Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Plant Labeling

Labeling this a heuchera is as useful as labeling it a "plant".  Too, these tags are offensive.

One of the things I do not have my hands completely wrapped around in my own garden is labeling.  I did spend a part of the long cold night of winter making in excess of 300 plant tags for some of the major plants in my small garden.  I still do not have the wire stake cut and holes punched in each tag.

This could be a nightmare come the garden walk as even the Master Gardeners have found it difficult to identify a surprisingly large number of the plants in my yard.

Dr. Darrel Apps and I are of the opinion tags should not be seen.  I am also of the opinion they are usually in the way.  I (and Darrel) tend to bury them at the back of the plant.  In my case, I do mean bury.

This is not helpful to to the plant collecting virgins out there.

Neither is mis-identifying plants.

This plant was blooming June 30, 2013. 

Clearly, a clematis, it's flower is clearly off from Sweet Autumn.  The stalks were not vine-like.  Stalks is a more appropriate word, too.  Although the gardener thinks she has a clematis 'Sweet Autumn' and the leaf appears "right"  I doubt her identification

I had never heard this common name for Petasites japonicus, which leads to the point about common names.


Obviously a dicentra, but a tag would be nice, especially as this is most likely a selected cultivar, especially as there seems to be two different species of dicentra in this picture.

Yes, I know it is a foxglove, but which one.  The gardener couldn't even tell me if it was truly perennial of just reseeding itself.  The flower had no hint of spots and the leaf was smooth with a central vein.

For my own garden walk, I will be around to answer question.  I am also sure, too, that I will have that uncomfortable brain fart-- where I could tell you every minute detail about a plant's horticultural requirements and forget its name.

Anybody have a good system out there?

1 comment:

  1. Would you consider a handout listing plants that are in bloom, and/or putting cut flowers in bottles on a table with labels? I think that foxglove is D. ambigua, a perennial.

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