I just ordered the Brother P-Touch and clear 1" clear tape with black letters. Thanks! Amazon was cheaper

I like the white tape with black letters gives better contrast making the label easy to read even if you are not right on top of the marker.

they are easier to read but as many as I have I have a lot of white out there right now

Funny, my neighbor is up in his 70s and yesterday his wife told me that Paul said...Teresa has a lot of flowers blooming already. Kathy said no she doesn't, it is still to cool (other than crocus and a few daffs) So when they drove past he told her look over there.. it was my white labels on my 70 ft long daylily bed lol. He has poor eyesight and that right there proves he doesn't need to be driving!

I am getting so many increases, I may line some of my older ones out. Anyone have a more economical idea on how to label them in a field?? I love my metal labels with the Brother info that are in my display beds, but I don't want to be buying hundreds more

How about PVC pipe for each cultivar row of separated daylilies starts putting the labels on the pipes. PVC is reasonable you can cut it to length and it is durable. I used to buy daylilies from a large garden and that is how they marked their cultivars.

When I have excess daylilies and I want to keep up with their names I use the old vinyl bind slat system. I also am using them for my seedlings along with recording their location here on NGA in my plant list.
I dug two sets out of the trash by the road just yesterday and had retrieved a set about a week ago, so now I am pretty well set for labels for a while. After you learn how to remove the cords, and discover the slats just slip out of all those threads it does not take long to prepare them for becoming labels. I can cut 4 to six slats at a time with my shears.
There are a lot of disadvantages to using these vinyl slats, but they are cheap and easy to work with and most of the disadvantages can be overcome by using a map or some other method of recording the locations, even burying a label at the end of the row would really help.
The PVC pipe idea is great, but you still have to make your labels(you could just write on them I suppose) and the main drawback I see with them is storage. I can store hundreds of vinyl shade slats in a very small space and have them available when needed.
The big advantage of the PVC pipe is the durability of them.
Here are some photos of how I am using them.
Seedlings in beds.

Some various methods of marking them.




I use the string I remove from the blinds to bind stacks of them together, I cut the long ones in half so they are easier to store.




Here is a typical marker after being cut and written on with the grease pencil.


This is certainly not for any long term projects, but for a year or maybe two it works quite well (most of the time).

I use vinyl blind slats, too. I especially like the heavier weight ones that were available a few years ago. Most of the newer ones are thinner. I haven't been lucky enough to find any in the trash.

Larry, what kind of marker do you use on them? I made about 30 last Fall on blinds and had to redo them around Christmas. Mine are already getting dim again

@bluegrassmom,
This is what I use.
https://everlastlabel.com/inde...

These are the little refills for the pencil, similar to lead for a mechanical pencil but more like a crayon.
https://everlastlabel.com/inde...
I really don't know yet how long the writing will last on the vinyl, hoping it will last at least a year. But the markers are cheap, quick and easy to replace if they do fade.

I use a soft lead pencil, such as a 6B, but I am going to take a look at what Larry uses.

Just make sure to write on the back also. The front fades in the sun. On the blinds. I have used initials on the back instead of writing out the whole name.

I got my new Brother P-Touch today The labels come tomorrow

Raven said:

Yes, the labels stick well to metal but, in my experience, not so good on plastic. I have labels on metal {old table knives} which are on the third winter with all our snow, rain, freeze/thaw and still as good as the day I put them in the garden. I used white the first year, green the second and pink last year. The label tapes are expensive but I have found if I change the settings to chain printing, I get less waste.

Raven, I have found an inexpensive place to by the tapes from here in Canada. I ordered 7 cartridges for $83 and free shipping. Received them in less than a week.
http://www.ezselection.ca/cata...

4 years of snow, ice and sun, still hanging tough!

Hello everyone, for my named varieties I use metal plant labels with Avery 5520 weather proof address labels, Laser printed at Staples for less than .50 cents a sheet of 30. And then I coat them with clear , exterior paint. However this yr. I have tried clear Quick seal plastic spray on, (the one you see on TV where tape the boat together? . For my seedlings I have some old aluminum window blinds that I cut 12 inches long , one end to a point, the other end somewhat rounded, then I use metal stamps ( like they use to stamp numbers or letters on keys ). The ones I use are 5/16 size, purchased at Harbor Frieght. These blinds are tan in color, and I have paint pen paint on the numbers, then wipe off excess paint leaving the numbers highlighted. Shower up well. The aluminum last forever, the paint holds up great, and you can even clear coat them if you want.

I've used the Avery labels on my earlier ones but didn't think to coat them with anything. Good idea.

I haven't sprayed mine either but that is a great idea!

Has anyone used white pvc pipe cut in 2ft sections? I wonder if the labels would adhere to that very well. I have seen them used in sale beds, but a marker was used.

I use the PVC pipes in the seedling beds. (Can't take credit...idea from Spunky.)

I use the Brother label maker and put the plant marker into the PVC pipe. A little bit of double duty but the PVC pipe sure stands up better than just my wire plant markers that get so bent out of shape from the heavy snow at times.