I faithfully label every plant that goes into a pot or into the ground. I even have an electronic labeling machine. But my labels disappear. Sometimes quite mysteriously. I figure that my garden gnome and his tribe delight in stealing them. There must be a cache somewhere...

Others get squashed while weeding or in the wintertime when they're not visible under the snow. Still others simply disintegrate under the onslaught of the elements. Like Trish, I'm somewhat embarrassed when visitors ask about a particular plant , but the label has disappeared and I've forgotten the name. I do have a backup system though. I keep a year-by-year file of all plants I purchase. Now if I could only remember in which year I bought that plant ...


The suspect