What is the best way to label trees and shrubs?

I suppose with small shrubs, I can just put a plastic label around a branch. But I have to worry about the branch breaking off or the label girdling the branch as it grows. And what about trees? It seems unhandy to stick a label in the soil near the tree, and I don't want to hammer a label into the tree.

G'Day
If you don't like the idea of labels near the plant, then your best option is to draw a diagram (map) of your garden and mark each plant in its location. If labels would be OK, then the best labels I had (as a nurseryman) were made from galvanised iron sheet 18 to 24 gauge, cut out small rectangles about 3" x 2" or bigger if you wish clamp a number together and drill holes about 1/4" in from top and bottom then get some 8 gauge galvanised wire and thread through the holes with about 1/2" out of the top and bend that over until it clamps on the label. When you want to use a label spray white (only white) paint from an aerosole and while the paint is still tacky write on it with an ordinary HB pencil. The pencil will push the paint aside and write on the GI. The graphite seems to etch into the galvanising and even if the paint peels the writing is still visible, I have labels made in the 1970s and still readable. This sounds like a lot of rigmarole for a label but it doesn't take very long at all, you can just try 1 or 2 to start with.
Regards Brian

At the botanical garden where I volunteer they use a variety of tagging/labeling methods. Large trees, perennials and annuals have metal stakes with embossed tags at their bases. Shrubs have tags wired to the lowest branch. ( Volunteers are always on the lookout for any tag which is starting to get too tight.) A few shrubs also have stakes at their bases for public information. The numbers correspond to their catalogue, of course, which provides planting date and other pertinant information about that particular plant. The public can read the plant comon name and latin name. Having seen their labeling the closest product I've found for the home gardener comes from Rare Find Nursery. You provide your own stakes.

http://www.rarefindnursery.com/index.cfm/action/productdetail/product_id/4143.htm

Another handy label is to use cattle ear tags (White) on a piece of heavy fencing wire of a length that suits you. You will have to experiment with pens because a lot of felt tipped pens that claim to be waterproof are not or are not weather proof. The above type labels are also long lasting but can be a bit hard to read unless you are very close up. I used cut up aluminium drink cans to make similar to these and fixed to a piece of wire and they last for a very long time but apart from being hard to read from a standing position are also prone to being taken by some birds.
Brian

Thanks. I'll try some variant of these suggestions. I appreciate all the advice. My problem is that when I walk through the yard, I forget what various trees/shrubs are, so I like to be reminded. That's why I don't want to rely entirely on the map that Stake suggested.

happy, I took one of the eon marker plates, strung with twisty-tie kinda line and twisted it around a low branch, where it can be read. as the branch gets bigger, you can untighten the twisty-tie.

this is what I meant. I guess you could even use some twine and sort of make "necklace" to hang on any branch. FYI, there is a Eon Marker coop going on, replacement plats, markers, pens, going on. I'm talking about replacement plates for the E-10 marker.

http://www.eonindustries.com/catalog/images/plates_tn.jpg

This message was edited Apr 10, 2009 1:33 PM

That's a great idea, Voss; thanks!

Oh goodie, I found the thread. I took pics of how i label the young trees. I guess when they are at least 3" in diameter, i may nail the plate to the trunk. Dunno yet. But I've seen that done at botanical gardens so it must not be fatal or cruel to trees. This is my new pecan tree

This message was edited Apr 15, 2009 8:20 AM

This is how I label my tomatoes. Since I grow the same 2-3 varieties, I attach the label to the cage.

I was given a couple of plumerias with copper labels. Square of copper not real thick but it was thick enough to hammer in the name of the plant and the ends were rolled on to little copper stakes maybe 4 inches long.

I'm sure it wasn't the cheapest way to do it but I would think the name plates will be around for a very long time.


You could use sub way tiles (22 cents a piece) and etch the name into those. They'll last forever if you can figure out how to etch them well enough. If you want to style it up find a place that will fire tiles for you and make your own. Clay, some glaze, some time and there you go. We have a couple of pottery places that you make the piece and they fire etc I'm sure you could work out a price for a 50 tiles or how ever many.

May different options depending on how long you want these labels to last.

Those are all fantastic ideas.

CoreHHI, the tiles probably won't work too well in my yard (too woodsy in the area I am talking about, so they'd get lost in the underbrush), but for a different yard they'd look fabulous!

vossner: I love the idea of getting some of the replacement EON markers -- I already use them, and print out Avery transparent labels for them, which last a long time.

Vossner: An arborist just came to look at my trees, and told me it will cause no harm to a tree to nail on a label. He said not to hammer in the nail all the way. As the tree grows, every few years used a clawhammer to pull the nail out a bit, so the tree doesn't grow around it.

He said the trunk and branches of the tree are very tough. By contrast, even the slightest insult to the root can be fatal.

I asked what kind of nail, and he suggested a galvanized one.

i've made a note of that Happy,thanks.

Aluminium nails are the safest to use - if they do get embedded in the trunk, they won't cause kickback accidents to anyone in the future using a saw on the wood.

Resin

Resin -- great point - thanks! Is it easy to saw through aluminum nails, is that the idea?

I only want to use one nail per marker, since I assume as the tree grows it would stress the marker if there were two nails holding it in.

I'm still trying to decide what to use for the labels themselves. I'm thinking of following Vossner's suggestion of using an EON marker.

(Sadly, the tree surgeon told us we have a few large trees that need to be removed, one fairly urgently. So I probably can't afford any markers at this point. I am shuddering at what the cost of the tree removal will be!)