I buy jewelery tags and attach them to the scape, just at the bloom. They are inexpensive and you can get them at walmart. They wouldn't look quite as offensive as the orange tape....but that would work too.

I use the white plastic bread tags. Get them from an LA seller very inexpensively. They work great. I write the name of the pollen parent on the tag and attach it to the stalk just below the bloom I've pollenated. You can reuse them if your cross doesn't take, and also, use both sides. They are large enough to write the entire cross on if you get pods and put that into the baggies with your seed. Here's a link to them on the LA so you can see what I'm talking about if you haven't understood my description. :)
Jan

Here is a link that might be useful: white tags

We use the pollen markers that are made from telephone wire. They are also available from the LA seller at the link above. Ease of use and unobtrusiveness are their strong suits. They are also reusable for several seasons.

Dale

I've tried them all, and the jewelers tags work the best for me. I use a pencil to mark the pollen parent on the tags, pens and markers don't work as well. When I harvest the pods the tags go into the envelope with the seeds.

I liked the wires, but, I would have to keep the key handy when I transfered the seed from the paper envelopes to the ziplocs. Then later they all need to be straightened, and sorted for the next use. The other problem I ran into was when a cross didn't take and the old bloom fell off sometimes the wire went with it and I was continually picking them up while weeding and putting down new mulch.

The bread tags are ok, but on some plants they are hard to put on, and I broke off some flowers I had just pollinated while trying to put them on. You can reuse them if you use a pencil, or a grease or china marker. I use a damp cloth to get the pencil off, and some vegetable oil or a cloth with some WD40 on it to clean off the china marker, you have to scrub harder with the veggie oil. I still use a few of these for crosses involving seedling with long pedigrees.

They all work well, but in my wifes eyes, the garden looks like a tag sale when I use the tags.

The first year I used masking tape. It looks kind of ugly, but it works well and it's cheap. You can write the cross in pencil while the tape is still on the roll. Tear the tape off at the end of your writing, wrap the tape around the scape near the pollinated flower, and then stick the tape to itself...making a tag. I wore the roll of tape around my wrist like a bracelet...very convenient.

Last year I used the jewelry tags. They cost more, but you can use the back side if the cross doesn't take. I've even crossed out all the writing on both sides and printed the newest cross teeny tiny between the lines with an ink pen...when I ran out of tags. But the down side is that everyone asks you why you don't take the price tags off of your plants???

Kathy

Thanks everyone, any of these should work better than orange streamers. I'll probably just buy those at Walmart, since that is convenient.
Thanks again!