It's such a good thing to do. I've tried off and on over the years but then I get lazy. I do have a list of my roses on HMF and keep it current. I do make lists of what needs to get planted and sometimes lists of roses that need extra care so I don't forget.

I post journals about all of my roses on hmf, and keep track of how they do that way. I should make my own copy just in case also.

Do you have a phone with a camera? I am thinking of doing a garden journal on my phone with pictures. Instead of typing, you can use voice memos if your phone does that. You could then transfer it to a laptop for easier viewing.

I do a blog. It's been helpful to see the progress of my plants and garden in general and I've made some nice friends out of it also.

Hoovb, I read your blog. Nice!

Thanks mauvegirl8, you are very kind! I've been doing more xeric plants lately than roses, but I still adore my roses.

notebooks

start cataloging your roses

I have a rose notebook but it really has only basic information:

list of all my roses

list of roses I've discarded or given away

list of when and from whom I've bought my roses (unfortunately not quite complete)

location of the roses (front triangle bed, front rectangular bed, roses at the edge of the hillside, etc.) It's quite a mess since I've added and subtracted so many lately, really need to start a new one

list of roses I may want in the future (very short now, most entries crossed off since I'm downsizing)

list of roses that do well in the heat

thoughts about garden design

Ingrid

I have a MS Excel spreadsheet that I keep a bunch of garden information on. It makes it easier to "move" roses that way. But it does not include any bloom or growth info just that they are and basically where. Like Ingrid they are listed by area and I did try and make it so there is some order.

Which reminds me I have a lot of updating to do.

I have spreadsheets in Excel and I take copious photos of them all season. Not just the blooms but the whole plant and leaves and things too. Each rose has it's own file of photos for that season so I can go back and see how it performed. A picture IS worth a 1000 words!

I first document how it came out of winter. Then after I spring pruned it. After that it gets a full plant shot about once a month through the growing season. Last shot is in the fall before it goes into winter. If it has any anomalous growth or blooms during the season those get shot too. I walk my roses every day and I never go out without my camera.

I buy all my roses online, and I never delete the order confirmation that is emailed to me. So in that sense I have a record of what I bought, when, and from whom. But that's about it.

I'm a book, pencil, paper person myself. But I really like the idea of what Seil does. And on that note, many THANKS to Seil for uploading lots of those photos to HMF!!

I have a little blog I update so I can see my progress as a gardener and see how my garden changes over the years. And I also I have an excel spreadsheet where I track:

Type of Roses
Bloom Color
Bloom Time
Mature Size
Repeating?
Year Planted
Purchased At

I have tabs for roses, hydrangeas, clematis, sun perennials, shade perennials, miniature roses, and then I have a tab for things that I've grown that didn't make it. It might seem like overkill to some but I enjoy the process and it's really helpful when I want to think back and remember details. :o)

Tracking disease history is a pretty good idea. I might have to add that to my spreadsheet.

Michaela

I love seil's idea. I just put this app on my phone and laptop called Day One. It's a general journal with photos, and it also logs in the weather/time/location of when you post. You can also use tags (each rose or subject) so you can filter on those. I am going to start doing this now. I will be adding a lot of new roses and relocating some this coming year, so I want to keep good records. Also, I am considering becoming a Consulting Rosarian and you have to do a report on 4 new roses each year, so this will help.

I keep two spread sheets, one with ever rose I've ever put in, when I planted it, when it died (if it did), vendor, where it is planted, if I moved or replaced it, etc. The second is the roses that are currently in the garden.

I use Evernote for a number of other things and have considered putting a more expanded journal onto it. That's a good winter project. I can add links to other sites, for instance, comments that appear here and of course hmf. Annd since Evernote is synced on all my devices, I can work on it while waiting in airports and doctors' offices.

I wish I was less technically challenged! You've given me some ideas. I've kept a garden journal for the last 20 years. I just started on volume 36 (some notebooks are thinner than others). I record the progress of roses and plantings in lots of pictures, the oldest are paper prints in photo albums. I keep files of all my roses, living or dead and add the same data as catsrose does. I've started a separate notebook with ideas and tips only and suggestions for new plants to get. I realized that these ideas got lost in the journals.

Mariannese, volume 36 very impressive

I just keep a notebook, but as I don't have as many roses as I'd like, I keep other plant's information in it too. I've been trying to think of a different, easy way to do it, and these all have helped me too!

My spreadsheet badly needs updating; also it doesn't offer enough room for the information I'd like to record on roses. I think it's an excellent idea to record also roses that used to be in the garden, and why they no longer are--but I don't do that.
I'm horribly behind on all my record keeping, but am working on get my documentation up to date. Currently we might have about 300 rose varieties and several hundred plants, plus all the other plants in the garden. I rely on maps quite a bit, plus verbal descriptions of locations of plants, especially those that are hard to keep labels on (like violets).
I do wish I were comfortable with photography and good at it; I agree visual documentation is extremely helpful.
Melissa

I keep both spreadsheets and journals.

In the spreadsheet I keep track of hybridizer, year of introduction, class, color, where the plant was purchased, location in the yard, date of planting, and notes on progress for each of the roses I grow. I also keep a list of roses that have failed here including what the problem/s was/were.

The journals are closer to a mix of ramblings about what I noticed out in the garden on a given day and a sketch book. I have pages filled with the names of newly acquainted cultivars/species/genera of plants that I'd like to know more about. There are rough sketches of my borders with locations of plants marked out. Of late, I've worked on designs for a few areas to be modified next year.

The journals are less rose-centric, but they have lists I've made while going through rose gardens, designs I had started for a small heritage rose garden in the local public cemetery which I'd like to propose someday, and plenty of notes on a good number of varieties. I'm on my third after about 2 years of gardening regularly. They have varied in size, but I'm going to get larger journals in the future.

Jay

I'm glad I've kept rose field journals for c. a decade, so I can look up which roses I grew a decade ago and rarely think about, since a few got left behind when I moved (Lemon Spice)
or were shovel pruned because they suffered greatly and defoliated;
- from p.m. , 'Ducher'
-or rust ; H.P. 'Monsieur Boncenne
- or blackspot as Georgetown Tea and 'Lundys Lane' a Pernetiana)
so I won't be tempted to buy them again.

as well as beloved old friends whom I wish to see again in my garden; 'Alba Semi-Plena', a.k.a. white 'Rose of York'
'Marachel Niel' loved and lost.

As useful as computers are, I love the feel of a book or notebook in my hand, there is more of a person in a book; little drawings of a cat or butterfly, tea and coffee stains, a red jam smear from a Danish pastry that Marlene had brought to one of the volunteer "Dirt Days" at vintage gardens, now remembered as among the sweetest of golden days. I wrote down the names of several roses I wanted including 'Baronne Henriette de Snoy'

So many roses, such sublime beauty, and such good people who love and tend them.
Lux.
if I didn't observe and take notes, I feel I might be missing out on things in the garden. Green eyed white feline Galahad' is stalking hummingbirds who are feeding high upon the purple Mexican sage... Dream on little kitty, dream on.
L.

I puzzled over this problem for a while. I used to use Excel but it got to unwieldy. What I wanted was a database of all my roses (and other plants) where I could keep all the info for each rose and be able to access each one with one click. I wanted to include yearly updates with photos and pest/fertilizer info, pruning info, -etc. I have a Mac and settled on Tap Forms. The price was right and it didn't take too long to set it up as my garden database. It's not perfect, but it's the best solution I was able to find. I really enjoy updating with annual photos so you can watch the progress and gauge results. It's a bit like having a scrap book for each rose. And it is fun to browse when one has the winter blues in February!

I bought a new binder especially for my garden. I think I will insert a special picture on the front cover.

The dividers will be clear inserts with my pencil drawing of each bed. I will then use a special paper for each rose.

At this time I only have a little more than 100 roses, but I would like to mark the bloom cycles, incidents of black spot and the causes, and other topics that I may note at the time.

Some roses get so much black spot that the roses defoliate, and I cannot grow them. Other roses seem to get black spot after rainy days, but the black spot almost disappears.

You have given me so many ideas that I need to write down the other topics that I consider important.

My roses are still blooming, but soon the weather will change, and I will have to wait. I know that it is fun to use the roses for Christmas lights, then begin cutting after Christmas.

I really appreciate all the suggestions.

Sammy