I was just going over the post about labeling & I just wanted to stress this point while everyone is in a frenzy ordering & buying new plants. SAVE THE NAMES OF YOUR PLANTS!! You may not think it's important now ..... but in the long run you'll be happy you did. ESPECIALLY if you plan to trade a lot in the future.
I don't know how many times I've kicked myself for not saving the name of a plant. Many traders will not even consider trading for un-named hybrids - and of course these are the traders that have all the wonderful plants that you want!
I've always saved the receipts of any plants I've ordered & it has been a life saver over the years but I've lost just as many. Labels do break, fade out, and get lost. It's nice to have a journal or notebook to go back to and find a name you're missing.
I know in the beginning you only plan to have a few of these and a couple of those. But after gardening for a few years your taste change. You may go in a completely different direction than when you initially started out. I've never been a daylily fan but I've found myself being drawn to them the last couple of years and now I have a collection of 100 different hybrids. I have kicked myself over & over for loosing the names of the first ones I bought.
You pay good money for your perennials and they will repay you if you take care of them and remember who they are.
It really IS important to save those names!!
I'll second that.
Mike
If PoppySue's explanation isn't incentive enough, I'll give a real-life example of how valuable the names are. When we were selling our previous home, I put together a detailed fact sheet about the various features of our home, including two pages devoted to the gardens, and the names of all the plants and trees. It was a big selling point to the buyers, who were very impressed by the detailed descriptions. The only way I could have pulled that much information together was because I kept a journal to log every nursery purchase we made from the time we moved in.
AMEN!
Excellent advice :)
Trish
Amen... I have been making plant markers out of a soft copper tooling foil, having gotten tired of faded markers. The copper works very well as it has the name impressed instead of just inked, and I hope to go back and mark all my plants. Fortunately, I enter all the data on my computer, so all I have to do is match descriptions with the plants this year.
I have all seeds and plants I have listed on the computer. The reason is that our ducks and chickens like to pull any plant labels out (well they might be edible!). It also makes life easier when I'm trading or selling seeds and plants. The trouble is I've bought plants and seeds in the past from reputable companies only to find they are not what they proclaim to be. I invested in a large RHS book which helps a great deal when trying to identify anything odd. The other problem is mutations and sports which have appeared from established plants, the most recent being a variegated tansy. I still can't find the proper name for this one.
Debby
Welcome to DG, Debby/Baa! How funny - I only have a couple dimwit dogs to contend with, and they have an invisible fence that keeps them out of my flower beds most of the time......
Darius, where did you find your copper tooling foil? I have started making my own plant marker stakes out of heavy gauge copper, but I have searched high and low for copper sheets (flashing, etc) to create the actual tag to hang from the stake. This is exciting, I may actually get these tags made yet!
Interesting that this should come up now......I have to move some plants from the side of my house so our sewer can be connected to the new sewer main. Unfortunately, I did not keep my markers updated and my dogs have apparently gotten hold of most of them. I have miniature roses there, I just don't know which one is which. I am really seeing the value in keeping markers and recording information. I just have to discipline myself to do it. Loved all your comments.
Bump! this is a good thread! My pet peeve is not having names. I write down everything and put out labels. I know what year and where I got the plant. The last is helpful in deciding if a company is worth it, and I dropped a few this year. I also date when I move a plant and what bed it is in. I name all my beds.
Howdy Do Poppysue.
I'll agree with this thread. I had all my plants tagged, but when I cleaned them up many of the tags were scattered. I was glad that I had drawn up an actual plant inventory map at the end of the season.
Al
Terry, to answer your question about sources for copper. I found a company called Nimrod Hall Copper Co, web address minrodhall. com. which sells "craft packets" of copper sheeting. They will send you samples of the various thicknesses of their products, and I ordered some, 12 6x6 sheets, just to play with. With a good pair of tin snips, and some wire, you can make some pretty darned good labels. Hope that helps.
I keep all plant tags and a diagram of were they are planted in a photo album, It's really been helpful in the spring and fall when I go to plant new things, I know where everything is and what it is.
Great thread to resurrect! Amen to all of the above!
I kept a folder for plant reciepts and tags, and I have a coffee can on the potting bench for the little plastic tags to live in until I got real markers done. On plant reciepts thankfully I generally put a note of where I intended to plant. Both systems got out of control. This winter I went through all of the tags and the folder and built myself an access database of plants and bed inventories. I take a lot of photos, so they were helpful in figuring out where I planted what. Where I had the info, I did make a field for plant source and I can keep track of which lived or died.
On my to-do list for this year is to get "real" labels done now that I have the lists done.
I really needed to see this thread!! I have been so BAD about tracking and marking my plants. I am so very sorry now. Thanks to everyone for this reminder. As a new member, I now have a journal on Dave`s and I will try to do a better job.
Les - have you checked out the garden tours in Journals? They're pretty cool. I staered one over the winter, but I have a lot more to add.
I've really enjoyed building the database. If anyone's interested, the results to date are towards the bottom of this thread.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/562784/
I work for a distributor doing inventory management programs and we use a tyvek label for customer parts. I'm seriously thinking about using the industrual heavy duty labels and linking to the plants database to get labels done in a reasonable amount of time. I'm thinking they should hold up ok for at least a few years.
After loosing track of MANY of my plants I developed this method.
1) Get Plant
2) Take a Photo
3)Scan the label
4)Enter in my Database (I use Garden Organizer Deluxe. I can put the picture and the scan in the entries)
5)Make a "Permanent" label for the yard.
I'm looking for a Program that will allow me to enter the position in the yard.
So far I'm still looking..........and looking........and............
Ric
Ric - I had the same problem. There are a lot of good programs out there, but none that seems to do all the things I want.
Terry made a comment in the old part of the thread about makinng a list when selling a home. I sure wish the previous owners had done that. In my estimation there are probably 20 kinds of daylilies and about 30 different hostas that I inherited from them and can't id.
Great sequence of steps to keep track of your plants, Ric. Does it always work?
I have similar plans but alas! I can never follow through totally. I created a database in Filemaker so I could keep track of whatever information I want. If I don't take a picture of the plant right away, I go find one on the website where I bought the plant, if possible. And if there is good information about it, I copy that into the Notes field.
Here's an example of one of my records.
Jooolz
It works pretty well.
When I load the new photo in My Database I also fill it in (usually from Plantfiles) complete w/ a mature shot.
After planting I take a shot and add it in case the label gets lost.
The nice thing about using the Plantfile data is I can read the Comments at the same time.
If it's not in currently listed Plantfiles then I add it. (So far 55 Plants)
Your Records page is very similar to the opening data entry page in Garden Organizer Delux.
http://www.primasoft.com/tour_garden/garden_software_tour01.htm
Ric
Ric and jooolster - You're reminding me that I need to add a picture....
About tags - I'm looking for an Avery style label that I can laser print from the database, but that is weather proof. Any suggestions?
Oh my, I may stop reading this thread. It makes me feel so far behind. I am still using pencil and graph paper. To top it all off when I first moved in to my house I was putting in the plastic labels when I bought the plants and then one spring I was looing at the garden and most of what I could see was these white tags and I pulled them all out and threw them away
(don't judge me to harshly).
NOW I want to know what they are and am having to try to id them. Fortunately that was before I really went bonkers with my gardening so there aren't that many.
Next step find a good system for my iMac or get my husband to write me one.
Zen - you threw them away!!!! So did I the first couple years of gardening. :-} Then I became addicted. I know what you mean about seeing only tags in the garden but now it makes me very happy to see them so I remember what I put where when stuff is dormant.
Sstateham - I use the Avery P-Touch 2600. Great little machine. Makes laminated labels. I connect it to my PC and print from my databases (I have a begonia database in Access also) as well as carrying it around and making labels out in the garden on the fly.
I'm glad Brother came back out w/ an affordable computer labeler.
Be sure you use the TZS Industrial (I think it is) tape.
The regular stuff is not UV or Heat resistant.
We labeled our yard a few years back.
By the next year all the labels had gone completely black.
Ric
Ric - I do use TZ labels. My favorite is TZ243, 3/4" blue writing on white labels. I've had them on for over a year now and they still look great. And I like to put them on the T-type labels so that they are visible from a distance and folks (including me) don't have to dig around in the plant to see what it is.
Good job Jooolster! Zen, I still use paper and pencil too. I'm writing down everything Jooolz does, but have no photo. I've always kept the labels, trouble is, frost heaves, the wind blows and they're gone. I've gone to the metal, and this year am trying a paint pen.
I didn't label much a few years ago either. I'm also hand mapping it as well:) Which does allow for the encroachment of the bearded iris. Everything I've been planting for the past couple of years is identified but all the prior stuff is now just random. All the TB Iris are named, I just have no idea what, and all the daffodils had names--probably still do:lol:
I'm apartment gardening so the written map/key is working OK for me for now. When I have a place I can spread out in then I'll go the computer route. I always get such good info here:)
I have a huge notebook. I leave 5 spaces after each entry. I've recopied it once when it got to be such a mess. 1977 to 2005, 175 pages.
Thanks for the info on the labels! I checked them out on the web, and I will need to get an order placed.
I have tried the metal name tags and something always happens to them. I tried making my own with clay and firing them, they work their way out of the ground. So here is a question. I have heard that using the metal slats from blinds, using a permanent marker to write on them and then putting them into the ground so just a small portion shows. Then when you want to see what it is you pull the tags out to read them and back into the ground they go. Have any of you tired this and did it work for you?
I just find all of those tags distracting. The one kind I have been thinking of is copper with the names impressed.
darius you told us where you get the copper, what I was wondering is what you do to put them in the garden?
By the way I do have the garden mapped out now with empty spots for the still unidentified.
Sharpie will come off metal blinds. I'm using them for my seedlings now, but you can already see the sharpie is fading under the grow lights. They're perfect for what I want them for now, but the writing won't last long in the garden.
So does anyone have any ideas what I could write on them with or is the idea a no go?
I've heard of using the paint pens.
Like they draw on t-shirts.
Pricey though I would think.
Sharpie are OK but fade in UV for sure.
Regular pencil on the white plastic markers actually last as long as anything I've tried. They rub off though.
Ric
I was advised to use a paint pen on another thread. I bought one, but haven't tried it yet. It wasn't too expensive from Walmart's crafts. I just bought one, but if they work, I'll get a 4 pack of colors.
Ric, you're right about the plastic and pencil. They did better than the metal labels and charcoal (?) pencil. I bought metal markers and they are better than the free ones you get.
This message was edited Apr 5, 2006 7:55 PM
I have used the paint pens on everything and they don't fade at all. I just wish my handwriting or printing was better. lol
I have been using my one black pen for over a year now...they last a long time.
Donna
Thanks Donna, I'm glad I got one. Some daylilies are going to have to bloom again so I can mark them. Ditto on the phlox and a few others. I've had people walk by and read those I have for my roses, so I don't mind how they look. And I have a lot of them.
Ok paint pen it will be.
Now what to write on that isn't very expensive and will stay inplace.
The long legged metal markers don't go anywhere and you can lean them back a little. Mine are about 12''.
Mini-blind slats are VERY cheap. (Badseed turned me onto this)
Get a discount mini-blind or a pack of replacement slats...scissors...you're all set.
Ric
I have some that we took down and replaced, so now I just need the paint pen.
Pauline