Most of us spend a lot more time maintaining the health of the plants we grow than in maintaining certainty of their identities. Retaining such vigilance may be a more tedious and less glamorous task but without it a whole collection will degenerate to the point where we give up in frustration. So, why not do it right and make it an interesting job, one that you look forward to rather than back away from when you check your plants? Some of the ideas offered here may make you rethink the process. There are three facets to the job, identifying the plants, labeling them and recording what you identified and labeled. All are essential. Many books have been written on bromeliad identification; we will deal only with the latter two.

Let us be clear at the outset; we are describing one of many possible ways you could go about keeping track of your plants. It is certainly not the only one and, for some people, it may not even be the right one. That choice depends on you. However, it is a way that should offer many private growers a practical management tool for their collections. It should also allow them to use it, with small modifications, for plants such as orchids, bulbs or cacti that they may be growing. Museums and public collections have constraints such as ease of public viewing, which could make some of the labeling techniques unacceptable.

The method proposed ties directly the labeling (signage) of plants with the maintenance of an inventory of those plants. They are not independent tasks. That may sound like it imposes an extra burden on the grower. It does, but only if the grower is not already maintaining an inventory. Otherwise, it is a time- and effort-saving procedure.

Labels

With friends viewing your plants, there are few events more annoying than to see one admired and its identification requested, only to discover that your memory has lapsed and the label has gone, or is undecipherable. Yet, it's not uncommon for this to happen. Relying on the label that came with the plant or scratching a name with a pencil on a tag is better than having no identification attached but it's not a technique that will last for long. People will swear that a black graphite pencil mark on a vinyl tag lasts forever. It may survive for some years in sunshine but if handled, even infrequently, with moisture upon it that dark marking will become pale and illegible. 'Permanent' marker pen names will likely not last even so long as that unless you choose indelible India ink, a choice that you will regret each time you labor to inscribe with it. Once a bromeliad is identified it should have a label that is both clear and long-lasting. By 'label' we mean a tag that bears the identity and other relevant information about the plant. It should remain clear, no matter whether it is exposed to rain, cold, heat, dust,...