I started a separate FB page for my hostas but haven't had a chance to keep it up. I think I even have three likes on it. I was going to update it when I update our Christmas Lights FB page in November and December.

Gesila

Robin,you are not a control freak if you want to remember the hosta names next year. I put signs on all my new hostas when they are planted. I also have hard copy record of all my plants,and where they are planted. Just look at all the people who post here who can't remember what hosta it is,and you'll understand! Phil

I started out pretty well, I have a list of all my hostas, and I went bed by bed, mapping and putting the names down in order (I also have labels). But then I moved a few things round, and I noted that on my map, at first, but then too many things got moved and my map kinda got lost in the shuffle. I've moved all of my (well, most) labels with the plants so I haven't lost too many ID's, but I need to find a better system.

And now I have new beds that aren't even on the map....maybe I need to just enjoy the plants and not be so obsessed with ID's and locations :)!

Ok, I have to say that I LOVE LOVE LOVE that idea. It's a ROYAL PAIN to make the map and label it!

I'm going to give this a try RIGHT NOW!

i dont understand why you need facebook..

why cant you just use your photo editor to add text/names to the pic.. and save it on the hard drive.. [i always save the original.. and then edit a second.. and save it as 'a'.. as in naming the file:

Victory 080411

and

Victory 080411a [thats the date taken]

or 'Bed One 080411' vs 'Bed one 080411a'

vs 'bed one 080411 names'

whats the point of posting it at FB????

ken

I think I am just going to take pictures of each bed, print them 10" x 12", label each hosta with a fine point marker, and file them in a notebook. I'll do it once a year, maybe in June, and then I'll also have pictures of the hostas and how they grew to compare from year to year, also how the beds evolved over time. That will give me a permanent record and something to refer to should I lose a label.

I can also write on the backs of each picture how I would like to make changes, so I don't forget when it comes time to move plants.

I'm always out there taking pictures, anyway, might as well make them useful!

I won't have to rely on FB or any other untrustworthy thing on my computer, either, with a hard copy.

Sandy

Ken, Ken, Ken. Sigh. My dear man. It is not so all our little hosta friends can see each other in the pics and start their own little hosta FBs and poke each other or start a hosta farm or throw a cupcake (or whatever it is people do on FB). Although that does tickle my fancy. Can you see my Secret Love sending a message to another hosta? lol, sorry, Ken, I just couldn't resist. You seem like a serious kinda fella, but I'm a light hearted kinda gal.

It is just for our own personal use. And when you look at the picture, you have a clear view that is not all muddled with typing. Only when you hover over the hosta will you get the name. Before FB was just a way to keep up with my ds out in WY. Now I can see many personal uses for FB and my hostas after my dh mentioned it. Let me know if you really and truly are interested and I'll enumerate them.

It is just a simple matter of it is not a "one size fits all" world. What works for one of us, might not work for another. I for one, just didn't want a bunch of labels in my garden. Everyone I thought about using (and there were several believe me) would have been ... too ... I don't know ... just too something. Can't put my finger on it. They were too obvious. Too botanical. Too something.

Now I do like Sandy's idea of writing on a picture ... for individual hostas. But then I'd have to go get my digital pictures printed. One more thing on my to do list. Not gonna happen.

And that wouldn't work for an overall picture of my beds. They are just too big ... even after subdividing. There wouldn't be enough room to write all the names on the picture.

So in the end, I'll probably use a variation of both ideas ... FB and individual digital pictures. Thanks, Sandy!

Robin in NC
P.S. Ken, I hope you are not mad at me for having fun at your expense. If we lived closer, I'd bring you a cup o' joe as a soother.

Aw, Ken's thicker skinned than that. And I don't know if I'd say he's serious. Practical would be more fitting, I'd think.

So, who gets invited to hosta FB pages? Heuchera? Lamium? Actea? ;-)

I'd have to agree with Ken and just catalog it in house, but that's just me. Too busy to take the extra step of putting pics on yet another box somewhere.

tj

ROTFLMHO! TJ, I love it!

Robin - it is ken, ken, ken; not Ken, Ken, Ken!

I have more time than memory. I keep a grid map, take pictures and use markers, and I still am lost for a while in the spring. This year I have raided a local riverbed for smooth flat rocks, cleaned them and sprayed them with Avacado Krylon exterior paint, labeled them with black Krylon paint pen, and sealed with Krylon clear. They look really nice and I am not apt to rake them away when cleaning up like my staking efforts were.

I am not a control freak. I hate to forget what I have. (lol). It would be embarassing for me to post an NOID because I forgot what I have.

Les

You are so right, Les! lol Mea culpa! And it is tj, not TJ. The grammarian in me just will not let go of proper capitalization and punctuation. My kids are slowly influencing me to use contractions in print and use text lingo. Alas, old habits die hard.

On a more serious note, Les, the rock idea is the only idea I have seriously considered IN my garden. It has a more organic feel. That's it! I wanted something that looked like it BELONGED in my garden. However I was going to leave the rocks natural or spray them to match the mulch and then spray them with clear. The draw back is I just do not ... see, no contraction ... hard habit to break ... The draw back is I don't have gobs of time right now. Maybe next year.

Robin in NC

Ah yes, Robin, didn't think of using tags on FB. Good idea.

The MAIN reason I started a FB page is so I could keep up with technology (or whatever you call it) that my kids use (ages 14 through 34). And, I got to see a picture of my grandson who was born in North Carolina within minutes of his birth. I used Christmas Lights and Hostas to practice creating pages before I created one for our ice cream store. Easier to learn how to use technology when you actually have you have a topic that interests you.

Gesila

This is too much! I love it. Some of my friends thought I had lost my mind when I told them I had landscape graphs and an excel spreadsheet of my hostas.

And yet, I have one that I do not know of where it came or what it is......so sad. Someday I will post a pic and know that there are others here that understand my dilemma.

Thank goodness for all of you!

Jo

Ok, I have to say that I gave the FB thing a shot and I do like it, I think. It's probably something I'd work on in the winter.

In the meantime, what I've been doing is taking a picture of an area and printing it out on a large sheet of paper, say 11x17. I give each hosta a number (most of these numbers don't change from one year to the next) and each number has a name. So, when I see #7, I know it's Paul's Glory and vice versa.

If I ever stop moving my hostas around, maybe I wouldn't have to do this each year. But it's not that bad.

Incidentally, all my hostas are still labeled with a zinc type label, PLUS the map, PLUS my spreadsheet. OCD much Melissa? I resemble that remark!

Can we have some facebook links to see what this might look like?

Steve

I do admit that I'm growing older,and my memory isn't what it used to be,but I do know the vast majority of my hostas by sight. I basically put name tags on my newest hostas when they are planted. I have lots of multiples of hostas,so I don't label every one of them,but I still know which ones they are. I don't have so many that I can't remember which ones they are. (More than 300),not counting seedlings. Phil

Melissa, my daughter says I have CDO. It's like OCD, but the letters are in order like they are supposed to be. (She saw it on a T-shirt). Might I be so bold as to say it applies to you too? lol

Steve, I'm getting ready for bed, and have a full day booked tomorrow. If no one has given you a link on Saturday, I will throw something up for you.

Phil, I'm totally impressed! Seriously! I frequently called by children by "blonde child, come here" or "male child, stop that" and I only have three. There is no way I could remember 300 plants. I might not even remember I even HAVE hostas next year and mistake them for tobacco plants.

Robin in NC

I just love how diverse this group is, & how many different ways there are of doing things.
Me personally, I love cataloging all my hosta on Excel Spreadsheets. That's what I do in the winter. I have many different spreadsheets. Some are lists, one is a photo catalog of all my hosta, and some are maps, like the one below. Using the color coding helps me to not put similar plants together. As you can see, I have too many variegateds in the front garden & need to add more solids.
So I save the original file so that I know where everything currently is, then I can re-arrange my hosta right on here till I get the layout right, save the updated file under a new name, print it out and take it to the garden with me.

Wendy

Steve, here's a link to mine that I started.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hostas on the Bluff

I use Picasa a free photo editor that you an download to your computer. it had been recommended at a class I took on digital camera. The teacher was a photographer for the Milw Journal. If it worked for a professional I thought I will give it a try. I have found very easy to use and it does a great job
This year I began labeling my photos on the picture. The other nice thing is there is a web version. You can upload the pictures directly from the version on your desktop. if you would choose you could label them on the web and leave them in the original format on your computer. The web album can then be shared with friends and YOU HAVE TAGGED LINKS SO YOU CAN POST PHOTOS HERE.

Two comments on facebook. Any photos you post there become the property of facebook and facebook resizes or reformats your photos some way. So if you want to download photo off of facebook they will not be the same size as the original that were put up there.

Another note:from Picasa you can easily send you photos to whatever retailer in-store or mail order that you choose.It is very easy to upload to the vendors site..basically a one click operation.

Kathy

Gesila, Great Facebook photos! Thanks for sharing.

Wendy -- That's glorious. I've got hand-drawn maps & Access databases, but your Excel Spreadsheet is spectacular. I've got to try it! But that also makes me wonder if there's a way to link a photo to the spreadsheet. Clearly a wintertime task just when I miss my hosta so much I need some kind of fix. Nancy

Probably because of the career I had doing engineering work I enjoy graphic data presentions. I chart the weather daily by the month, for example. I keep records of what plants I've bought, moved or planted on it. I can tell you what I did on todays date 3 years ago. I also have my Hosta numbered and keep an annual log. To support my records I have a spread sheet listing my Hosta by # with fill-in spaces for mound h x w, leaf l x w, and vein pair. My ATS neighbors get a kick out of seeing me in my garden with a clip board and tape measure. This is my 1st year doing this and have done it on or about the 4th day of the month starting in May. By the end of the season I will decide how often to do it next year. What started this was "shrinking Hosta" that I forgot how big it was the previous year. Invariably it was the result of vole damage and I waited too long before helping it recover.

Les

Wendy, that is AWESOME! I showed my dh, he took one look at my face and implied I looked like the creature in Lord of the Rings coveting his "Precious". That is definitely going on my active "to do" list (vs my "I hope to do before I die to do list"). Definitely a perfect winter project 'cause I will have to learn how to do that.

Gesila, can you go and tag some of your hostas and let us know which picture it is? The picture of your new circle garden would be perfect to show how the tags work because there are multiple hostas in the picture.

If she gets it done, when you visit her link click on the picture and move your mouse over the hostas. Little tags (rectangles with the names in them) will appear. When you move to the next hosta, the old tag will disappear and the new one will appear.

Kathy, I did not know that you could use another venue to post pictures other than what is in the FAQ. I'll have to investigate your system.

Clearly Melissa and I now have waaaaay to many choices!

Have a great day!

Robin in NC

I never thought of that! I tried it this morning with an old pic, and had to do a little manipulating, because it kept wanting to add my real friend's names to my hostas. But here were the results of tagging pictures. You could also do this with iPhoto if you have a mac using the faces feature.
Jen

PS Not sure if you are not a member of facebook if you will be able to see photo.

Here is a link that might be useful: result of tagging photo

I love your chart, Wendy! I started the same thing, using a different program, with the different colors... it was just TOO time consuming, and after one garden done I knew this wouldn't be something practical for me.

I label my hostas (and all my plants) with zinc labels, keep a spread sheet and have also made my own graph paper with hostas mapped out by coordinates. Now I just have to be disciplined to change all that info when I move something (which, being a newbie, I've undoubtably planted some too close and they will have to be moved eventually!)

I am a little OCD, but I know there is no way I'll remember the names and locations of every hosta and other plant in my garden. I have 97 varieties of hosta, and even if I only add 20 or 30 new ones a year, my mind would be boggled big-time if I didn't have a system.
Karen

Yes, yes, yes, Margo! It works just the way I thought it would in my mind. I can't wait to get started ... Satur ... Sun ... Monday!

I THINK you can make your pictures public. It may be that they ALL have to be public or ALL private ... not sure about that. But if you start a separate hosta fb just for your hostas, that might work. Poo, this is so sad ... I'll have to wait for my 17 yo dd to get back from the camp she is working to answer my questions.

Now I am REALLY going to start getting ready for company!

Robin

If you are using the people id on Facebook. Picasa has that as well. I initially heard about this feature at a genealogy meeting. After a while it will try to id the person in the photo and is right quite a bit of the time.

You can use this feature on your computer and upload the photo with id or you can id it on the web album . You ar also able to set privacy controls as to who can see your web album.

Thanks Nancy, Robin & Karen! My maps and databases help keep me busy thru the long winter.

Margo & Gesila, I can see the facebook photos, but cannot see any tags. I guess you have to be logged into a facebook account to see the tags?

Wendy

never been to facebook.. so if you were making fun of me.. it escaped me ...

regardless .. as long as its all in fun .. go at it ....

ken

I am on facebook, that is someone listed my name there and I had to sign up to read that there was nothing for me. Now I get those monthly Email messages from FB that all my friends want to talk to me, baloney! Since I have no data there about myself, I can not get messages from Nigeria and China that I won lotteries, or they have great business deals for me.

I use Excel and have a file with separate work sheets listing the hostas I have in a detailed table, those I want to have, my work plan, the chemicals I am using and made a map of my property with a fine grid listing abbreviations of hosta in this grid. That helps a lot, and is all I need. Should I lose markers again, i will know from the map which hosta is in that space.
Have a good one!
Bernd

Wendy, you are my hero! I love the diagram. Like many of you, I have a spreadsheet of my hostas and other perennials but all of my diagrams are hand-drawn. This would be SO much better...also helps feed the obsession! Thanks for the example.
Cj

Bernd, that is spam that should get directed right to your junk box. I get that too, but it's nothing to do with the same email I use on Facebook. If you have a yahoo or hotmail account, you're going to get the junk mail you spoke of.

Yes, Wendy, you will have to be logged into facebook to see the tags.
Jen

When you first start a new photo folder, you're given the option to set its privacy settings. With my sample, I set it to Private.

Great ideas everyone. A separate Facebook page could be interesting - I certainly enjoyed checking out Gesila's - however I have enough trouble sharing tidbits of my life on my current Facebook page.

The spreadsheet mapping idea is fantastic Wendy. I use spreadsheets all the time and have an extensive set of sheets to track what is in all my gardens (hostas, perennials, trees and shrubs). However it never occurred to me to use it for mapping. I can imagine that it might seem a little daunting to get underway initially. However once the maps are built, it would be easy to move things around or shift plants to another garden! The extra info, like color and size could be so helpful as my gardens are maturing and need rearranging. Kudos to you Wendy!