Hi, Jan.

I asked the same question not long ago, and so I reference that thread below, and suggest also that you go to the bottom of the HOSTA FORUM screen (where all the names of the posts are listed), and seek out the blank space for "Search", just for this forum. Put in the word "record keeping" and you will get a bunch of hits from older threads too.

Enjoy the reading. Setting up your records will help pass the long winter season.

Here is a link that might be useful: Record Keeping thread Hosta Forum

After reading this forum I am now primed to count eyes, measure leaves, record photos -- all things I didn't know that people did

==>>> explain to me why it is important ....????

of what use is the info ????

and but for the few peeps here.. who in heck is going to care ... are you going to track down the red hat ladies.. and show off??? ...

and.. a digital camera is better than maps ... but since you wont learn the dB on your computer.. i doubt you will learn how to edit pix ... lol ..

other than an alpha name list.. so you dont buy duplicates.. is see no real need for any further info ...

i wonder if i said that at the link ....

ken

I group them also by looks, like all greens with yellow border, etc. Then you will notice that you have quite a few duplicates by looks (from 10 or 20 ft away), though they have different names.
Bernd

Hi Moccasin -- been there done that, but I can't really find much about PAPER records. Somewhere (perhaps on another forum??) I saw a form that someone used to record hosta information, but I didn't know then that I wanted to do that, and I can't find it now.

And ken -- oh ken, I do many many things that are neither important or of much use, they are simply way more fun and interesting than cleaning, cooking.....
Before starting to read this forum I didn't know about growth habits of hostas, or the amazing differences in mature size, or of the many years some varieties can take to get there. I find it really interesting, and keeping track would be fun. With more than a foot of snow in my yard I am really missing my morning "walkabout", so messing about with records may help the withdrawal symptoms.
Jan

Sigh. I used to try to keep track, wrote down everything, every name, etc in my journal, drew diagrams of the garden so I knew where they all were. Then the collection began to grow, new beds got made, plants got moved around, and somewhere along the line good intentions got left behind. I still keep track of all the new hostas I acquire, and I cross off the list the ones that died, if I remember. But it's getting to be a mystery where they all are, now, and there are some mature "seedlings" to further confuse the issue.

I give up. Maybe someday in the future I'll go around with my trusty notepad and draw new diagrams, but I won't hold my breath. These days all I do is make sure everything gets a label when I plant something, so when I see it, I know what it is!

I guess if I had a small defined garden it would be easy, but mine is a wooded acre. I also don't do any hybridizing where records would be necessary.

I envy you your meticulousness, but I these days I would rather be playing in the garden than slaving over spread sheets!

Sandy

Sandy -- I envy you your space! My collection won't grow too much past 50 in my available space, so drawing maps is a piece of cake, and deaths or moves are easily recorded with a pencil and eraser. And I would rather be playing in the garden too, but April seems a long way away!
Jan

Jan, mine is upwards of 600 plants now. Lots of duplicates but all considered, somewhere around 400 varieties. I do know all their names, I just have trouble remembering where they live! Heck, I can't even remember where I put my cell phone or my keys! (Or the jacket I shucked when it got warm....lets see, down by the apple tree, or maybe hanging on the potting bench?????)

I guess I am more into that they are all pretty than caring too much about their growth records.

Happy gardening, spring will be here soon! (Maybe tomorrow, it was 70 degrees here today!)

Sandy

Jan,you said in another post that I know exactly how many hostas I have. Well,compared to others here,I am just a pretender,but I do keep track of the new hostas I get each year,by recording them in a book. I don't have any trouble remembering where my plants are,because I recognize them by their appearance. Now if I had as many as Ken,that would be a different story! Lol! Seriously,I don't keep really accurate records,but,as Ken says,who would care? I put new name tags on new hostas when I get them,but if the tags got lost I would still remember their names. Is that as clear as mud? Phil

Jan-again I began like you. I have some artistic ability so I purchased a small sketch book. On page 1 I sketched a garden. Then I numbered each page and developed an index which was on page 2. Each hosta was given a numeric ID and a page number. Then I drew in pen and ink and coloed in pencil. This was befoe I had a camera.

Too much info to keep up this way. Plus a daughter gave me a digital camera for Christmas. I still used the numeric listing with an alpha cross reference.

Eventually, tired of creating new data sheets manually for each hosta or change in their development, i simply made my own spread sheet suing college lined paper and making my own lined columnns. One of these template created "spread sheets" listed all of my hosta numerically and for each as much standardized info I could find such as mound height, width, leaf length, width, vein pairs, scape height, bloom color and comments. I used blank templates to generate the corresponding info on my own plants. In this manner I uncovered about 5 of my 30 plants at the time were mislabeled by the retailer or growers staff.

If kwn wants to trust those little tags that come with the plant, that is his choice but I am like you, I find more fun adding fussing over my hostas than just doing yardwork and saying "Ooo-isn't that pretty". You have to forgive ken-he consistently is who he is!".

When I became minimally proficient in usong ms Excell I created a computer generated template the same as my hand drawn one. When my body clock tells me it is time to go out into my gardens with measuringg tape, clipboard, gauge strip for pics, and camera I simply print out some empty sheets and have at it. I love it all - so ther ken!

Enjoy. It really is a painless experience. Ir ia nor likwly I will ever become as proficient with the camera as many of the peeps here at Hosta Forum but it will be fun working at it. You probably will also, if your attitude reflects you desire.

enjoy everything you can - Les

ps: I keep an annual log which lists my purchases and memorial services (lol) when I bury one in my compost "cemetery". Ken just throws his on his driveway (lol)

Jan, things with hostas are often in flux. It changes. With your 50 hostas you could manage well with paper and pencil. But I have now about 250 perhaps with duplicates, and I like my MS Excel table with characteristics of all my cultivars and other Excel sheets in which I type things like which chemicals I use and my gardening plan for 2012. My Excel sheets have simplified my hosta hobby.

I also have a table which serves as a map of my garden, which is actually a grid with its squares containing abbreviations of hostas. Last year I put 200 or so markers in front of hostas and noticed that it was really difficult to rake around those markers. So I might use only the Excel map in the future.

Bernd

When I'm not gardening, I design relational databases in Microsoft Access. If you're serious about tracking your hostas, that's what you'd have to use. To explain, I'll use the example of June. I have three Junes in my garden because I like it so much. In order to track the information you're talking about -- eye count, especially -- you'd need a relational database with at least three levels of entries.

The name and an ID number would be Level 1.

Level 2 would be the location (each of the three Junes would have a separate entry), source (whether purchased or divided), price, size, color (hostas with different amounts of light and water have very different size and color).

Level 3 would be eye count by year.

I wouldn't design databases unless I really liked them, but even I think that tracking that much information about hostas is way too OCD-ish.

I'll stick with my list (name, supplier, price, date purchased, notes) and a pencil drawn map on graph paper that allows me to erase and replace hostas as I move them. Nance

Thanks to so many of you for passing on your words of wisdom! (Les -- your sketch book sounds charming, and hosta growing would be a great hobby to pair with painting/drawing.) No OCD here -- I simply have few enough that I can remember them all. Labelling assorted plants in the past was a weak endeavour since the labels just broke or got trampled or raked out or succumbed to winter weather. Jan

Jan-I paint rocks I collect from a nearby river green, paint names on them in black or white and set them near the appropriate hosta. By spring clean-up I can't rake them out of place no matter how hard I try. Nothing better than the real thing is there?
Even as bleak as our winter has been I can walk my gardens in January and see which hosta will be coming up exactly where in a couple of months. It all depends on how you like spending your time the most.

Les