Pirl is a Genius

pirl sent me some daylilies w/ a cut plastic miniblind as a label!
She told me once that cut up Venetian blinds was the way to go for those of us who have more than um, a few plants they want labeled. When I think of Venetian blinds, I think of the clanky metal things that were in my room growing up: wide, metal, and very bendy. They are the kind of metal that gives me the "willies" when I touch it, so I never gave them a second thought to using them as labels. I was in a Big Box Mart yesterday, and I noticed a box of the plastic white mini blinds for $3! I came home and cut them up!!! Woo-hoo! I have at least 450 6" x 1" labels here for $3!!! (Big enough to write on!)
Thanks, pirl!!!!!!!!!
(p.s. I've always noticed that the stores have big markdowns on blinds that someone has opened- double score for Frugal Yanks!)

That is a great idea, I've been using them for years!!

When the snow melts in the spring, my gardens look like tiny cemeteries, all of the white mini blind markers standing out like tiny tombstones.

LOL!
Mine look like a graveyard b/c it usually is a plant graveyard. Jack Frost should add "RIP" to the labels.
I have 100 or so of the "good" perennial markers on my nicer plants, but it is always important to have a sturdy plastic one buried as a back up. Something pulls up my metal markers.

I was out of blinds so I tried shades - didn't work out so well. Actually, people have been doing that for some time. I have received a number of orders with them as markers.

I just cut up my yogurt containers. . . DH bought me some lovely metal markers for Christmas :-)

Doesn't matter what markers I use the squirrels rearrange them anyway. My asiatic lily tags were rearranged so neatly, I almost punished my son for doing it! I couldn't believe a squirrel would be so orderly. I'm collecting flat rocks to use as tags. Another one of Arlene's ideas.

Harper, what do you use to write on them, a paint pen? Nail polish? With 2 teenage girls we have a variety of colors on hand. I like the idea of flat rocks. C.

I'd like to see a pic too, I can always use an excuse to wade barefoot in the creek ^_^

I have more flat rocks than pebble beach. I used to use them for markers by painting them w/ simple acrylic paint and a small brush. (Here is when it's handy to have spent a few years in art school) BUT, as I said once before, the painted rocks outlast the plants every time! Talk about a graveyard... I have dozens of rocks marked w/ the names of the fancy hybrid tea roses I used to grow. Funny how "winter hardy" isn't always! If by winter, you mean in Fiji, I suppose.
I guess I could paint over them w/ white acrylic, then add a new name. I have lots of plants, though- I write out my markers while watching TV, and rocks are messy to drag into the house. (I do have plenty of my "special" rocks in the house- I ran out of room outdoors) I use pirl's mini-blind idea for the annuals. And yes, some critter always re-arranges them, but the cut blinds are harder for them to take off with than the little ones the stores sell. Plain pencil really does work the best! And they're cheaper than paint pens, which seem to get lost...so I buy pencils in big packages...they get lost, too...maybe I should look under the rocks...

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha yes, look under the rocks. In my house it would be look under the books; there are stacks of the things everywhere, and I'm afraid they wouldn't work as garden labels.

Someone was selling nice labels in the classified forum last year, and I got a few, just so when I say Daylily Row the aides don't start looking in the bra drawer or anything. Not for individual plants, but for areas of the yard. x, C

Carrie, thank goodness someone out there can relate to me!!!! I'm not quite as bad as the "hoarders" they profile on Oprah, but I DO go out and buy more of something b/c I can't find the original!!! Biggest offenders: pens, pencils, & misc. office supplies; blank CDs and DVDs; stamps, packing supplies and hand tools. (I KNOW I own 23,000 Philips' head screwdrivers; why can't I find ONE???)
Most aggrevating is that I find my original purchases carefully stored in a cabinet or drawer. It never occurs to me that I MAY have put objects in their proper places!
Out of sheer frustration, I now own 3 electric pencil sharpeners (and 2 battery), 9 desk-type tape dispensers, 2 pair of scissors for every room, at least a dozen flashlights... don't even get me started on how many plant tools I have!!!

I have (true confessions here - noone's going to tell my MOTHER are they?) twice the number of sheets and pillowcases I need - because my aides hide them (or maybe just put them in the wrong place), I forget I have them, and I see a good deal, so I buy some more.

But that's nothing compared to my father, who is compulsively neat and organized and is always telling me it's time to downsize. Was telling me. My aunt and my brother packed up the nicest contents of his kitchen in Santa Fe for me when they moved him east last fall. I got nut grinders, cheese graters, very fancy stuff, and .... five (5) garlic presses. What the heck did he do with five separate garlic presses? Oy vey!!!! And this from a guy who's been complaining about ME that I have too much stuff! It's just that his stuff all fit in one side of one drawer - but five garlic presses - you can see how I got to be the way I am..... hoarders of the world unite! You never know when you might need it, if you can find it! xx, Carrie

Why are your aides hiding your stuff? Maybe they're helping themselves? It's clobberin' time!
I refuse to have my mom babysit my kitten, Jax, b/c I get the "downsize" lecture!!! Who would not rather pay through the nose to have their kitten locked up at the vet's than to have to listen to their Mother and her Righteous Lecture on having Too Many Things-" You really have to start getting rid of all that stuff!" This past vacation, my vet's was unexpectedly closed (make that ex-vet!) and Mom had to kitty-sit. Why bother take a vacation when you come home to that speech? Oy, indeed!!!!
I probably have 5 garlic presses! You get them when you can't find the first one you bought!
I, too, am a sheet-a-holic! I would rather go out and buy new sheets than wash and re-make the old ones. I think that's justified, because you get sick of the pattern, or lack of a pattern. The sheets in the store always look so fresh and inviting! But then I complain about having NO closet space. I should use those old sheets as weed prevention layer. Then I could turn my whole lawn into a garden. HHmmm...

Hmm indeed - I like that last idea.

Do you use duvet covers? I used to have these terrific plans that once a cover got washed, it would get stored, with its matching shams, in a large ziploc - I don't know, am I thinking 2 quart? 2 gallon? The big kind. Same with sets of sheets - wash them together, dry them together, fold them up and stick them in a ziploc. Now I think there are some ziplocs with SOMETHING in them at the bottom of the closet, but I couldn't tell you what they are.

But it is clear to me, or would be to my father, that the problem lies in the design of the closet. The shelves are too deep, so an entire mystery layer exists at the back. This closet should have the same amount of space and double doors and deep shelves in the doors - I read too many remodeling magazines before I started reading gardening ones. LOL, or make this closet shallower and only for sheets we use, and maybe another closet on the OTHER side of the wall - I think that would be by the fireplace - or how about recessed shelves? Ha ha ha I think I'm getting ahead of myself, all I want to do today is finish sowing a few annuals and send out some seeds!!! xx, Carrie

When you become an adult you can do what you want to do. Myself I look at it like this. I have what I need and the more you own the more you have to clean.

Carrie, I haven't painted on my rocks yet. I think pirl uses paint pens for hers.

Back on the topic:

Pirl has a great idea! I've grown tired of losing the tags over winter and never considered using the slats. Some of the plastic markers I've used for the housplants don't hold indelible marker for any length of time, and I've changed to using pencil on them. Does anyone recommend pencil for the outdoor slat-markers, or is there something else which will last a long time?

Maybe some of the mini-blinds come in color so you can reduce the graveyard look, and you can tailor your colors to the type of plantings or the bloom time or special requirements.

Just to clarify the subject matter - the idea came from DG long ago. I just made use of it. The idea of writing on rocks was all my own and I use a paint pen, Harper.

Lynn - Pencil actually works very well. Several people with whom I traded in 2005 sent plants with the VB marked with pencil and they're still legible. Different color blinds could also mean different things - like move to another garden or donate or future trade.

I also like the idea of using muscari around daffodil and tulip areas so we don't mistake it for a vacancy come fall since the muscari sends up fall growth to remind us we have something planted in what appears to be a vacancy.

My neighbor always brings out a jug of hot soapy water and an old towel so I've added that to my favorite things, too. Very handy to keep from constantly going inside to wash my hands so I can use the camera.

Hardly a genius but not a "Biddie" either,

Pirl

Yep. your rock idea is the best Arlene. Hey, good idea about the soapy jug and towel. I know it's for hands, but come bug picking time, I'm gonna have a soapy bucket out there with dead slugs in it!

Two jugs of soapy water and make sure you know which one is for your hands, Harper. Actually no need to drop them in water if you keep scissors with your gardening tools: it's a quicker and kinder death to them. Just bury them after division - just like daylilies!

Eeeew, but I don't want to gunk up my scissors. Slugs are so slimy.

He, he... "bury them after division..." Muha ha ha ha!!

I imagine a grease pencil would work well too.

Harper - after "division" scratch the scissors in the soil and bury the remains. Wipe the scissors on the soil and it will be just fine. You could add a little white cross made of Venetian blind slats if you want to get fancy and also as a reminder of where they get buried. No prayers or services required.

Victor - I haven't tried a grease pencil yet. Where do you buy them?

Hee, hee - little slug crosses!

Such great ideas, everyone and I will be doing all of them. I may try looking in Staples for a couple of grease pencils and will visit the crafts store for new paint pens. Maybe using different colors of them and painting white slats with the old nail polish will help with culture or ID, too.

You are a clever one, pirl! I can make good use of those empty jugs now. I think the idea of two will do the trick - one with soapy water and one plain.

Yes, probably office supply places. I have a whole bunch from work but still have not tried them. I can't use anything in / on the ground because the fall cleanup guys kick it all over. Also, animals do sometimes as well. That's why I bought the tags. I need to have them on the plants themselves.

Put a sign like this one on the slug jug.

The drawing was done by Nancy (Gabagoo) in my honor!

That's why I bought them, too, Victor. I have a whole pail of Venetian blind labels outside that either the squirrels, the winds or something dislodged them. Must be 50 of them to replace but much deeper this time. Another good use for garden scissors!

She made him too cute looking!

I wonder if you can use some long nails or wire shaped like a staple to really "plant the tags? I have a bunch of left-over nails from when we replaced the deck.

Slugs - UGH!!! Maybe a red circle with a line through it on the cute picture?

I've tried that one, Lynn, and the blinds snap, especially in the cold.

Here's the one Jazzpunkin made for me when I was smashing their bodies with the trowel.

Hmmmm.... I won't waste my time with the nails, then. Besides, I worry about losing the nails in the ground only to have them show up while tilling or walking in flip flops.

Love the slug drawings! They always creep me out when I'm repotting plants and I find them hiding in the bottom with the roots. Ghastly creatures!

I just got a mini-book called "50 Ways To Kill A Slug". It cracked me up!

It would be cute to have garden markers with one of those slug drawings on them, just for fun.

Here are the grease pens we used.

http://www.artbistro.com/products/products/504-china-marker-grease-pen

Interesting, Victor. Thanks for the link. They say it rubs off easily. Have you used them in the garden and how did they perform?

No, I have not. When we used them on shiny surfaces, it took purposeful rubbing to remove it.

My labels arrived today! So did coleus and a box of lilies from a very sweet trader.

Where did you get the labels, pirl? Were they pre-printed??
The amount of money I pay for a label correlates perfectly to the likelihood I'll lose it or the plant will die. Or both.
The grease pencils are called "China markers" and Staples sells them. They are great if you want to rub off the writing! I use them on the metal $$ perennial markers. After all, perennial doesn't always mean perennial, as I've experienced w/ the rock fiasco.

Carrie, when I finally figure out what a duvet is, I'll get one and buy a cover for it. Where do you get them??? I've never seen one for sale.
I was told I was sleeping under a duvet when I was in Geneva. Funny, it looked like a quilt to me, and I nearly suffocated w/ the heat!

Guys, SLUGS ARE CUTE!!! Just buy a bag of crushed shells to put around the plant! Don't squish 'em! They have little antennas!

grease pencils I don't belive can take the heat.