Plastic Plant Tag Frustration

Wondering what to do about the plastic plant tags that keep washing to the surface every time it rains. I just spent two hours pushing tags back down into the soil.

I'm considering labeling with rocks! Has anyone else tried this?

Wondering if there's a cheap solution to keep tags in their places.

Pirl does. I'll ask her to come over and show pictures.

I always use the metal tags from Paw Paw. While the legs might get bent, they never come out of the ground. Paw Paw metal labeled with a PTouch and clear coated works the best for me, for many years now.

online Labels has weather proof labels that are wonderful and can be bought for laser jet or desk jet printers
and are avery complient
they are wonderful

with mine I am going back to shorter survory stakes with metal venetian blinds on it

D

The ultimate garden stake comes from Kincaid Gardens. Their web-site is http://kincaidgardens.com . They are very heavy stainless steel and don't bend or pull out. I use a paint-pen and write name on front and back (insurance).

Cathy - I do label with rocks but lately it seems boulders would be ideal.

Last week I must have picked up 50 labels (from plastic to wood to knives to metal) that were scattered about from wind, squirrels, etc.

The 10" strips of cedar worked exceptionally well for years. Even they do eventually rot out when we least expect it.

Here's one rock example - I get them from our many local beaches. I use a "Paint Pen", available at paint stores, but any pen containing actual ink should work. I don't use any clear coating because I'm lazy. Sharpies fade so fast that there's no point wasting time using them.

Hint: practice spacing by either copying the rock on your copier and using that as a guide or use the wrong side of the rock.

I will now be looking for smooth rocks, like the one you used in your example Pirl.

:)

I just made one for a friend, last night, and (thinking of this article) I used clear nail polish on it. What a mess I have now. I guess I should have waited longer before I applied it. Live and learn.

In the end there is no perfect marker. There was an article about it long ago in a magazine and the author went through every way his labels were lost or destroyed.

In 2005 Doss gave this account of the labels in her garden:

doss
Stanford, CA
(Zone 9b)

You never know with tags. I have everything tagged with metal stakes. I found my five year old grandson walking around with about 10 the other day. He sure was having a good time 'gathering' markers. Good thing that I love him. :-)

Pirl,

That story reminds me of when my son was three and he picked all of the "little green apples" off of his Gran Dad's tomato plants. He came in so excited with his shirt full. We discovered shortly afterward that he hadn't missed even one.




This message was edited Mar 13, 2009 10:44 AM

Oh no!

My own grandson was picking the buds off the lilies last year. While he went through that phase I visited them - not vice versa.