Best Advice for Gardeners - New and Old

This weekend we had the perfect trifecta of plant sales in Memphis: Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis Botanic Garden and Lichterman Nature Center. There were several smaller sales on the area as well. All this means that lots of folks hauled home lots of new plants. Fun, fun, fun!!!

Now I bet you think I'm going to tell you about putting your new babies in the optimal spot in your garden. Or how to fertilizer. Or correct watering procedures. You would be wrong.
The first thing you should do is get out your label maker, round up your plant markers, and make a label for every plant.

Oh, you think you'll remember their names, don't you? How could you ever forget that beautiful Hosta 'Guacamole'? Or the fabulous Echinacea purpurea 'Magnus'? Well, trust me, you will. I can't tell you how many wonderful hostas in my garden are just that: wonderful hostas. I have no idea what their names are and I'd LOVE to know. I even bought a huge book with lots of pictures, thinking I could compare the plant with the picture and identify them. Maybe someone else could, but I failed completely. (Please, if someone can do it, please help!)



So if you don't have a label maker, go get one. They're not expensive. Get some outdoor-friendly tape. As for plant markers, I like the cap-style markers from Paw Paw Everlast Label Company, but you can check their website for other styles or maybe find some locally.

You will be so glad that you followed this advice.