Labelling plants?

I have a terrible memory,and can't remember names, so I have to try to label my plants well. Trouble is when I plant them,with the white labels sticking out of the soil they look tatty, so I'm trying to find a way to do it without making it look like a graveyard .
I've done some with flat white pebbles,writing with indelible ink, and covering with varnish.I have numerous inquisitive children that invade my garden ,so I'm worried that they'll be moving these around, throwing me into complete confusion!!...LOL
how do other people mark their plants, but without spending a fortune? and being illegible to read by next summer?

The only way I can remember the plants by scientific name is to go out every day and 'talk' to them; calling them by name. I have tried labeling w/o success, as w/o the label I didn't know their names anymore.

Plus I do have a list of all current plants on computer (Plant Inventory) to help stir the memory.

Yes I found labeling counter productive because I had to rely on a label and then lost them to memory. You might rough draw each bed with the plants in them. A nice project for the winter evening.

There is nothing more embarrassing than having friends ask for the plant name, and I tell them I can't remember. I had two garden tours this year and carried my printout of Plant Inventory in the back pocket for insurance.

Sue, I made some tags a couple of years ago out of soft copper sheet, cut into strips. The copper is soft enough to emboss the names with a hard pencil or ball-point pen. My only problem with them is that when the copper starts to weather (like the next year), the embossing is hard to read unless there's enough light across the impressions of the lettering. I hung them from a stake made of bent wire clothes hangers.

If I were to make more, I'd make them a bit longer so the letters could be larger. Plus, they tend to bend/curl when I accidentally brushed against them when weeding or dead-heading, so I'd look for thicker sheet copper that was still maleable. They were very unobtrusive in the garden, though.

Why not go to your good old puter & make a map. We have used a map plan when giving someone a bid on a planting job.
I use Microsoft Paint for this job. I draw a little flower where each plant is and then type in the name along side.

Some of the high end companies have fancy tags you can put on the plants, simalar to what darius is talking about.
Bernie

I take pictures all yr then i know where they all are! ;)
I also chart things in a notebook.

We have tried various methods of labeling thru the years. What seems to be most valuable is the memorizing of names and locations tho that is getting harder as time and age go on. I've made labels from the narrow venition blind strips. I write on them with permenant marker than use an outdoor clear tape over that for better weathering. I have started buying markers from a company called Plantid which are quite nice. I don't mind seeing markers. These are low to the ground tho , but the inserts are off white and if you use black or bright red or blue marker it is easily seen. The company has a website for looking/ordering. I wish we could afford the really tall markers I see in the Gembel catalog. They go up to 30" tall and have lots of marking room. Pictures of beds do help.

I came across this recently on bhg.com. It's a Garden Planner. Has anyone tried it? Seems like it might be another way to make a map of your garden.

http://www.bhg.com/bhg/story.jhtml?storyid=/templatedata/bhg/story/data/planagardenhome_03022002.xml&catref=S2

I map my garden in my graphics program, which happens to be Paint Shop Pro. This is how I plan the gardens, so I just use the plans as my map.

I also use the mini blind markers, and I got some zinc markers to lable one of my gardens. I plan to engrave them this winter.

Also, I've started using Excel to keep track of the stuff in the gardens. I have a different sheet for each 'catagory' so I can look up how tall a particular iris is supposed to be, when a particular daylily is supposed to bloom ... stuff you can't put on a tag.

Between the three, I hope I'll be able to keep track of what's where ...

Cheri'

I like these zinc plant markers. http://www.groworganic.com/a/item_GP570_ZincBotanicalPlantMarkers10Long.html I write on them in pencil and the graphite causes the zinc to corrode a tiny bit and that etches the wording into the metal. I've had them for several years and they are still highly legible. Also, I've yet to mangle or destroy one by stepping on it. Plastic markers don't stand a chance with Kellizilla tromping around.

Thanks everyone,Loads of good advice and ideas there for me,have checked out the various sites,might have a go at making some of the copper tags darius,do you get sharp edges when you cut the metal? and what do you cut it with? I have got some copper ties on my clematis, and they're fine, but to buy enough to label my whole garden would cost a fortune.
I think a plan of the planting too would be good.I sow, grow and plant loads each yaer, so consequently loose loads too..slugs I think..major problem here.
you sound like me golddog..hee..hee..I'm always mumbling around when people ask me names,I know I know it,but...
I'm often to be found on my hands and knees ,scrabbling for the labels,trying to read what has become just a blurr.

sueone, the copper I had could be cut with scissors. Yes, the edges were sharp, but I folded over about 1/8: on all sides, over a ruler, and mashed them down with a table knife. I punched the holes for hanging with a regular paper punch. I think I paid about $10 for a piece 10 feet x 1 foot, so it would have made plenty!

I think there was a site where the zinc markers were about half that price. I am thinking of using them with embossed labels from a label maker... I also make a map of the hosta gardens, as the labels get lost; and it does look nasty, like a gerbil graveyard when there is no foliage.

I have used labels from See-Fine Markers for many years. Their address is1009"9" Street, Lewiston ID 83501. I use a Brother Labeler, 1/2" tape, either clear or white. Then after the name tape is applied to the label, I cover it with all weather clear tape.Until this season I hadn't used the exterior clear tape, but I think that will make the labels legible for many years.

When I first bought from them they sold a lacquer paint pen that lasted 10 to 15 years, but that is no longer available. They make 13, 20 and 26" tall stakes, with labels 1 3/4 x 3 1/4".

I also buy Rose type labels from garden catalogs, with U shaped legs that slip into a galvanised label that is slightly smaller than the See-Fine ones. It doesn't bother me to see the stakes in the winter time. I just want to know what plants are planted where without going into the house to look at my plan. An garden visitors like to tell what the plants are, especially when I am not right there. Donna

I'm not real big with the names. When asked whats this flower I usually reply with one of two answers. Pretty or Linda's ask her.

Works for me. I do mark the dalhias with a flair pen or a magic marker on the bulbs. I mark the plants in the row with white plastic stakes and draw a rough plot plan.

The only reason I mark these is because I have them to dig and cut for storage otherwise they would just be pretty as well. Ernie.

I'm sure I don't have the intense sun bleaching that many of you have when it comes to plant stakes or tags, but a friend of mine gave me a good idea. I make my tags from old plastic window blind slats, marking with a Sharpie pen. When the plants go in the ground at her house, she sticks the tags into the soil, at a slant, print facing the ground. In other words, buried tags seem to weather better than those above ground. That would also eliminate that 'graveyard look'.

what a good idea,and recycling too,perhaps when I next visit my sister I might offer to take her blinds down and wash them for her !!...LOL

Good idea, Sueone! You could take out every other slat and she'd hardly notice! LOL

She'd be suspicious that fact that I'd offered to do some housework,never was one of my favouruite past-times..LOL
Better things to do outdoors.

Same here, Sueone. My yard is all raked and tidy, the pots put away, the garden beds trimmed... but walk into my house, and it's quite a different story! I guess I should have raked inside, as well!

Weez, I had some plants in pots this summer and put the mini blind marker printed side facing the plant. The print did not fade like those facing the outside of the pot. Azalea sent me some plants in a trade and she put the name of the plant on the top of the marker and the bottom so the printing was also in the soil - it hasn't faded.

I posted this in Home & Crafts. I saw in a magazine - get old silverware (knives and forks). Use metal primer on the handles and paint. They painted them cream colored, then painted little flowers and leaves, then printed the name of the plant and used a sealer. Shove the fork or knife in the soil. I think I'm going to try this without the flowers and leaves and paint the handles in different colors.

Thanks, elsie. I'm glad to hear that the buried tags work in your neck of the woods, as well. Printing them top and bottom is a good idea. Old silverware would make some interesting tags, though I've got so many plants it would look like a sit down dinner at the White House!

An old man I know who is 90 next weekend, and still gardens, keeps no labels in the garden. He has a large hand drawn plan of his garden including all the features like stones and trees. It is divided into 3 feet squares with numbers allocated to each plant. In the garden he buried Bamboo canes, when he started gardening, to form the 3 feet squares. He now knows where every plant is and what it is. He also keeps a record of every plant he has ever bought. How much it cost, from who and the date.

I have a 5 inch black labels for all my plants with the name written with a silver paint pen that has a .5mm end. Each bulb has a number allocated to it written on an 8 inch blabk label pushed into the ground so only 1 inch with the number is showing. The 5 inch label is pushed out of view into the soil behind the numbered label. This method is catching on fast here in N Ireland and probably further a field. I'll take a photo today.

here you go fresh out of the camera. The numbered label was written using a paint marker. The name of the plant on the 5 inch label was written using an Artline 999XF pen. The nib is .8mm not .5mm.

The name refers to Galanthus 'Warley Duo'

oops 'Warley Longbow'.

The tiny leaf to the right belongs to a fern Pterophyllum racemosum with 1 inch fronds

sorry for changing the subject I just thought someone would be interested

Cool markers, Mark... and, Happy Birthday!

thanks

Happy birtday Mark, you share it with one of my daughters. Love the labels.

thanks Sue

I use the vinyl mini blinds, but found that Sharpie ink tends to fade after a season or two. A black paint pen has eliminated that problem.

If you don't like sticking the labels in the ground, you might try hanging them on the plant with florists wire. Of course this won't work for all plants, but it might break up the "graveyard" look a bit. : )

Sharpie pens dont do like they say. They should be told. They graveyard look isnt a nice one and can be rectified by black labels.

At plant sales over here people are being asked not to use home made labels made out of any white plastic eg yoghurt cups and plastic knives

My flowerbeds are deep with 200+ daylily colors, 200 + iris colors, mums etc. Since I'm forever rearranging plants when new ones come, I just can't remember where they all are! Our puppy likes to pull & chew on plastic or vinyl tags so I changed over to the zinc stakes (20 for $5.99 locally). He pulled up several each day until I got him straightened out. My art store friend had me test several pens until I found one that didn't fade. I also store images in my computer & take photos for my garden albums. Whew!

I'm going to give the buried label approach a real try next spring. If only the top sticks out of the soil, it will certainly be available should I need to read it.

In most cases, I know what I have planted because I can identify it by sight with photos as reminders. Most of my labeling issues are with the small pots I winter over. Those must have labels since will be selling these plants in the spring.

I go through a tremendous amount of tags, using plastic blinds, white plastic bottles, etc. I have two five gallon buckets of them sitting on my porch ready to be bleached out for next year. I cannot afford to buy commercially made tags and still keep my prices down, so I'm stuck with the hand written tags.

If my inkjet printer didn't run colors in the rain, I'd print them out and they'd last the season. I've wondered if laser printers are any more colorfast.

bumping, there is a lot of good advice here.

Just deciding what to do it the killer!

I really like Darius' idea. Where would I get the copper sheeting? Home Depot?

Melissa... I got my copper sheeting in a roll at a craft store. While itt was easy to cut with scissors, next time I'd get a heavier gauge even if I have to score it with a utility knife several times to cut it.

The thinner sheets curl/bend too much for me in the garden, even though they really are okay.