For my outside garden I keep worksheets in excel.
The first sheet is name, common name size, and requirements of sun, water, evergreen/decidous, when put in, where bought, foliage color, flower color, flowering time, lowest temp tolerated, pruning.
Then another is diagram and placement in garden. I have too many types.
Then another for houseplants when last watered and fed. Since I underwater this is helpful.
Keeping it in excel is easy cuz you can always add another column.

Hi Mike,
Placing lables in pot is one way..Write the name of plant on one side, date on the other. Walgreen's sells water-proof markers..3 different colors. I bought the markers and labels for African Violets.

My favorite is the old-fashioned way. Notebook or Date journal.
Every year I buy a Plant Journal from Birds & Blooms magazine.
There are several sections to keep track of plants.
In one section, I write daily events, (diary)
In another section, I write down name of plant, where it was purchased, size, and date.
The first 12 pages list a monthly calandar. In this calandar are lists of plants in flower/bud/fruit, and dates plants are fertilized/ST'd. I love and enjoy working with this journal; it's great going back a few years to see which plants were purchased.

Worksheets, like Goblue suggested work fine, too. Toni

Imageshack :) That way, along with a written record, I have pictures to go with them. Right now I am documenting pictures by month, each in it's own folder.

You guys make me feel so lazy. I can live with it though. LOL I used to do that on excel. I would record when I watered, fertilized, etc. I haven't done that in almost 2 years though. Since then I've given away two-thirds of my plants, converted everything to hydroculture (or semi-hydroponics) and I use vf-11 in almost every watering. I'm living the underachieving plant lover's dream. Ah bliss... :-)

I tracked my plants maybe 10 yrs. ago, but the more plants one has this becomes a project in itself (at times I've had 180-200 plants so this really mattered). I decided I didn't want more paperwork or tracking projects, so I quit tracking them.

I keep ALL my info on plant labels, some of my older plants have 2 or even 3 plant tags. I list where I got it; if a cutting or not; whether I used rooting hormone or not; if it was water rooted (I grow some Hoyas); what kind of mix, or if my own. If a Sans or ZZ leaf, I note the date I first started it.

I'm a fan of the simpler, the better & personally would rather spend the energy growing the plants, not doing the record keeping.

I recently heard a great tip, to make TWO plant labels & stick one in the pot way down under the mix. That way if you lose the first one, which has happened to me w/ some older plants, when you repot, you'll find the other label down below.

Another tip, is to recycle venetian blinds (window blinds) as plant labels, just cut them up, write your info. on them (they take pencil very well) & stick them in your pots. I first learned this after I'd thrown out 3 sets of blinds.

DYMO labelers work wonders for the in soil labels, there is no ink to fade or wipw off. ;)

My record keeping consist of what it is, where it came from, and when/if it has bloomed. It gets a picture when it comes into my posession then if it's bloomed or done something spectacular. Other than that it's on it's own.

Awsome...

So far, great ideas!!

I have to think it out.
But I will tell you, I like the blinds idea, since I have many just sitting in my shed..

Thanks so much..:-)

Don't be afraid to keep the ideas coming..Nice

Hi, I also use the blinds to make labels for my plants. I put the Latin and common name, flower color, and date of last repot.

I also keep a list of all plants: Latin and common names, Family and other notes like where and when I got the plant and how much it cost.

I use a notebook to jot down this kind of info and then transfer it to my list (a computer file) from time to time.

Elsie

I keep my records in old fashioned paper in a plain black binder. I take a picture of the plant, then write when I got it, it's latin and common names, write a description, write down all its needs then I have a section following telling me all the details like pot size, how it's doing, when it was last transplanted and fed and if it's not doing well I write down what it's doing and what I'm doing to combat this and I can look back on the same plants if I've had them before to see what I did wrong so if I really liked a plant, I could try it again and know what not to do. I also take periodic pics of plants and put them in there to keep up to date with the plant and see how much it grows over a certain amount of time.

I used to keep my records on my computer but I've had so many comps crash on me or I just switch comps so often that I lose everything so a pen, some paper and a binder is perfect for me. Hasn't failed me yet.