back in the day ... all you had to do on garbage day.. was drive around.. everyone was throwing them away ...

just buy a new set at bigboxstore ... cant believe they are more than a few bucks ...

i have also seen plastic knives work ... sandpaper the shiny flat part.. so a lead pencil will mark it ... basic carbon is usually the best marker ... though a paint pen also works ...

and there is always your camera ...

ken

I have been using plastic knives to mark my lilies. But they have either been breaking or heaving. This spring I had a whole bunch laying atop the ground. I do mark with the camera...but have too much for it to be accurate. I was looking at a photo standing in the garden yesterday and calculating angles... decided that wasn't going to work for small stuff.

I used wood golf tees to mark my bulbs, a tip I got from a book I read. They do heave though and I have to go around pushing back in at the spring. But at least they blend in nicely

I've used wood popsicle sticks, too. But those are gone after winter.

A small piece of flagstone that you can put a sealant on if you wish.Than you can also add the name.

I've been thinking about those smooth river rocks you can get at garden centers.... with a big galvanized nail hot glued to it, and inserted into the ground.

I do not think hot glue is going to hold, I get different color aquarium gravel and before I put the final layer of soil I put a cup of the colored gravel on top. That way if I move the soil when I see the bright gavel I know not to dig on top of the gravel area. As a marker I use broken terracotta pots as name plate laying in front of the plant. I hate to see tags sticking up in the garden. especially in the winter when plants have died down,

I'm not sure if you're into this sort of thing, but places like Hobby Lobby have those smooth stones with sayings on them. Maybe you could lay them down near the plant and they'll just look like an accent decoration?

If I lay something on top, it is bound to get kicked around. It will have to be attached to something. I too, dislike seeing tags sticking up. I left a few from very late hosta plantings, but as soon as they appeared, I whipped them out.

if the point is.. to mark a spot not to dig in.. rather than putting a name on it ...

just start a collection of rocks.. say baseball to grapefruit size ... and place them in the bed ... say 6 inches NORTH from where the bulbs are ... [it really helps if you mark consistently thru the garden] ....

a natural product which the critical eye will move right over.. rather than some man made product ...

i have many near my oak trees .. and under the rock ... is a tag with the tree name ...

not great ... if you have small kids.. who like rocks though .. lol ..

ken

I also use rocks.

Trilliums and Jacks are not ephemerals and bleeding hearts will only disappear if they are too hot and dry. If they are in a woodland garden they should stay well past when you would be planting other things. It's only ephemerals that disappear in the late spring that need to be kept track of usually. You might be worrying needlessly.

Ah! I have only seen them in the woods and assumed they were. Thanks! This garden gets a lot of stuff planted in the fall too...when I find clearance sales on hostas and such. I think for now I will use a small amount of sand on top. Then follow it up with some smooth grey river rocks when I have a chance to buy them. Grey is not whet I have around naturally, so I won't confuse them with anything.

Of course now that I have said that, my zone/ garden may be different than yours and while they both may fade eventually, not quickly enough to think of them as ephemerals. Especially once the jacks are flowering size - you will get lovely bright red fruit cluster that are very striking and last til winter.

Sadly, the squirrels seem to have dug up and eaten many if not 90% of what I planted. I can tell by the position of the holes pocked all over one region of the garden. I never did get around to marking them. Couldn't find rocks at the right time. I used a small mound of sand but after one rainfall could not spot them.

I didn't know these were squirrel targets. I planted tulips at the same time, and those I protected with wire mesh pinned down. There went $ 80....

I will hope some made it and will come up later. I don't know when to expect them in their first year, though. The established red trillium I had before have emerged. So have 3 new ones in a different garden the squirrels must not have known about. ;) They were the small "leftovers" so I didn't plot what they were.

New ones were giant white and also yellow trillium, as well as more red. Also dutchman's breeches.

I've ordered colored plant tags off Ebay -- I bought green ones, but they come in various colors and are inexpensive.