Hi; I totally redesigned and replanted my three garden beds last summer. I carefully marked each plant .. especially those I wanted to move this spring. Now here is the problem. Squirrels. They dug up all of my markers. In fact, I think they may have dug up some plants (my japanese toad lilies). What is the best way to go about reidentifying and .. maybe transplanting my plants? Is it true that weeds will grow faster than regular plants i.e. perennials? Thanks for the help, Scratching my head in Hamilton
When they come up you could post pictures here and try for an id that way, but then transplanting them might be a problem with some plants, as some spring bulbs as well as some perennials are touchy that way. With some plants you might need to wait until after they bloom and then transplant. Most perennials, however, can be be carefully transplanted after they sprout a few leaves. Also with just foliage and no blooms id becomes a bit more difficult but you can try early photos and then if no luck that way, wait until they bloom and then repost. Any new post in a thread will bump it to the head of queue. As far as weeds growing faster than perennials, I wouldn't count on that to be a sure way to tell what is a weed and what is not. Better to be able to tell which is which. Someone here on the forum said that the way to tell a weed from something you wanted to keep was to pull it. If it came out easy, then it was something you wanted to keep. :) But if you can post pictures here, there are some really experts at plant id that frequent this forum that will probably be able to tell you what is what. Harry
Prepare a map, or at least a list with brief descriptions of the plants, on paper or on your computer and start filling in the information as you get it. This is always a great idea for those of us with poor memories or who are poor at visual identification because labels fade and other critters such as crows and children move them around. For these reasons, I am thankful that I made a map ten years ago when I planted eucalypts because they are difficult to distinguish, especially when young. (Then one has to remember where one put the map.) I also have a map of the plants I plant in my mom’s garden because most of the time I don't know what plant she is talking about when she calls without referring to it, especially for the roses. For our memorial garden, I have a long list of plants on my laptop, and I refer to it often.
