bit of the layout.

Maybe I need to invite my friend and his drone to take some pictures from above from time to time and label those.... ;)

Nik, I keep a somewhat simple garden journal. just a dollar store composition book. i find it extremely helpful to tape the plants tag in the journal-that is if you get a plant with a tag. i have a photo memory as well. as for the names of all..hm. if you go back to the "ALL THINGS GARDENING THREAD" I mentioned how to take care of the rose campion. take picture, take notes and keep records-make drawings. it all helps. plus ask questions here!

Bbq squiers and nail polish!

Best thing I've ever done to keep track, in addition to taking pictures is buy 100 packs of bamboo bbq squers then color code by swiping the top inch with various nail polishs. My tulips have been dormant for 8 weeks, and now theres inpatients and coleus in thier bed, but I know where every yellow pink , red tulip and hyacinth bulb lives to the inch because they are marked with colored stakes

The only way to remember the names, and all the other important stuff is write them down... keep a database, be it a paper note book or e-document.

It's a great idea, because You also want to document when they emerge, when they bloom and when they go dormant. . For example, my oriental poppies come up and bloom early, but by now they're going dormant from the heat. Over their heads is a GIANT yellow trumpet vine, so what had been full sun is now dense shade. The poppies wont care because they're dormant, but the peonies next to them, that bloomed well before the trumpet created shade are still green might not like like the late season full shade. Depending on the peony bloom outcome next year I might decide to move them, but only if I have a timeline to refer back to.
One great thing you can do is share details here on the forum as a way to inform other gardeners , log your personal experience, get great advice and have a record you can return to in future years.