Identifying seedlings and plants at all stages of life and how that makes you a better flower grower

One stage of growing flowers that is extremely important but not really spoken about is how to identify seedlings at different stages of growth. this can be important if you have mixed up your tags, or if seedlings are self sown or if you have sown seeds direct, and now new things are growing but you are not sure if they are weeds or plants you would like to keep. Knowing what plants look like at all stages helps you to be more aware of what is a weed and needs to be removed before it gets out of hand and what is a treasured seedling you need to nurture and care for as they grow into the plant you desire. Knowing what plants look like at all stages is also important so you know when to pinch them, or how far away they are from flowering, so you know what harvests are due in the near future, and just makes you an overall better growing and more in tune with your crops.

I have added a collection of images below of seedlings at different stages for you to use to help you identify your plants.

I highly recommend leaving in at least 1 of each plant while you are learning, to see that plant go through its full life cycle, from seed, to seedling, full sized plant, to bloom and then seed head, to eventually dying off at the end of the season. This is such a great way to be able to know exactly how plants grow in your climate and you can then mimic nature if they happen to self seed, as you will know when that plant germinates on its own the following season, and you can just copy nature and sow seeds when you know they are happy to grow on their own.

I hope to add as many plants as I can to this blog, but these things take time, so keep in mind this will be updated regularly so you can refer back to it in the future, if you would like for me to add a particular plant to this identification list just let me know. Happy growing, Sam