Do you label your plants?

I bought some copper markers from Smith and Hawkin's about 5 years ago and they are still in the packages! Since I've waited so long, I guess I will wait until I'm forgetting all of the names (right now I usually remember most of them but occasionally have a 'brain fart' and can't remember one, and it's embarrassing!). They are attractive, and I got them for more than 1/2 price, so I feel good about having them, even if I've not had "time" (ahemmmm!!) to use them yet!

I use the labels I got on a coop a couple of years ago with a Brother P-Touch. I grow over 500 different daylilies, and even when they are in bloom - you can't always tell what is what. I have the other metal tags (from local nurseries) for everything (the Iris, Heuchura, ...)

When I purchase a new plant I take a digital photo of the label it came with. I always lose the tag / snow destroys it / etc... This way I have a permanent record of what I bought.

I have two kinds of labels in my garden. I have 500 of the AAA Quality Engravers markers. They are wonderful as far as lasting, and not fading, but when my dog walks through the garden and brushes against one, it turns and no longer faces the walkway....
The others are the S-W Supply Company metal, no card markers. We place them on wooden pallets and spray paint them green. We use a laser printer on waterproof, weatherproof Avery Labels (black ink on white label) and we have no problems with these fading or moving around...
In winter we don't notice the AAA markers. The S-W Supply markers look like little cemetary markers! The white label stands out in the sun! Avery has a see through label that doesn't stand out at all. We have such a large supply of the white on hand that we havn't purchased the see through ones yet. We were given a page for trial and we did use those. Both are easily read. These labels are used with all registered cultivars.
What we are looking for now is a way of labeling our seedlings that we like. Nothing as expensive as the ones we use for registered cultivars as they may get discarded at different points in time as we select keepers etc.

I cut up old milk jugs and write on the pieces I cut out with paint markers. I only label my garden plants, they usually last one season but then I throw them in the recycling bin. Next year may be planted with something new, or planted in a different area anyway!

I label all my potted collectibles (cacti and succulents, caucidiforms, and carnivores). Some times if the plant is small the pot gets a sticker. Outside, new plants get labels, usually the one from the pot. But if they become old friends, the tag is unnecessary.

All my plants however go into a plant database, so I know the date of purchase, and exact variety, with notes on its culture. This way, even if a plant is an old friend without a tag, I still have the full data on the plant easily available.

Most of my labels are popsicle sticks, with pencil. They degrade nicely and I've never had the patience to leaf through saved plastic markers and match them up with what I'm growing now. A package of 1000 is a buck.

I back up all of my plantings with notes, so I know what everything is. When I sell heirloom tomato seedlings, the label becomes the new owner's property!

I've tried the purchased plastic labels - with limited success. A friend recommended using plastic knives and a black marker. This seems to work well and is a lot cheaper. I really like this idea for labeling plants that are going to new homes. The new owner knows what kind of plant it is and what light conditions it needs. A sun symbol for full sun, partail sun symbol for shade plants.
I have started to document all of my outdoor plants in my DG journal - it is the best way I've found for knowing what's what and where it is. It also allows me to keep detailed information on my gardens. Simple maps help locate where in a bed each plant is. A cheap bamboo stake marks the location of plants so they aren't mistaken for weeds by well-meaning helpers.

I use permanent marker on old plastic cutlery. I've got little knives, forks & spoons all thru my garden!

I label my gesneriads inside with masking tape and a permanent marker on the pot. Labels stuck in just get lost. I wish I would label my plants outside but I don't.

I use the white plastic ones that another DG'er gave me, I love them, but seems like my dog loves them more... enough said. LOL

I use a P-touch to make plastic labels that I put on the Eon metal plant labels.

Works great unless a deer or another critter gets tangled up in them and pulls them out.

In the winter time my gardens look like graveyards with all the markers :(

bought a roll of 1000 from am leonard..tags loop around and lock i have a coupla hundred plants in pots and root bunches more each year.sometimes i tag the plant, other times i put a slit in pot and tag that .on plants that are hard to tell from others, like i just bought 5 different viburnum,i leave the tag on after planting, then paint the name on a small flat rock placed under it. don't dig around looking upside down to read the name, it's right there .cheap garden art. i put the tags up on a small branch ,for easy removal or replacement later

I gave up on labels after a squirrel re-arranged them all over the yard.

If it is a special plant, a new one to me, I often leave the nursery info. tag half-buried nearby. Generally, I find tags distracting.
I have a small garden and I can usually remember what something is, more or less!

I seem to use different labels for seedlings every year. This year I am using the plastic 4 inch kind, writing with pencil on the rough side and with marking pen on the other. The pencil side seems to weather the best, and is erasable for re-use.

One year I used wooden tongue depressors, which were cheap but degraded rapidly outdoors. Recently a nursery gave me ten nice metal labels as a bonus, but realizing that buying several hundred more to match would probably shoot the budget, I haven't even unpacked them yet.

I use the aluminum 'impress-o-tags'

For permanent markers, we use the Avery Clear Mailing Labels printed on a laser printer. These are applied to Eon markers. Have used the PawPaw markers, which are less expensive, but those sharp corners are tough on the hide. The laser printed labels hold up very well. We started using them in 2003, and virtually all of those originals are still in good condition. Have been able to re-use many of them by spray painting with a light colored primer over the old label, then putting the new one on top. Temporary labels are plastic venetian blinds using a carpenters pencil.
A word of caution if you use the Avery labels. Not paying attention, we picked up a package of clear labels for inkjet. Even printed with a laser, they just disappeared, but laser on laser label really works. Another advantage is that you can put the info you want on the tag, in the typeface that is best for you, and the software is free from Avery.

I've made sticky labels with sheets of white labels from a co-op here and sized down photos of each plant or flower with the name, place or person I got it from and the year I bought/planted it. Those I stick to the Eon Markers. I like the 6" ones best--they work great in containers as well.

I got soft metal tags that you make impressions on and attach with a metal tie from Mountain Valley Growers--Liked those but need a stronger twist tie.

I just got some loop/lock tree tags from a co-op here and the Marvy DecoColor paint pens in a co-op and they are awesome so far. I just got some of those large garden fabric staples (50 ct for $6) like you would use to pin down the weed guard fabric and press it into the soil (ground or container with the loop lock filled out and wrapped around the U shape. So far has worked great.

I use plastic picnic knives and permanent marker. Sometimes I cut the knives in half, sometimes I use the whole thing.

finding a use for the 10 billion rocks around here, oil paint pens on rocks mark my plants.

I use Eon Markers, the tall ones for daylilies and P-touch labels. I use a Sharpie on the backside of the Eon markers and am starting to bury a plastic label at four o'clock on my daylilies and Irises. I have to get my maps up to date, not that I am obsessed or anything.

It took me years to settle on labeling plants. What I finally discovered was that pencil works on one kind of plastic label and permanent marker works on another. But not vice versa. I use pencil on thin white labels that I get 50 or 100 at a time loose at our local Farmers' Union store. I use Sharpie permanent markers on Rapiclip markers, which are thicker. I get them in large quantities on the web, and get the longest, because they are the thickest, and don't get brittle and break so quickly. I use the thin markers for "notes" about plants, and for annuals and veggies.

EON markers

I write the name on a rock or shell with permanent marker.

I try to label my plants with nice metal labels, BUT, I swear the squirrels or something carries them away. Last year I spent a goodly sum on labels, label maker and tape-this year about 1/2 of them are missing . . .

after years of not knowing what i what i was planting (cause my paper labels weren't good enough) i bought one of those things where you dial the letter and press the handle and out pops hatever you "typed". it works great.

I used to label my plants and would be very upset when I visited others gardens and their plants were not labeled, and the owner invariably had forgotten what each plant was (or at least the identity of the more interesting ones). But now with the digital camera I am easily able to photograph them all and stick them in the computer- looks better now (no labels sticking up everywhere).

I use cut blinds.

The BEST pen I have found for labels is the PILOT PERMABALL. I got some on clearance a few years ago, and even after several years they have not faded. Unfortunately I have not seen them in stores since, but have managed to find them on eBay. The great thing about them is that they will write on any surface, dry quickly, and are acid free (also great for CDs). I have used both the black and blue medium point.

now,palmbob, with the vast amount of pretty stuff you have,it would look like a commercial operation. i just don't know how you can remember everything.i love your yard art. sally

I don't remember everything... but my computer does. I have nearly 3000 plants in the yard, most too weird to have a common name- there is no way I could possibly remember them all.. .and i am rapidly getting to the age where I will probably be forgetting them all soon anyway, even if I did know them all.

I do the same as Jazz, I use waterproof marker on flat stones and place at each plant. They keep forever and are attractive and I can write big enough that if I forget what something is, I don't need to bend down or use glasses to see a tag!
I pretty much know what I have but figure as other have said that I will be forgetting in the future.

I figure Mother Nature didn't label them all......why should I?

Besides, I don't want our home looking like a batanical garden... :-)

I went to the thrift store and bought a venetian blind for $5. It is the slim kind. I cut them any length I want. I use either sharpees or indelible, which I prefer if I can find it, to write the name of the plant.

Take scissors and trim the ends so they aren't sharp. I curve the corners.

I buy alum venetian blinds at flea markets and church sale. Use a paint marker on them for seedlings. When they are transplanted to the seedling beds, use a 12" piece of white 1/2" plastic to write the cross on with paint pen.(The wind doesn't blow of crimp them and the animals ( Barring a German Shepherd) can't pull them out.) Any saved cvs get an eon marker and a P-touch label - as do all of the registered plants.

Know what makes the most permanent label? Beer cans - alum cut and trifolded, name stamped on with a little die-tap set and a hammer. Use wire clothes hangers for posts. Never rust, fade and are still readable 8 years later in my climate. Sprays don't wash the lettering off, either.

I use the metal tags from Paw Paw... and I am OCD... I got a P-touch....and I have some plastic ones too... and I have irises that will be labeled too... it's fun for me to walk around and see what they are or I will order them again!

Vinyl labels from co-op with ALL the information (so I don't forget) on Eon markers (also from coop) with clear UV protect spray.

a close up on eon marker

I only label things for a while, when I first get them so I can remember who they are ! then the labels go

I stick the plastic label in the dirt in front of the plant whenever possible. Also, when putting in new plants, I've started taking a phot of them complete with name tag. That way if the tag disappears or I've transplanted it too many times, I can look to see what they are.