I draw a plan and take photos. I don't cut back a lot of the plants until spring and I leave plant supports and bamboo canes in over winter. When I used to open my old garden I used black plant labels.
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
I used to mark plant locations with pieces of cane so I would know where everything was over winter. I didn't care what it was, just marking that something was planted there.
With hostas and a few other plants with tough flower stems, I leave one or two stems cut back to 6" until the bullets of new growth start showing through.
For the last few years I've used black plastic marker labels written with a permanent white marker. These are much less noticeable in the border than white plastic labels and the white marker ink doesn't fade. The black labels also seem to be less attractive to blackbirds etc so they don't get pulled out and thrown around like the white or wooden ones.
Of course we should all be using less plastic in the garden but the labels I've used have been in the ground for at least 3 seasons and look as though they'll be good for at least another 10 - probably more.
Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
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For the last few years I've used black plastic marker labels written with a permanent white marker. These are much less noticeable in the border than white plastic labels and the white marker ink doesn't fade. The black labels also seem to be less attractive to blackbirds etc so they don't get pulled out and thrown around like the white or wooden ones.
Of course we should all be using less plastic in the garden but the labels I've used have been in the ground for at least 3 seasons and look as though they'll be good for at least another 10 - probably more.