It’s mid-May and we now have some lovely spring weather. I’m sure many of you, like me, have visited some local garden centers. Many of us love to look for a new or interesting plant to get this year. I love looking for new annuals to enjoy this summer or a new perennial to enjoy for years to come. This year I got a “Buttered Popcorn plant” — it really smells like buttered popcorn. It will probably make me want to make some real popcorn. 

We all see the plant tags in the pots when we look at plants. Those little tags tell us a lot of information.

First, it tells us the name of the plant usually in both the Latin term or the common name that we are more familiar with. For example, we may know it as purple coneflower, its botanical name is Echinacea purpurea. 

It will tell if it is an annual or perennial plant. Annuals will grow and bloom throughout the summer and will freeze in the fall. Perennial plants will come back in the coming years if it is hardy here. Perennial plants usually have one blooming time that will be listed on the tag. For example, coneflowers usually bloom June-August. 

It will list what zone or zones it is hardy in. This is very important to know. In our area we are a zone 4 or 4a. This means that those are the plants that can survive our seasons. If a tag says zone 3-8 it is good for our zone.

The tag will tell how large and tall the plant will get. This is important to know so you give it plenty of space for growing, how far apart to plant it from other plants. Also, if it is going to get quite tall you know where to place it so it doesn’t hide smaller plants.

Another important thing to pay attention to is how much sun this plant will want. The tag will tell you this. If it says “shade” — this is what many hostas require, “part shade/sun” — where astilbe and some other plants do best or “full sun” this is what many kinds of plants want. Plants will do best where recommended on the tag. 

Other important information the tag may tell is watering needs. Some plants need to be watered often or if in pots will need to be watered daily. Other plants may be termed as drought tolerant, good to know if you want to plant in an area that may be quite far from a watering source and can only depend on rainfall. Some tags may even tell other care tips like the need for deadheading or when to prune the plant.

I recommend keeping plant tags. An easy way to keep them is in a small photo album with clear plastic pages. You can put the tag in the sleeve and you may also want to take a photo of it where it is located/when in bloom. This can be especially helpful with the many colors of day lilies. Also keeping the tags for new annuals that you try and really like, you may want to purchase them again next year. You can also jot down where you purchased the plant and put that in the photo sleeve.

Even if you don’t or can’t garden, take time to stop at a garden center to just enjoy the beauty and variety of colors and smells-it does your soul good.

Unfortunately, the Green County Master Gardeners had to cancel the planned Garden tour that was scheduled in late June. The host of the gardens all hope it can be held next year.  

— Kris Winkler is a master gardener with the University of Wisconsin-Extension. She can be reached at kriswink56@gmail.com.