My list is here on my trade page and on my computer. I have a spread sheet on Google Documents that I am slowing working on.
It has the list my hostas. I have assigned a number to each of the different hosta beds in my yard and I am putting the bed # in a column next to the names so I know (or will know when I am finished) where each hosta is growing. One of my 'someday' projects will be a close up of a mature leaf from each variety.
Pam

OH! Cool idea to add the leaf photo!

Mine is in the computer,and also on a hard copy. The want list is in a small notebook,but this year,due to the never-ending drought,I haven't even taken it out this year. I've only planted 4 new hostas,down from 37 last year! It just doesn't make sense to plant something,and then worry if it will make it through the summer,which right now is brutally hot and dry! Phil

I keep my list in an excel document. I also put location in garden, where I bought it, and color. When added ones I bought I can then print new hosta labels right from the excel document. It is also nice because I can check the list to make sure I am not buying one I already have.

I can check the list to make sure I am not buying one I already have...

Yup. This is what I was thinking although I know there are people on this forum that buy multiples of ones they like on purpose.

I don't have a list or any idea of the number of hostas I have. I keep getting more every year, and the scene looks better every year. I do mark them with small markers behind each one so you can't really see them unless you go looking for them.

I'm with you, esox. I do not have the organization gene. I wish I did, but the kind of organization Regattagirl is talking about is as foreign to me as Swahili. I do well just to keep track of what day it is.

I know most of the hostas in my garden, and the few that I don't, I can figure out if I want to put the effort into it. I have electronic sales receipts and gardening diary.
But I'm most happy if I don't have to think organizational thoughts which for me are DRUDGERY!

Regattagirl, no insult intended. The world needs us both, the organizational thinkers, and the wild-concept dreamers. Neither one of us are much good without the other. So I'm sending you a big disorganized hug.

Lainey

My list is a picture album in Picasa (photo organizer and basic photo editor). I include the date purchased in file name. Then I use the screensaver in picasa to show my pics - great to see in winter.

Paul

I definitely need a couple of lists and they keeps me busy in the winter. My "have" list includes all of the above, plus details like plant and leaf size and who registered it, year purchased, who I bought or received the plant from, how many eyes, and if I made a label. I find it handy to do it in a spreadsheet so I can sort by the different categories.

Then, there is my ever changing lust list which includes all my favorite "must haves" ranked by how quickly I must purchase them - 1, 2 or 3 (one being need it now). This year I have picked away at a lot of my ones...When I go on a hosta trip that may including buying, both lists come in handy. I "try" to only buy those on my lust list and I bring my "have" list so when I find something I can't do without that's not on the list, I can check to see if I already own it. I can't tell you how many times I have seen something great that I "need" to have and I already own it.

No list here!

If I see or read about one here - where else? - it lurks in the Plants I Gotta Have section of my brain where it seems to lie dormant until I spy the object of my desire at a nursery. Not only - heresy - hostas lie there in wait.

I read a lot about gardening, so that section is kinda crowded. Seems to be taking over other sections. Like where are the keys... why did I come into this room... where'd I park the car...

I like to document, journal, and make charts, too. My most useful "book" is a small size 3-ring binder. The first pages is the list of hostas I have (alphabetically printed from 'my documents' on the computer. After each hosta, It says the size, color and garden #.
Then after that list, I made individual sections of greens,blues,yellows,white margin/green center, etc.I print pictures from different websites of each of the hostas I've purchased and glue them to blank pages in their appropriate color section(I forgot to mention that each color section is divided into 5 different size categories and the pictures are glued in the right size page of that color section.!
I keep this small binder in my car so it's handy if I see a hosta when I'm shopping.
I also keep a list in my purse but it's hand written so it gets messy as I crowd new hosta names in.
this winter I plan to make a map-to-scale of the diff hosta beds and make colored circles of the diff hostas in each!
Peggy

Hosta freak Phil....Does that make 33 MORE you get to acquire NEXT year?

Paul...Yes, I know about MN winters. Great ideas, but does looking at them make cabin fever better or worse?

Hostabuff...So much detail is my kinda list and the ranking system is awesome too (especially in these economic times).

Peggy...what GREAT ideas for me to work on over the winter when I'm dreaming of hostas and gardens!!!

And those of you that don't keep lists,

Oops...and those of you that don't keep lists, well I don't know how you remember all of them. You must have a special hosta brain or something. I know I couldn't do it.

I wonder why some of us are list makers and some are not...

I keep a loose-leaf binder too. One page for each hosta I have. I try to take the photos around the same time each year. That way I can see how it progresses (or regresses) from year to year. The photos are also in the computer in folders, "Hosta pics 2008", with a folder for each year.

I keep an alphabetical list and each Spring I note the number of eyes poking up for each hosta. That works up to about 10 eyes, then I just write "many". Some will remain one eye for a couple years, then put up a bunch.

My binder comes in handy during those Winter months when I am selecting new ones to mail order. I can compare them to what I already have to prevent purchasing look-alikes.

Here is a page for Blue Mouse Ears. I didn't take photos during 2005-6 for one reason or another and I'm sorry I didn't. It is fun to watch them mature through photos.

-Babka

{{gwi:1073453}}

Babka! This is a very cool idea! Love it. You are appealing to the list maker in me AND the photo lover too.

And yes, I'm very analytical and would rather be than not.

Regatta (I always say...you know how you know when you're really anal? When tells says to you, "You know? You are REALLY anal." And you think it's a compliment!)

Babka - I agreee with regatta - that's a twofer - pictures PLUS record-keeping.

Almost drags me over to the organized side...

I have an Excel file with the plant type, cultivar name, year acquired, and place in the garden. I also have a photo album online with the plant type and cultivar.

I also have a wanted list with name, pix, locations available, prices, and rated 1-5 according to how badly I have to have it. :-)

I am still a pretty new gardener, so I am happy to learn from everyone else.

Jen

I have a database in the computer with all my perennials/bulbs/shrubs recorded in it. Each winter I make sure that it is fully updated and then in spring I make a hard copy that I usually keep in my vehicle to have with me all summer.

In my database I record...

name, common (eg. bellflower)
name, 'real'...(eg, campanula for the bellflower)
sun and/or shade
height/width
color of flower
description of plant
location in yard
year acquired
hybridizer
year registered by hybridizer
what I paid and if in a trade what it would be worth
who I got it from
awards it has received
bloom time
zone requirements
parentage
dates I took a picture of it
date the best picture of it was taken so as to quickly find the picture if someone wants to see a picture of it.

size of leaf (for hostas)
size of flower (needed for my daylilies)
pruning group (for clematis)

There are now over 2000 different perennials in our yard. I spend time each morning taking pictures of what is newly blooming in the yard. This is recorded into a binder and then transferred into the computer. In the winter I will take the time to label each of the pictures and transfer one good one of each perennial into my Photobucket album. With hostas I like to take a picture of the individual leaf, its flowers and a clump picture.

Each perennial also gets a homemade copper tag made up for it which is placed immediately behind the plant.

Since I have traded all across Canada, sell/trade privately in our area and have a table at the local farmer's market with my perennials, it is very important for me to know the name of each perennial and what it should be worth. I could never go by memory with my plants. Hats off to those who can.

Brenda

I garden on suburb size plot and have lots of perennials in my shady garden. Desire to grow hosta came out of necessity to simplify my garden and maintenance and leave only what is worth keeping.
As it happens I know 99% of all my plants in the garden by name, mostly Latin as I have hard time figuring out common names. 1% that I do not know means I've grown them from seed and they did not bloom yet to figure out what it was- am really bad with labeling... Lots of my perennials are grown from seed so usually I always have fun trying to figure out some things.
I also know conditions and requirements for most of my perennial plants.
I have about 250 hosta presently and probably will be able to add another 50 or so to fill garden to the brims. There are several hostas/about 5/ that I can not ID but for rest of them I know and remember what is where. Am figuring out if I have to look every time what hosta it is - maybe it should not be in my garden...if they so unremarkable that I can not differentiate them from others...
so no lists or journals for me...memory is my best friend ;)

I keep an excel spreadsheet w/cultivar name, year acquired, location, and where/who it was purchased from. I have bed maps in Microsoft Word. I have a Hosta picture file with a separate folder for each cultivar.

When I get back from vacation, I need to move some around...putting some larger ones in the back by the fence and bringing some medium sized forward. I also am getting rid of my "dogs" or at least moving to the other side of the fence where they might be sprayed, confiscated, sink or swim...I don't care!

And then, I'll have to re-do all my maps and spreadsheets again!

Char