I use MS Excel, others here too I read. I use the table format, the low-tech version of Excel. I have one table for all my 162 different hostas, could send you a copy via Email if you wish, listing abbreviation for use in my location map, size of plant, leaf characteristic, flower color, light requirement, where and when bought, how many I own, average price. The table is organized by leaf coloring, such as green with white border, etc. Other worksheets are a fine table grid of my property with hosta abbreviations where they are located. I also have a sheet with my chemicals used, work plan in spring for the year, a wish list, etc.

These Excel sheets keep me organized, and are for easy lookup. I am actually reading the table when I go with my grandson to MC Donald's playland.
Bernd

I keep an alphabetical list in Excel, and I take a mega pixel photo of each one sometime in May every year. That stays in my computer (backed up on a DVD). That way I can zoom in for details if I want.

Then I print out a wallet sized photo of them each year and paste it on a page in a binder. Each hosta has a page, and at-a-glance I can see it develop over the years.

This works well for me, but then I only have -Babka

{{gwi:1088780}}

As a FREE alternative to MS Excel, and MS Office in general, you may wish to take a look at LibreOffice.

Here is a link that might be useful: LibreOffice

Since I am retired I have time on my hands when I am resting from the physical aspects of gardening. So I use a couple of different approaches. 1) I keep a Hosta Log for the year. I began doing this manually because I didn't have a comp up and running when I started. So I'd used a numeric rather than alpha listing that listed my hosta in the order I obtained them. When I had gotten my computer I transferred the same log into a MS Word document and continue until today. My log simply expands each time I add a hosta and includes when and where I obtained it, the basic description of the plant, leaves, flowers and related specs. Also I show the name of the cultivator, etc., rewards won. And finally any significant events involved, such as which plants I had relocated from Arkansas to Illinois in 2004, which garden they are in and when moved if and when I have done so. I have eleven pages in my annual log right now with 51 hostas. Next year I will simply expand on it while doing a little editing. It is here that I notate plans for future events, such as lifting, moving, dividing, etc. 2) I have a numeric form developed in MS Excel with boxed spaces for each plant for mound width, mound height, leaf width, leaf length, vein pairs counted, flower color and scape lengths. The form is blank except for the numeric listing of my hostas. If I have multiples I can list them numeric/alpha such as #3a and #3b if I choose. I copied one of the specification sheets and inserted standard data to use as a reference for my plants. This I feel necessary since very young plants deviate quite a bit from mature plant specs. Some hosta have half the VP of a mature hosta for example. I hit my gardens with camera, clipboard and tape measure 3 - 4 times a season to catch the significant seasonal changes. In August my plants are generally smaller in mound dimensions than in May due to lower water in the petiole, etc.

Finally, at the end of my annual log I include an alpha listing of my plants by name and plant number only to use as a cross reference. This is really not as time consuming as it might seem since it is an expanding system and my computer makes duplication of past information easy.

Oh yeah. I mentioned camera. The pictures I keep in a 3 ring notebook in sheet protectors. Dear hp chose to remove my optical driver from my computer when MS stopped supporting the Lightscribe driver supplied with my machine - and didn't replace it so I can't use CD/DVD input. Hopefully next week I will have this corrected and move my photo files to storage on a DVD.

It is lengthly but describes how I do it. :es

I use Excel with fields like: plant number, scientific name, common name, location planted, purchase year, purchace place, and price. This is for all perennials, not just hostas.
I also have paper grids of my yard where I record where I have stuff planted as I don't like to use physical plant labels. For example, I might have a sheet that says West Side of Garage and then it will show #45 Rudbeckia and #76 Autumn Joy. I just have to go to my Excel sheet to see the details about when I bought those plants, what year, etc. Those grids are in pencil in case I move plants or they die.

Your replies give me a lot to think about.
So far, I have not "imported" any spreadsheets into my AZZcardfile database. I've been rather nonchalant in the records I keep too. My original information was lost in some glitch, and then the datafile was corrupted so it was not readable. I learned then, all my experience with every plant in my garden was LOST, so I've started over. So I do not forget what something is named, or where it came from, or if it was a successful addition to the garden, where it came from and when, all that is good to know. Backup is important, as I sadly learned.

Right now, I've figured out how to keep the gardening database in separate units, such as MY PLANTS, DESIDERATA,
HERBS. I can view them combined, or separated. It is not difficult to move a plant from DESIDERATA to MY PLANTS after I get it. Such as my recent hosta additions.
I also discovered I could keep a record of my orders, to whom, what date, what plants, which helps when I'm waiting for a delivery, and I keep the phone numbers of the nurseries on the form as well.

Nice thing about AZZ is I can insert my JPG and GIF pictures, but not drag and drop. The input field is quite a variable size.

Thank you so much for your responses. Looks like I might find the Excel format useful to add to my present system.
The growth or condition photos are a good idea too. I've discovered that these hostas are very changeable things, so keeping a record of their disguises is important to me. And a grid of location in the garden appeals to my visual sense. Wish I could draw like a landscape architect, to make it look good enough to display on the wall of my study.

When I had MS windows 98 I was able to do amazing detailed drawings using Paint. I was part of an engineering department where others had been trained in highly technical engineering drawing software. I could create detailed drawings much faster than they could in Paint and trained our Corporate Chief Engineer to do so. But MS has downgraded Paint to a toy IMO. Wendy (Wendys Garden) has used Excel to create garden plats showing her plantings and I am working on doing this. To date, my plats are hand drawn.

Les

I have just joined Dave's Garden and use the journal

Boyz2mom4, I'm surprised GWeb let you enter those two words D...G....., because about a year ago, I tried to post a link to it, and got a really abrupt message flash on the screen, if I tried to enter this again, my membership in GWeb would be terminated. Wow. I asked no questions, I just dropped the subject.

Not sure about the DG journal.
And hostaLes, the AZZ cardfile came about because Windows dropped its little cardfile applet, which was so helpful in Windows 3.1 and then 98, but after that it was gone. I find it interesting that you could get so much out of Old PAINT. When did the MS downgrade of Paint occur? I have XP still, and never did much with Paint. Maybe I needed more imagination and talent to see the potential.

Does Wendys Garden have any garden plats available for viewing that I could see what is possible? That is exactly what I was thinking about. Having such a tool available, it might pass the long winter days with something to do besides read.

HostaLes, I did a search for Wendy's Garden, mostly got salads from Wendys. But finally modified the search and came up with this Sargent's Gardens blog by Wendy. Andone of the pages on the site offers landscape designing. The link I give below shows one illustration of a design.

Here is a link that might be useful: Landscape Designing services

I use the Garden Scribe Plant Organizer. It's a 3 ring binder with plant pages where you can fill in all the information about your plants. I bought it back in May and filled in all of the 50 plant pages pretty quickly (I have a lot of plants) and had to order more plant pages. So, if you decide to get this, try to figure out how many plants you have before you order the binder. This way you can order the additional pages at the same time and save on shipping.

Hi Moccasinlanding,

HostaLes is referring to a map I created with Excel. I just use colored circles that correspond with the colors of my Hostas. That way I can move my hostas around on the map, before I have to break my back moving them for real. :)
I have maps for each garden, and work on these over the winter.

Here's one of the maps:

...
I also have other Excel spreadsheets to keep track of various hosta-related data: An alphabetical list that includes sizes, descriptions, & purchase info; a list sorted by size; a wish list, etc. And this one, which shows a picture of each Hosta I purchase, along with purchase info & year. It makes me happy to look at this one in January :)

Wendy

I am glad this posting has been updated. Since my last posting I have been learning more about Excel and working on using shapes. In answer to the question regarding paint I found in any MSOS after Win98 the paint feature was worthless to me for varying reasons.

When I obtain a new hosta I do an on-line search to get as much info as I can and condense it. I find a good picture or two of a mature plant and make a copy for my "generic" hosta binder to use as a reference. I have another binder where my garden log is kept along with pictures of my hosta in numerical order,recorded measurements, my alpha/numeric cross-ref., etc. I take a picture of my new hosta and place it in the binder. I use slip-in plastic sleeves (a box of 100 is pretty inexpensive)to hold my pics. So I can always compare my hosta to others, and to themselves. I find I sometimes don't realize a hosta is "slipping" backwards until it is serious if I don't do this. It is easy to spot a plant buried too deep, with vole damage to the roots, being maple-root choked, etc when I do this. I had moved a fantastic S&S 550 miles and it had become a vole fast-food joint. By the time I realized something bad was happening and lifted it I found 3 vole holes that were invisible under the crown and most of the crown missing.

I will be giving my binders a lot of work in the coming months as I plan for the glorious day I see my first "awakening".

Les

Wendy,

That spreadsheet is amazing. How did you learn to do that with Excel?

Steve

Thanks Les, Nance & Steve :)

The photos are a mix of my own photographs and some off the internet. If I buy a bigger plant, I will use my own photo, but if it is a very young plant, I'll use one off the internet. No particular source, I look at several sites and pick my favorite photo.

As far as learning Excel, I'm kind of self taught. Several years ago, when I had never used Excel before, my boss forwarded me an email with an Excel attachment. The document was a series of statistical pie charts & line charts. She said "you're doing these from now on" and that was all the direction I was given. So I basically dissected that spreadsheet and played with it until I could figure out how she created those charts. It was a great learning experience.
Now I use Excel for everything! One of my most important Excel documents is not garden-related. I'm 49 and my memory isn't always reliable ("didn't we just buy that refrigerator?"), so I created a spreadsheet "Important Events & Purchases". I keep a tab for each year, and document all of our major purchases, like appliances, cars, etc. along with purchase price. Other columns include home improvement projects, vacations, health issues , and events (such as weddings, deaths, new jobs, etc).

Yeah, I love Excel, lol.

Wendy

Wendy, I just got the point of the circles being the colors they are. Of course!!! That is a simply elegant visual cue of what is where. A variable color code.

I really like that.
In fact, it might be possible to key the whole HOSTAPEDIA in that fashion, one of these days.

And, if someone wanted to do it all manually, for their own garden, it would be a simple matter to get the round stickers in various sizes/colors from Staples/OfficeDepot and put the "dots" on a quadrille pad to move around like rearranging furniture. All sorts of ways to use your neat creation.

GREAT possibilities with your scheme.

Thanks for mentioning the pie charts. I have done grid charts by myself, actually even programmed in Excel, did my garden map as a grid, but never used circles until after your posting. They can be moved outside the grid, but I need to find out how to miniaturize the circles.

How do you post an Excel file here??

Bernd

I've mentioned that I use inexpensive plastic pocket sleeves for 3-ring binders to hold my pictures, etc. in my garden log.

Using the colored dots from office supply stores (where I also get my sleeves) would work better when your quadrille layout is IN a sleeve and the dots are placed on the OUTSIDE surface of the sleeve. They can be moved around easier without tearing up the bed drawing on the quadrille.

When planning a new bed it would be a nice and easy way to visualize the color groupings of available plants, or helping decide where to plant a new one.

Another approach could be using clear 3-ring plastic dividers that are more rigid and durable than the pocket sleeves. Then you can layer your design. For instance, if you have focal points you are designing around they would be permanently placed on the quadrille. Then the clear dividers layered over it starting with the larger hosta on the first layer. The second overlay might show smaller "fill-in" hosta and a third overlay might show heuchera, etc.

Les

....back at the start of this thread you offered to email it to me, and I am interested. If you'd prefer to do a mockup for posting here on this thread, that would be fine too.
My email is in my member page.

HostaLes, the sleeves would be better for removing dots I agree. Making overlays of the film is interesting, but I know I would never keep it going. Such precision is beyond me.

This year at work I got the pleasure of being gifted three 42" monitors which I was to run PowerPoint presentations 24/7. Well that was dandy. I knew nothing. I found that I could get free lessons on youtube. I learn so much from this site. I did the same for Excel and since this post have set up my records for my hostas.

Always remember to save often and there is always undo.

Darn I did not know I had so many! oops

ILovetogrow, Youtube is a godsend sometimes. And thanks for sharing your experience.

Yeah, save often and undo .....lesson #1.
I bet your hosta collection looks great on the big screen!!!

I do believe the EASIEST way to upload your Excel page, is to make a screen shot of the full page. It will come out as a jpg option, save it that way, and can be uploaded.

I'm thinking some pdf files can also be converted within other programs, but don't know about spreadsheets such as Excel.

New software out that I use for tracking and also does printing on laser printer for my pot sticks, labels, and even bench signs for when I am having a public sale. Got to test it out for 45 days (didn't even have to put in a credit card!) Cost me $69...cheap.

Here is a link that might be useful: Plant Tag N Track

HA! I found it.

And there are two others who have a graphic way of tracking their hosta, Wendy and Babka. Yeah, in my Hosta notebook I have this info, and found the original thread.

Hope this brings forward the more recent postings so AlmostHooked and McTavish can take a look.