One of the most popular I've seen on GardenWeb is taking mini blind plastic slats, cutting to size and using markers. Apparently, they last a long time.

I've also heard that you can cut up milk jugs, and write in permanent marker. While i haven't tried it, i've heard it in a few places here. Angie

I'm assuming that you mean labels for the garden and not for seed starting. If you do then here are some ideas. On a recent gardenshow episode they took ordinary rocks, (flat and round preferable,)wrote the name of the plant with a black magic marker, and painted flowers all over it. After it dried they sprayed it with clear spray paint (which is cheap). It came out so pretty and is really inexpensive. All you need is a couple of bottles of craft paint (about 50 cents a piece at Walmart,) a small paint brush, and a cheap can of clear spray paint. They claimed it will last outside for years. I also saw a few years agoon Rebecca's Garden, where she took very small clay pots (again available in the craft section of Walmart,) wrote the name on the pot, then took the wire from a coat hanger and shaped it like a shepards hoot to hang it. It looked so pretty. She also did a lot of other labels with wood prunnings from the garden. I also saw someone take clay (kind that you can bake in the over to harden-doesn't need a kiln), which she shapped into little labels (the kind that sick in the ground, (she used a cookie cutter and left an post on it. Painted and clearcoated it after she put the name of the plant on it. Looked nice. Also, check out the sites on this forum (garden junk, garden acoutrements, etc.) and do an internet search on homemade garden plant labels. I'm sure there are a lot of other good ideas out there.

: ) I inherited a roll of copper flashing, and have used that several times to make name tags for 'gift' plants...you can 'engrave' things into it with a dead ballpoint, but I still have all my embossing and scratch-art tools, so I use them :)

I've seen someone take copper wire (fairly heavy) and curl it into the shape of a fiddlehead. Then take the copper flashing, make a tag, punch a hole and hang it from the curl in the wire.

Great ideas!

Mandy, I remember that Rebecca's garden episode! Wow, I'd forgotten all about it but thanks for reminding me, I'm gonna do it. I like the rock idea too.

chiniacat and esh, I'm gonna try your ideas as well, they all sound so beautiful. I'll have to find some copper flashing.

I'll bet these would make great gifts also.

Thanks~

If you use mini blind slats don't rely on 'sharpee' pens to hold up ...they don't and there will be no writing left at the end of the season. Pencil lead or paint pens are the way to go.

In response to an email I received and my husband deleted before I had a chance to answer...Sorry, and I hope you see this.

The knives go into the ground serrated edge first, this makes them go in very easy. I usually use a black or deep purple paint pen. A sharpie (not the fine marking ones) in black or blue works too. I have some from last year that had been outside all winter and the writing had not faded.

Enjoy! C.J.

I bought some ceramic tiles (4x4 inches) at Menards (on sale for 8 cents) and used my Printmaster program to make plant labels. (You can use pictures or create any lettering in any color, form and shape, etc). I glued these to the tiles and sprayed several coats of Clear Glaze over them to protect them and make them shiny. I had some wood shims laying in the garage and will use Liquid Nails to attach the tiles to the shims. Don't know if it will last more than one season but if not is inexpensive enough to do each year.

Hey, I love the idea for the knives for enconomics sake. Will work great for my seedlings. I love the rock idea for out in the garden. Maybe I can do this with my spare time.

The bad thing about copper sheet tape and wire is that they ture green,mainly the flat sheet used as label. Once it turnish,you can't really see the name of plant writen on label.

The clay marker sounds great. Any other suggestions?

I use the green plastic banding that they band lumber up with it is about 3/4 inch wide cut it to your length use a black oil pencil on it also go to the craft store and pick up a roll of aluminiun tooling cut to your size with old sissors and use ball point pen to engrave like the copper sheets listed above.Poke a whole in the end of the tag and fasten it to your tree with thin wire or tie wrap

I tried the plastic knives yesterday and had to add a little something for you...

My knives were clear so I spray painted one side of the knives and after the paint dried, I used the other side to write on. It's actually cute ~ and I used paint colors that blend right in with the beds.

That is a really cute idea!

C.J.

take tin snips and cut down an aluminum pop can. cut along the bottom and the top until you have an aluminum rectangle. flatten by slipping on the edge of a table, lay it on a thickness of newspapers and write across one end with a ball point. cut with scissors. works good but is more work than mini blinds which are ok if use pencil darker than HB.

sharpie needs to come up with something that works notwithstanding exposure to sunlight. mechanics that write on your wlindshield when you need your next oil change don't have an answer yet either.

good luck. dick

Keep your copper labels shiny by coating them with clear fingernail polish or lacquer before putting them out. It protects your lettering and prevents tarnishing.

I'm really interested in the copper thing. If the strips are engraved with a ball point, wouldn't you still be able to read it if you wanted to?
Thank you for your help. I want to make dozens of the fiddlehead kind, if they last for many years.

Thanks for the great idea of using plastic knives. I tried it this morning and it rained this afternoon and the paintstick worked.

I have been using plastic knives for years as plant labels. I write the name of the plant on both the handle and on the blade with a Sharpie. I then shove the knife blade into the soil. Over time, the writing on the handle may become difficult if not impossible to read; however the writing on the blade that was in the soil is still legible.

Please do not waste your time making tags from plastic milk jugs (the mostly clear kind). I make tons of labels last year for all of my roses. Labelled them with sharpies. They have only been on the roses for about one year - two big problems: 1) The writing faded within about six months and 2) (much worse) the plastic crumbled and disintegrated! I live in Florida and those tags just fall apart in my hands. I am picking up the pieces from the ground and trying to put them back together just so I can get the name of the rose for the new tag. Milk jugs do NOT work.

Carol

Thanks for all the ideas. I'm going for the plastic knives. Not being a person of crafts I didn't even know there were paint pens. Do you think I would need to spray a clear coat on all of them to make them last? Thank heavens for other gardeners.
Mickie

I used wood plaques from the craft store (solid wood, not plywood), painted them, wrote the plant names on with Sharpie and varnished them with Verithane Diamond Elite Waterbased varnish. I drilled a hole in the top of each, Using wire, I created a curvy design, leaving a long tail. I thread the wood plaque onto the curvy end of the wire and put the tail of the wire into the ground. Most have held up for about 3 years now. A few have, for some reason, completely lost the words due to fade-out. I have no idea why some lost it and some didn't since some that faded were side-by-side with ones that didn't!

I use plumber's tape stuck to cut up mini-blind slats. The plumber's tape comes on a roll about the size of masking tape. It's shiny like aluminum foil and has a super sticky backing. Just peel and stick to the blind slat. When you write on it (with pen or pencil) it indents the aluminum foil thereby making it permanent. They last forever, especially if you rap it all the way around the blind. I found some in my compost pile that I wrote probably 5 year ago - still readable.

I have one of the best ideas for a plant tag pole, it might be hard, but I have seen 12" sections of metal rebar. Rebar holds up insanely well outside unless exposed to salt. You could then paint with grill paint 15$ for a can that would be enough to do a thousand, then clearcoat with an outside poly. Then use any material for the tags you would like. I have seen this done with tomato stakes that last a very long time.

I only label my tomato plants. I do this by hanging a name tag on my tomato cages.

I had an old polycarbonate and plastic greenhouse destroyed by one of our wind storms. I cut the polycarbonate into strips about 3/8" wide, print the name of the tomato variety on a plastic tape with a DYMO labeler, drill a small hole in the end of a strip, attach the DYMO tape to it, and wire it to the cage. These have lasted for over five years now.

I would think this tape would also stick to cut pieces of aluminum cans, the smooth inside of plastic milk cartons, and probably mini blind pieces. These tags could be wired to any kind of a stake you use to mark plants.

several years ago there was an article in gardening mag telling how to make your own plant labels ,they show cased a cookie cutter butterfly...well u guessed it ,put article up for winter project (not wanting 2 use oven in summer months) and NOW I can not find it....(or what mag it was in about 2000.).was not poly clay something u mixed up ur self...salt flour mayb? does anyone remember this article or have how to.....
.thank you