How do you identify your young plants?

20 years ago

Hi! Each year, I have the same problem: I don't know what is what until it starts to bloom, or matures. How do you discern what is what in your garden, early on?

Also, is there a good guide that tells when to expect to see seedlings and young plants?

One last note: I posted a question in the seed propagation forums. I thought those who have/had wildflower gardens could help out, as well :) The location is: http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/post.cgi

Thanks :)

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (6)

cjlambert
20 years ago
Here are a couple of sites I've found helpful. The first is from the UK, but they do have a fairly extensive collection of seedling pics. The other site is a little closer to home, and deals with mainly NA natives. Aside from that, just being familiar with what's out there helps. After a couple of years, you learn what's a keeper, and what's not. You never know what might turn up.
Hope this helps.
Carol

http://theseedsite.co.uk/seedpods.html
http://mdc.mo.gov/grownative/plantID/
waplummer
20 years ago
Experience is the best teacher!
Related Discussions
'Staging' your plantings - how do you do it for containers?
Q
Comments (7)
OOS - it's cool to find someone else interested in gardening in So. Westchester. I find remarkably few people garden in the area. What's your favorite nursery around here? I like Nabel's in Mamaroneck. Putting plants together in a container is like flower arranging with a moving target - how can I economically and easily keep a series of mixed containers in continuous display? Maybe I'm over-thinking this (it wouldn't be the first time), but I practice intensive cultivation on my vegetable beds, why not in my containers? My interest in mixing annuals and perennials is in part because I bought a bunch of dwarf bulbs on sale and need to justify it to my wife ("it's an investment, sweetheart!") and because I enjoy seed starting annuals and need a new project once everything's planted in the veg garden. Redneck and Gary, I think what you do is closer to my goals than the style OOS uses, since I'm interested in a mix of plants in a series of larger planters (although OOS's backyard filled with a variety of individual containers is maybe the same thing on a larger scale). But you're both from more temperate zones - I don't even think about winter for my outdoor containers (although maybe I can overwinter some ivies and such in the house). I love the idea Redneck proposes of using ferns (I love ferns but haven't ever grown them), but most of my containers are in full sun so they would probably bake. BTW, yes, they are dwarf cannas. I guess utlimately what the original post was trying to ask is whether the best way to maintain a larger mixed container is to plant it up all in one go with enough foresight that it looks good for 4-6 months or whether you should constantly be moving new plants in and out as I do in my veg beds. And if you're going to move new plants in and out, do you start in a series of smaller containers and move them to new containers when they're at their peak? With either approach, what plants work well? It's interesting that everyone named perennials for the most part - I had envisioned more reliance on annuals. I'm going to follow up with a separate post asking for ideas for good container annuals started from seed...
...See More
How do you plant your trees ? Do you excavate 'luxury pits' ?
Q
Comments (20)
Quite a nice bit on that -- hammer drill? When I first started doing gardening here, I spent $100 (with discounts and coupons) on the lowest quality Harbor Freight demolition hammer (like a mini jack hammer, but can be hand held). It acts a little funny (won't engage easily sometimes) but I've put many hours on that thing and it was WELL worth it as renting one would've been $70 for the day. It tears apart the rock-hard hard pan. My hard pan cannot be broken with a pick axe; the first time I tried was hilarious. I had padded gloves, safety gear, lifted the axe overhead and let loose a full-body powered swing onto the pan (I love to chop wood and I've broken up sidewalk with a sledge and pick, so I know how to "power chop"). Well, my attempt was less than successful as there was a loud CLANG and with it a giant spark! The smallest little dent was made the size of a dime. My boys laughed as I put the axe down and tried to get feeling back into my still vibrating hands for the next couple minutes. Felt like I was in a Looney Tune cartoon. This picture is a section that was breaking off in chunks. The piece in my hand it turned over -- the pan to the right of my hand is more typical.
...See More
How do insect pests identify target plants? How to exploit this?
Q
Comments (2)
they use every means possible, including scent, and color, and also time of the year - most insects have a life [breeding] cycle that matches their preffered hosts occurance - ie: if you plant broccoli things later than usual you'll miss the first flush of cole family pests, and hopefully the plants will be big enuff to withstand later hatchings - some also tend to work at a certain level, and sometimes you can protect the plant simply by putting collars around the stem to keep the things like cutworms away, and a 2' "fence" of clear plastic along your carrot rows will keep out certain carrot root flies garlic, onion, cayenne and other strong scented things are good general protection, and growing those things, as well as things like marigolds, around your crops will help as well as the spraying - lotsa 'companion plant' possibilities, and using the traits of the bugs against them is part of what IPM is about, as well as organic growing Bill
...See More
How Intensive do you plant your beds?
Q
Comments (9)
It all depends on how good/deep/rich your soil is. In my winter garden, I plant extremely close together and have great results. In my summer garden, I use semi-intensive spacing but I rarely interplant for a few reasons: Uniformity in trellising - I plant 40 tomatoes, 30 eggplants etc and use the Florida Weave method. It's impractical to have different sized plants all over the place that I'd have to stake or trellis individually. Crowding out - in a couple months my tomatoes will be 6 ft tall and 2 or more feet wide...which would completely block out the sun for smaller plants and more importantly, would make it impossible to reach the other plants for harvest. Same with squash and melons...it looks like there's all this wasted space when you first plant the seeds or transplants, but in a couple months they've completely taken over and will engulf anything in their path. Rotating crops - I like to be able to keep note of my garden layout so that the next season I can rotate my crops as best I can. Lots of interplanting makes it a little more difficult. Watering/fertilizing - Garlic and beans are the main concern here. I like to have my garlic all in one bed because when harvest is approaching and I have to shut off the water, I'm not affecting any other plants that would require a ton of water. Beans, if inoculated, don't require nitrogen fertilizer...if you intersperse them with a heavy feeder, you can end up with beautiful foliage, but very little beans. Also, just an FYI...it might be a little late to start lettuce. You will have a hard time keeping it from bolting in the extreme heat and that which you do harvest will be quite bitter. However, I remember someone on this forum having success with summer lettuce so it might be worth a try!
...See More
nywoodsman
20 years ago
Its better to learn what seedlings represent unwanted weeds so you know what to pull.Sometimes an unknown seedling may turn into something very desirable that you didn't plant.You,ll more quickly learn what the weed seedlings look like.They're the ones that are everywhere,especally in the disturbed areas.The rare sprout that looks differert you might want to leave to let grow into something more identifiable.
ladyslppr
20 years ago
I try never to pull up anything I can't positively identify. That way I hope to avoid pulling any volunteers that I might want to keep. It shouldn't take too long to learn to identify the common weeds in your garden and pull those. I've had several interesting native plants volunteer in my garden - most recently Wood Sage (aka American Germander) appeared unexpectedly.

If I am sowing seeds that I am not familiar with, I often sow a few in a pot (I often use the edges of a larger potted plant) so that I will know what the seedlings look like, and this helps identify them in the garden.
john_mo
20 years ago
There is a new pocket-sized guide to ID seedlings of native forbs of the midwest. I don't have a copy yet, but it is produced by the Missouri-based 'Grow Native' program, which always does great work.

Here is a link that might be useful: 'Grow Native' seedling guide
ourfamilygarden
Original Author
20 years ago
Thank you all for the wonderful replies! The two websites were very good! They show a variety of plants at various stages. Also, I'm going to check out that book!

With regard to recognizing weeds, that's a very good point! I do not like to pull anything, either, as I have had new things come up in my garden, that I've liked. So, I think I will try to pay more emphasis to that. I seem to have a difficult time determining the "weeds" when they are young, for some reason. LOL.

I'd like to tell what some of the plants are, as I'd like to move some of them while they are young. I often end up with Evening Primrose, for example, in areas where I'd like to move them while they are young. So, that's one reason I'd like to learn how to recognize them while they are very young :) For some reason, I mix them up with other things, every year, until they are more mature :P

Thank you to all, for such helpful replies!!!

How do you identify your young plants?

Comments (6)

cjlambert

waplummer

Related Discussions

nywoodsman

ladyslppr

john_mo

ourfamilygarden
Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

How do you identify your young plants?

Comments (6)

cjlambert

waplummer

Related Discussions

nywoodsman

ladyslppr

john_mo

ourfamilygardenOriginal Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

ourfamilygarden
Original Author