I only have three gardens at the moment with a total of 40 or so different varieties, so I do know every plant. Of course, this could change at any second, lol.

I stopped marking my plants with visible labels several years ago. People on the tours would see a plant they liked and take the label, so they could remember the name. I now use plastic labels with the names printed on them with a pencil and buried behind the plant. They last indefinitely. I've lost a number of expensive engraved copper markers that I used to identify trees and shrubs to the ingrates, who were on FREE tours!
Rb

razorback, you have got to be kidding! I can't believe that people would do that. How tacky and rude. Sheesh.

I bought a Brother labeler last fall, and went through all my potted perennials and labeled them all (although this spring I'm finding some unmarked ones, which makes me wonder how they slipped by.) My plants in the ground are not quite as well marked, but at least 75% are, I'd say. I'm almost obsessive about knowing the name of each plant in my garden, for some weird reason, although I am also a victim of the "I'll-always-remember-the-name-of-that-plant-I'll-label-it-later" syndrome.

I had bought some fancy plant markers one year, but then when winter came, my beds looked like little graveyards. So now I use the little plastic markers with a label, and bury them in the ground.

:)
Dee

I gave up labeling when the squirrels started pulling the labels out of the ground & throwing them around. Now, I keep copious notes. When I get a plant, I write down the name & its source. When I plant it, I write down where it is in the garden (e.g. Galanthus elwesii patio group). That way all the info is in 1 place & I don't have to rely on my memory.

GAAAAAAAA! They STEAL the markers? Oh good grief. I have started several times to map the berms, etc. - this would be a good time to do it, wouldn't it? It just frustrates me to go through all that work then have something croak over winter. Nooooooo, can't ERASE! It must be done perfectly! LOL And, yes, I'm STILL out there, writing, waving, spraying, and sticking!

I label everything I can, because although I think I've got this great memory? I'm lying to myself.

Be aware that popsickle sticks last a very short time because they absorb water, discolor (hiding the ink), then rot.

P-Touch labels fade. And in my sun and heat? They did it FAST.

I followed the advice and idea I got here ages ago, and bought metal labels from Eons. They're some inexpensive silver-colored thing. I tried using their paint pen? Gone.

Then someone said, "I use a cheap, old-fashioned, kid's embossing labeler." Eureka!

The labeling tape might fade, but the embossing does not. They're far less expensive than the lovely copper ones which emboss if you step on them. Or your husband runs over them with the lawn mower or his big feet.

I always put the type of plant, i.e. "Hosta" on one line, and below it the variety: "Jimmy Crack Corn" because for a while, I can scrape off the variety name if I want to and reuse the label. It's hard, which bodes well for the permenance of the labels. After a couple of years? It won't come off, but these are not expensive, so they don't break your heart of you have to toss one.

You could use the back of them, too, either for another plant or in my case, I put plant dimensions and sun because I move things a lot! On the back, I just use the paint pen, because it's pretty protected and doesn't seem to fade. The recommendation, which I received here, was to actually write the name of the plant again on the back, because invariably the front would fade. Until the embossing tape? True, but no more!

I have to admit, in the winter my gardens look like weird mouse cemetaries. (I wish they were vole cemetaries1) However, when my less-than-excellent memory starts to plant a bulb or something and there's a label? Well, it's a sign from God that it's not a good idea to dig there.

Oh, to top off my anal organization? I try to always put the label just behind it to the right, where I can see it. If it's a big thing? Just in front. Even my tree collection (that's another thread here) has labels tied with flexible tape to a branch so I can remember what the heck they are.

I put the plastic, store marker in a pot I keep in the garage in case I need to refer to something I might be doing wrong, like killing the plant. They become brittle and break, so that's a better place.

Enough. Yes, I try to label everything, even divisions. I'm just not that good and have 6 acres.

Christine

I figure a rose by anyother name....etc...
I am a Hosta collector and have labeled a lot ( not all!) but I can't stand labels intruding on my nice garden. I label the hosta on little plastic markers with permenant marker and bury it in the clump......but they have to be replaced every couple of years.
Roses are on a map ( harder to dig and move...so I am safe doing that!)
Day lilies are like the hosta....and everything else is by memory.
I have a flower garden at my home, not a display in a public area and feel no responsibility to be sure others can see the the cultivar of every plant....especially for a free tour.

I don't label anything, but I've got it all in my head (yeah, right!). I toss the plastic labels that come with the plants into my desk, and every now and then one falls out through a crack (it's an antique desk). Then I have an AHA! moment - I suddenly know what variety those Cotinus are, and I tell myself that I'll surely remember this bit of info this time. (I don't.)

If I ever really *need* to know, I know that the info is in the desk. It would probably take about 2 hours to find any particular plant; I don't often look.

20 years ago I used those nice copper tags on all my shrubs; the wires are all embedded in the trunks now and I doubt that I could read anything on the tags themselves.

I gave up on labeling plants in the garden years ago for the reasons mentioned above. In addition, during the early spring and winter all those little markers made the garden look like some sort of pet cemetery or something. Hated 'em!

Now I have all my gardens drawn up on graph paper and the plants marked there. I use removable stickers to mark the position of each plant so it's still easy to peel them off when I move plants around. Best thing I ever did. I know exactly what I have and where everything is.

Kevin

I save the plastic labels that come with the plants in a box. That way I can go back and refer to them myself when I forget what the plant is. Like for Verbascum is this one Helen Johnson or Caribean Crush. I don't label the plants in the garden. I've got a gazillion plants!!! It would be way too hard to keep them all labelled! I wish I could be that organized but I'm not!

Just started labeling some things this year after finding something which works for me. Got some blinds which someone had thrown out and a garden marker from Lee Valley which is UV resistant. I make the markers nice and long, and then label them placing them deep in the soil behind the plants with just a bit sticking out of the ground. In that way if the dogs or squirells happen by them, they won't take them out or break them.

I placed a few in the gardens last year just to try them out and checked them this spring. They look just like the day I first put them in.

Tiffy - just be aware that those blinds may well contain lead, if they're the plastic ones. I don't know why, but that was one component of venetian blinds and may still be for all I know. Not that you're labelling tomatoes, and not that there's enough lead in a little strip of the stuff to do you in, but the lead will be in the soil for a long time.

This is the third year that I have placed emphasis on perennial gardening, and like any other "newbie" I ensured that I had a photo-tab in each plant that I purchased. Of course for me it was all about holding the nursery accountable... hoe many times have you heard.."yes sir, it is a blue yada yada yada" only to discover during its bloom season that its bright red or yellow?

I tried inserting the tabs into the soil behind and slightly to the right of each plant, and for the first year it seemed to work.... bu then came the much rewarded growth spurt and they disappeared in new foliage and with the help of squirrels and other rodents equally interested in perennials, though I doubt for the same reason as we gardeners!

This year, when I added the 10 new perennials to my garden, I also purchased a scrapbook. In this books is a sketch on the first page, broken down into three areas. Each area is then broken down into 3 of four pages, where along with the original identification tab is also an actual photograph of what my plant has achieved.

I don't like the look of the tabs or sticks in my garden. Perhaps as my thumb turns perennially green I will change my mind. And to think, maybe one year I too will be part of a Garden Walk..... now I have my work cut out for the next decade

I keep the labels from the nursery until the little kittens think they are fun to play with and then it's just memory. I have used other markers but them darn cats still seem to know how to pull them out and I don't buy the cast iron ones.

I don't label anything in the garden, either. I do keep labels from the pots in plastic sheet protectors in a gardening binder I have (arranged by section) so I can refer to specifics if I need to.

I spend so much time agonizing about exactly which plant to buy that it's name is usually firmly committed to memory....

I keep telling myself I'll label them, but never get around to it. Instead I keep an Excel spreadsheet with the names and locations of each plant.

I try to label every plant. This year a friend suggested using white plastic knives as labels.
They are not beautiful but they work well.

None of my P-Touch labels have faded in 10 years but I do remember buying ones that were specifically for outdoors? I have them in full sun too. Black font on a clear label, stuck to metal markers.

I am in the process of painting rocks with my plants' names (an idea I got from GW somewhere?). I'm not doing it for every single plant...just hosta, daylilies, huechera, rudbeckias, echinaceas, in general things where I've got more than one type. I'm also making markers for trees & shrubs because those have gotten more complicated over the years...it used to be just "Pee Gee" hydrangea, now there are 7-8 different types of paniculatas of which I've got 3.

Just finished two rocks yesterday. One to mark my fall-blooming crocus because I always forget about them...the rock say, "Shhh, Bulbs Are Resting!" And the other rock I did yesterday was just for grins & says, "Bless My Bloomers!"

It's fun &, I guess, I'm easily entertained! lol

Tricia

Everything is labeled. I use metal identifiers from "Paw Paw" and a Brothers T label printer with weather proof tape.
It's much easier and they stay were placed. With age you started to get CRS and many times I still go in the garden and say "OH I forgot about that". If I didn't do it I wouldn't know what's out there.

Good practice to start.

Grrlsmom, post pictures of hosta's on hosta forum for Id if you get stuck.

Isn't it interesting how we all have different ways of doing this? I will sit and scribble on Popsicle sticks, yet painting rocks sounds overwhelming to me! (But a fantastic idea, btw!) I keep all my 'store' markers in a flowerpot - filing them? Oh my! And Excel spread sheets are in the same class to me as 'jump off house and fly!' LOL Do LOVE the labeler idea - I could DO that and I probably will, after they steal all my markers at the walk!

I'm on a Garden Walk this year. With close to 450 different plants (including 185 varieties of hosta), there is no way I could remember the cultivars' names without labels! And I know people on the tour will ask! I use the P-touch labeler and EON metal markers. Christine, are you sure you used laminated UV-resistant labels? They shouldn't fade.

Steal the markers? I'll be sure to be watching my guests closely for crying out loud!

For my hosta beds, I also have them mapped on several Word Document files so I can change them easily as I move hostas around or they croak. AND, the little anal hostaphile that I am, I have an Excel spreadsheet with the names, size category, BED location, etc. for every hosta. And to add to the madness, I have a Powerpoint file with every variety of hosta on a separate page with pictures so I know what they should look like at maturity. Each page also has size information and the particular characteristics of the pictured hosta. Scarey, huh? That's what obsession will do! If you think I've got it bad, come visit us on the hosta forum !

Char

Here is a link that might be useful: Hosta Forum

Way to go Char...good luck on your garden walk.
I had to decline this year. To busy to have everything perfect. Your right with hosta's and the 20 ft rule you could never keep it straight without tags that hold up.
I love my P-Touch Labler. It says in the garage with my metal markers. No excuse to print one out with each addition of plants.

I'm curious about this one, cfmuehling, you said, "I use a cheap, old-fashioned, kid's embossing labeler." What is it? And this is placed on top of a metal label by Eons?

I have the link for Paw PAw but but have not heard of this other company.

I had plants memorized for a few years, went to mapping for a couple more (each year re-doing the map with new plants so I could refer back and see changes from year to year) and now I am adding markers (EON markers with china grease pencil on one side and a garden ink pen on the other).

I'm at almost 60 edibles, including almsot 20 berries, so remembering varietal names isn't a real certainty anymore.

I'd have to thump anyone I saw pulling out a marker and pocketing it.....actually I've got a machete which might need to be visible next time the tours make their rounds.

~Chills

An idea I saw on a garden tour, the plants were nearly all labled, some of the plants were not well known to most. The owner of the garden had two or three spots in the garden where she had provided pencil and paper for those who wished to write down names.

A......