I also use the the ones from the dollar store, so I'm no help...

Last year, I purchased some anodized coppery-orange aluminum tent stakes from Amazon. I then ordered some pet I.D. tags of engraved aluminum (I ordered black so that the names would stick out prominently) and attached the pet I.D. tags to the aluminum tent stakes with stainless steel keyrings. They made it find through the winter and look as good as ever.

Tent stakes

Pet I.D.s (best price I've found on the web, have ordered from them several times):

Pet I.D. tags

Hi paula, I have got some of these metal bent back ones you mention, I like the organised look of them when using the labelmaker as my handwriting is worse than a doctor's prescription lol. I only have them a few months so can't atest to their longevity but i like them so far. I had to order them from Germany as I couldn't get them here in Ireland and Amazon wouldn't send them here either. I need to order more as I only ordered 50 last time silly me.

Hope this helps

Denis

Esther,

I like the look and the colour of the tent stakes but I don't know what the pet tags would look like as the bottom link doesn't link anywhere. I currently have pet tags engraved but they are small. Do you have a pic of your finished product? I am curious to see one.

Denis,

Too funny because my husband went through my Lee Valley 'wish list' and surprised me tonight with a few items and one of them was 25 of the identical labels to yours. He said he can bring home a label maker from work.

Thanks for your comments.

So Paula it was meant to be, he's a good husband , you must have trained him well from the start lol.

Denis

Paula that was a nice gesture by your D H. He pays attention and supports your passion. Sweet! As in Cool!

Jo

PAULA:

Here is a picture of a plant aluminum I.D. tag. I have used the shield shape, round, and large heart shapes offered for my plant I.D. tags.

Pettags4less offers "daily deals", so if one of their daily deals is a shape large and wide enough for hosta names, I order it in black.

Pet Tags

I know I'm a little late to the party on this thread, but I wanted to comment on what you said about the labeled rocks getting easily moved around. Hubby's can be so helpful, I was mulling over this same issue and my DH came up with a great solution. I really wanted the rocks, but didn't like that they could be moved around. He suggested gluing a plastic stake to the bottom side of each rock so that it could be pushed into the ground for stability. That works well and you don't even know the stake is there. Here's a pic:

Funnthsun...what kind of stake and glue? I also use the rocks, they can get moved around but nothing to serious yet. I have trouble finding enough flat rocks in the right size.

In case you have a lot of tree leaves and plan to pick them up in fall, and if your beds are wide and you want to walk in there, you need to pick labels accordingly. My rake got hooked into them and I regularly stepped on them, so I store them now in the basement and have a map for my hostas.

Around my conifers I still use labeled markers. I use metal markers from Eon industries with clear tape with black writing for a Brother P-Touch labeler.
Bernd

This post was edited by berndnyz5 on Thu, Apr 24, 14 at 18:02

Tiny clay pots with the plant name on a small skewer look awesome!

We are still experimenting to find the best combination. Right now, we are using outdoor epoxy and these aluminum "stakes", which are really in a pack of, I think 30, and they are used to fix chain link fencing.

These can be easily bent so that they are flat with the back of the rock and can easily be shortened, etc., if needed.

bernd, Now I know what and where all of mine are, but I like the labels for visitors. Even non hosta people seem to enjoy reading the names.
Esther, I took a photo of my tags, you can see that they are the same as yours.
mikgag, The plastic ones are the clearest to see from a distance and they don't come out easily when being raked. A few did snap off this winter but being from the dollar store, it is an easy, quick fix. Some of my plants have both plastic and dog tag labels because I had those hostas before I ordered the dog tags.

What do you do about the height of the stakes when you keep hosta in pots? I'm not so much concerned about the few hosta in the driveway bed.

I also like to have the names show in my photos, and sometimes there is reflection which makes it impossible to read the tags. Then many black pens simply fade away.

Really short stakes do not show with big hosta. I don't want to mar a perfectly lovely photo with the name tag and/or stake perched on the leaf. Yet some tags do not show beneath the wide spread of a hosta. They also (the tall ones) create a problem when tipping pots during dormancy. That's when some of them get misplaced.

I like the single stake with the etchedor engraved tags. They do not seem to be hard to view. Do they reflect light?

Funn, I've always admired your rock tags, but never knew your brilliant trick to keep them there. I just have labelled pots and a map for the beds, but this idea sounds doable...

Thanks!

Moccasin,

They aren't hard to view when close up, but his photo show the comparison between the plastic and the dog tags. You will no doubt find them difficult to read.

OK, I just picked up some of the cheaper plastic tags, not from the dollar store but 10 for $3.00. What do you use to write on them? I've used pieces of venetian blinds in the past and marked them with Sharpie permanent markers and it washed off after one winter.

3 Styles of plant labels I have used, the top 2 others mentioned, the bottom one is from Kincaidgardens.com and is stainless steel and extremely heavy and durable. They have added an up facing one.....as well as adding an option for a different gauge post which cost less.

Paul

I like the last one - will it retain its shine?

old dirt, I used silver colour Sharpie on my plastic labels and that was about three/four years ago and they are all still fine.

Paula - " will it retain its shine?"

Yes.

Paul

Someone in the Hosta Journal had the experience that using a soft pencil is as good or better in endurance than Sharpie when writing on white plastic.

I have not found Sharpies to be good at all.

Instead I use this. It's color stays saturated and does not wear off/wash off due to rain, snow and sun.
DP Industries Garden Marker:

Here is a link that might be useful: DP Industries Garden Marker

Looking over my pictures today before it has warmed up some, I came across this idea for markers. It is getting ridiculous to buy over 300 and almost to the point of taking down my ugly ones I used when first stated my hosta collection. Until my hostas are big enough to cover the existing markers I have they look like a grave marker and not professional at all. Some of us just can't remember all of our hosta names by sight (Like my friend Myrle) so have to rely on a name tag/ Not certain how they get the name into the tin lids and would lake me years to eat enough canned food for the collection but would work for a few anyway. Maybe the map system still would be the most useful way.

Faye, the map system works for in-ground plants, but I don't have any hopes for containers and maps. Unless they are too big to move around. ....but then your DH has heavy equipment and can move mountains with a front end loader!

Me, I rely on name tags.
Some comments about name tags.
I hate to post pictures without the name tag showing. I also have trouble with faded lettering, or with a glare off the tag so it is unreadable. Back I go to the garden to recall the name, if I do not recognize it. A few trips like that an you make mental notes about which hosta you are taking school pictures of this particular day. It was easier on me when I kept the arrivals in "school rooms" according to the source. Like I had a Van Wade, a Hallsons, Solberg, Naylor, PDN, Avalon, MITS, Bridgewood, Hornbaker, Seawright, Savory, GreenMt, MasonHollow, etc, and if I knew which classroom I took the pictures in, I could figure out which hosta it was. But now I've begun sorting them by size and look and growing needs. Other than microchipping them, I need a visible NAME TAG. The other night I woke up in a panic because I could not remember where Key West was. I found it next morning. Yesterday I puzzled over little Snow Flakes, a small fragrant....then I found it and stopped worrying. I'm like the Old Woman Who Lived In A Shoe....

I almost forgot to add. I ordered 200 labels from Kinkade as referenced above. I like the way Denis has readable labels, using that paper tape label they don't seem to have a glare. Since I sometimes take the easy route, I also ordered the garden marker pen shown in this thread too. Just ONE though...free shipping makes it easy to reorder through Amazon, and I won't have any extras laying around drying up before I can use them.