I use Sharpie's silver metallic paint pens. They hold up perfectly, and I just print on a dark background. I'm sure they would print on stone, but have not tried it.

For many plants I cut strips from an old black nursery pot as label material. They're inconspicuous, but last forever. (well, 5 years in FL sun is forever in my book) One friend I gave a plant to commented 'What an elegant label you made' so they can look nice, too.

I use a pencil on vinyl mini-blinds, and haven't had them fade in 5 years. I always make a backup marker with those for the plants, which I stick behind the plant, and then use the metal markers in the front. I've tried everything else, and the pencil has stayed when everything else eventually faded.

beckygardener said:Michelle - Thanks! Yes! I see those markers at the different stores. Thanks for the heads up about the black markers holding the color longer.

Also, you use the fancy markers? Do you print out the larger labels or do you add more than one label to each plant marker? Or do you get all the info on a smaller label and can still read it?

I print mine out with a PTouch labeler on 1" tape

Becky, the label makers print in different size fonts, and I haven't found any of the fonts to be too small to read on a marker. Mine only takes 1/2 inch tape, and if it is a really long name, I'll make two rows with larger print. But, I only put the name of the daylily on the tag. If you are wanting to put a lot more information on there, the 1 inch tape is going to be more useful to you. I've never once wished that I had the hybridizers name on the tag, nor have I wished I had any of the stats on the tag. To me, it is useless information when looking to see which flower it it. The only other thing I add is whether it is a dip or a tet, but I add that with a pen in the bottom corner of the marker. Everyone does things a little differently though!

I can see how metal front-markers would make a nice informal fence to keep plants from being stepped on But I don't have garden visitors, so I just like the blinds behind ... makes it easier and less painful for me to do the weeding. We have somehow amended the soil just the way all of our weeds like it...

I don't know about anyone else, but the metal markers don't make a fence at my house! I push them down close to the ground, and below the foliage, so that they don't show all that well. In the winter, my husband calls them tombstones. The ones that I use aren't at all sharp, and I've never even scratched myself on one when weeding.

I used the Kincaide tags for the first time this season along with the Brother 18mm labels. I am very pleased thus far.

Thanks for including that info Natalie - mentioned it only because I'd seen a number of posts about it last year or so when people were looking for alternatives to some that were sharp. I think of mine as "tombstones" too, just from the shape ... nice and rounded, small but very easy to read. Hmmm ... maybe I'll start making mine with a heart-shape on the top instead!

Natalie said:I don't know about anyone else, but the metal markers don't make a fence at my house!

Natalie, they don't at mine either. If you step on the metal marker it just bends over often times taking out the fan your foot would have missed in the first place!

Bluegrassmom mentioned embossing on aluminum tape...here's a link to an ATP article that explains a way of making them.
http://garden.org/ideas/view/X...

dyzzypyxxy said:
For many plants I cut strips from an old black nursery pot as label material. They're inconspicuous, but last forever. (well, 5 years in FL sun is forever in my book) One friend I gave a plant to commented 'What an elegant label you made' so they can look nice, too.

I'd love to see some of these, do you have images Elaine? I've been looking at several different ways to mark my seedlings now that the price of the labels I was using has gone up. I use several hundred labels to mark the crosses until a seedling is selected and gets an individual label, anything to keep cost down helps

I must have missed the post about the nursery pots for labels. Can't actually bring myself to cut up one of my pots, but I'd love to see it too. I just don't have many pots! I recently bought a very large vinyl mini blind at Home Depot for about $5, and now have a few thousand vinyl markers to use! That is what I've always used for my seedlings, and they work great for that. I also use them for all other plants that I start from seed, and make an extra tag for plants that I buy, since they last so much longer than the plastic nursery tags.

I tried mini blinds until I saw a blue jay steal one right out of the ground. I still use them in pots though.

Cindy, that is awful! I love those birds, but they will steal the strangest things!

I almost couldn't believe my eyes, LOL until I saw it.

Wonder what it wanted to use it for? Maybe a diving board into a bird bath?

I just love bird watching but I am glad I haven't seen that!!

Natalie, do you use a grease pencil or #2. I had a paint pen that faded but I don't think it was the Elmer brand.

#2 pencil. I was going to mention that, and forgot to! Haven't tried a grease pencil. All of the paint pens that I've tried have faded faster than anything else I've used. I'm going to try nail polish next. I think if you had dark markers, White Out would even work great. I've used White Out to cover a chip in an old bathtub before, and it never seemed to wear off, even though it got wet every day.

Char said:

Natalie, they don't at mine either. If you step on the metal marker it just bends over often times taking out the fan your foot would have missed in the first place!

Bluegrassmom mentioned embossing on aluminum tape...here's a link to an ATP article that explains a way of making them.
http://garden.org/ideas/view/X...



I'd love to see some of these, do you have images Elaine? I've been looking at several different ways to mark my seedlings now that the price of the labels I was using has gone up. I use several hundred labels to mark the crosses until a seedling is selected and gets an individual label, anything to keep cost down helps

For what it's worth, many people find the embossed aluminum markers difficult to read - no matter what kind they are. I can think of at least one well-known hybridizer (two, now that I think about it) who use these, and, as I said, people find them difficult. Particularly when they're close to the ground and partially obscured by foliage.

Here is another link showing the use of a. tape for markers. I like the idea of covering the mini blind myself.

http://www.auntpeaches.com/201...

I have been using Fabric Paint on the clear plastic knives I have stuck in the ground around my garden beds. I have a numbering system for all my seedlings that corresponds back to their stats in my Plant Step database and photos of the blooms and scapes that I took of each plant recently. I also use a #2 pencil to mark the mini blind labels that I planted under each of my newest seedlings. I'm trying to be fool-proof, but alas, somehow I wound up with numbered knives that I can't find the corresponding plant. Never fails .... best laid plans don't always work 100%. It's a curse!