decent labels

I need to know of a place to buy decent labels for my plants. I like the ones with holes that let you tie a plastic covered metal twisty on to a branch. Also I need good labels for small pots that you stick in the dirt. I have problems with labels breaking, and fading of the pens I use. I have bought tons of metal labels, but dont need them all the time. Any advice would be great. Thanks.

Kelly, I bought a paint pen at Hobby Lobby, I chose a purple one but they have other colors. I used it on sections of venetian blind slats and left them out in the brutal sun for two years. They haven't faded! I also used it on some strips of plastic I cut from a laundry detergent jug, thicker than other jugs. Again, it worked perfectly. I am impressed with the ability of the "ink" to withstand our sun, as nothing else lasts two months, and they have lasted two years.

Kelly,
Hello, I don't think we've 'met' until now, butI hope I can help a wee bit.
What I do is following:
I have a boy (12) and he uses lots of different coloured straws for his drinks. I made a note of the different plants in a certain area, cut off a wee bit of (used... I'm Scottish) straw, and stick it into the ground whenever I plant a particular plant, noting the colour of the straw, to whichever plant..... even if the plant wasn't so particular. Then you save lots of metal, plastic, ink and oil, just by cutting-up used children's straws. Is that a saving or what???

All the best

Wintermoor

I learned this from Glory. use pencil on cut up mini blinds. I used the paint pen too, but someone said they even fade.

I also use those blind slats, and cut up bleach bottles, etc. I use the Sharpie Extra Fine (not the Ultra), since it has a ball point rather than a felt point and the pen doesn't wear out as fast. The tags will last a year or two up here, but I don't have the baking, bleaching sun that some of you do.

I have a friend who cuts pop cans (they'll cut with old scissors), and she writes on the backs, embossing them so that the name will survive after the inks wears off.

For the plant tags, I make my own with card stock paper on the computer printer. I cut them with my paper cutter and use my single hole punch. I've also used gummed label sheets on the computer to make labels on the tags.

It really gripes me that ordinary little labels are so expensive in the stores. I'm such a Scrooge that I even soak my old labels in soapy bleach water so I can use them again!

Wouldn't a sharpie marker on a popsicle stick, like the ones sold by the hundreds in craft departments work? If the wood is too porous it could probably be primed with a spray primer and then marked on. You could drill a hole in one end for hanging labels.

The paint pens didn't fade after 2 full years in the broiling central Texas sun, tiG, so I think they might hold up.

Hey - wanted to mention ... I have dug plants up several years after buying them (and long after I've lost the tag) To find I burried the original tag that came with plant underneath the root ball. And they still can be read. I did this with a few daylilies. I was thinking it would be worth it to do this with all of them.

I bought several kinds of labels from Paw Paw Everlast Label Company last yr. I got the metal ones complete w/legs you poke in the ground for around our various fruit trees and flowers/shrubs etc in the garden beds. They were actually not very expensive considering they last a gazillion yrs. They also have an assortment of other labels. I'll try to find their website and post later. Also noticed they were not in the Watchdog so I should add them this evening when I get more time.
Oh yeh, they offer several types of markers also.

thanks so much for all the tips, and advice, you guys are great~!!!

I have had a favorite pen for the last few years that does not fade. You have to use nail polish remover to get it off the markers. It is simply called the garden marker and they are available at Home Depot this year. I have found they will smear off if you cover them with dirt, but not fully (I mean like you find one buried and try to rub the dirt off-it takes the writing too). The ink seems to last 2-3 years if you write on the back of the mini blind markers, so that the ink does not face the sun.

Okay...found their website Kelly. It is www.everlastlabel.com

The ones I got are the "rose" markers 11.5 inches high (legs) and the nameplate (zinc) is 1.25 inches X 3.5 inches. I got them for only 27¢ each which to me is cheap since the last forever. Also got some marking pens (and a "grease pen") which is what lots of nursurys use.
There is a wide assortment of other labels too...the kind you put in the pots, or others you can wrap around the plant stem/branch. Also there is free shipping on all labels and they send your order out within 24 hrs. I'm sure I'll do business w/them again.

Thanks for the link Horseshoe, I have bookmarked it and will check it out in detail later. I am sure I will be ordering, they are quite inexpensive for how long they will last. Which kind of marking pen did you get?

I couldn't decide so got some of each! A couple crayons and a couple pencils. I think I like the pencils better cuz they write more fine that the crayons. Both have held up tho and still legible (have only been outside a yr tho). Other markers I've ordered and still use are Nursury Marking Pens, like a magic marker only with better ink in them. (I get those from Shumway's tho.)

Where is Shumway's?

thanks 'shoe, I will try the pencils.

Attention ! K~mart Shoppers!
Martha Stewarts garden marker does a fine job!!! around $4

Kelly...two answers to your question! (One w/an apology!)
Shumways ( a really good company to deal with) now has a website at www.rhshumay.com
However,! Because I deal w/several companies I made a mistake. The place I get the markers from is "Horticultural Products and Services" a.k.a. HPS. They now handle sales and info for Shumways and several other comapanies. Their site is www.HPSseed.com.
By the way, their markers are $1.95.
Sorry for any confusion! I'd recommend you visit both sites tho.
(OH! by the way, if you order from Shumways via telephone there is a toll charge BUT if you call the HPS number it is toll=free and you just tell them which company you are ordering from, and HPS has an 800 number.

thanks again!

Plant labels?

A brilliant, free - and permanent - one can be made by cutting the back off a plastic milk bottle.

Thread a bamboo through the hollow handle and use the big plastic square below it to write your plant name. And turn it upside down (if you see what I mean).

I have them all over my paddock.

I use an indelible marker for the plant name then, at year end, rub it off with alcohol and re-use the label.

John

John...could you post a photo of that someplace and let us see ???