You're so funny Shoe

vic - who didn't even know what a whistle pig was til I met Shoe

>> I have is one of my dogs made it her job to pull up all those little white things out of mama's flower beds Now I have to bury them, so the string idea will work great in the future Rick.

I hope your industrious pup doesn't decide to "help" you by tugging those labels-on-a-string off your plants ... and/or tugging those plants all around the yard!

At Shoe and Rick!

The old house we bought had metal miniblinds on all 26 windows, so I have enough to last a while. That was a great idea to take them to a plant swap! I'll do that!
I discovered my writing disappeared because I would pull the tag out of the ground to read it (rather than get down on my knees so I could be close enough to see) and when I rubbed the dirt off the tag, I was sanding the writing off! Didn't matter if it was permanent marker, paint pen or pencil. Then I discovered if I wrote the name on both halves of the tag--above ground and below, then I was sure to decipher it. The sun and rain weakened the ink or pencil, I think. The Brother labels stick just fine to miniblinds, so I use those now. Costs a little more, but it is much easier to read. Guess I could just write larger, but my iris, rose and daylily tags have plant name, hybridizer, year, and more. The metal blinds are wicked sharp, so if you have a choice...use the plastic ones.

You can use big blinds too,..,it gives you more room to write the names

>> I was sanding the writing off! Didn't matter if it was permanent marker, paint pen or pencil.

Good point! I try to avoid smudging my pencil-on-plastic.

Someone suggested clear tape over the marking.

I'd like to weigh in on the what-writing-utensil-is-best discussion. Pencil, but not just any pencil, an artist's dark graphite pencil is the best. It will never fade away - a plastic marker will photo-degrade before the writing disappears. I use standard 5", white, plastic nursery pot tags, but have used cut up bleach bottles, too.

"artist's dark graphite pencil is the besy"

Do those go by any particular name? And where do you get them?

I'm interested!

Shoe

RickCorey said:>> I was sanding the writing off! Didn't matter if it was permanent marker, paint pen or pencil.

Good point! I try to avoid smudging my pencil-on-plastic.

Someone suggested clear tape over the marking.

A green Scotch Brite pad and water removes pencil very quickly with no smudging, and won't sand away any of the label. Alcohol will remove some inks.

>> A green Scotch Brite pad and water removes pencil very quickly

Thanks! I just bought some pink rubber erasers from Staples, but will try it your way.

It might be a BAD idea to clean the slats with Comet cleanser: I just pulled some out of the soil, and the below-ground parts seem stained. Maybe if the surface had no micro-cratches, they would stay cleaner.

On the other hand, how clean do the below-ground parts NEED to be?

Not poopoo your pencil cause I have never tried that -- I bought a "Paint Pen" last year when I bought my tags via MamaJacks Coop.... that works great too!

I've heard many praise paint pens, but I tried using one to refresh the letters on my PC keyboard. (I hammer the keys pretty hard and wear out the letters).

But the paint pen went on wide and blurry, and even though I let it dry thoroughly, it rubbed off in few days.

So I never tried it on plant labels.

That's too bad about the paint pen! The one I have works great on the Metal tags I bought. No smugding or blurry or wide issues.

You must hammer those letters hard!

in industrial sales shops,paint pens are available,right down to fine point.,,.ive gone through 6 pens this winter[ god!!- how many pots do i have?????]

Sounds like Tooooooo many, but i'm sure it isn't. Just too many labels...

You might have it there charlene,.,.''i dont have too many pots- just too many labels''..better go fill me up some more lily pots!!!!!

I resemble that remark