Thanks for the compliment, Leon.
I briefly had a fling with those impressionable copper labels (on stakes), but as Sherry commented, they quickly oxidize and you can't read them unless you are right on top of them - and even then it can be problematic! (Also, the copper "label", which is really just a strip of copper bent around the posts, can and will fall off in the garden (thanks to critters or blundering humans).)
I started many years ago with the AAA engraved labels, and many/most of my long term plants have those labels. (I guess you can say that I like the "botanical garden" look.
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Right now I am using the Wren labels medium term (on daylilies I know I will have at least a few years, ditto irises) with either garden marker (the garden marker writing persists undimmed for at least a couple of years on the Wren metal, better than it does on plastic labels) or the P touch labels (which I have mixed feelings about... I fear that I am coming to the conclusion that hand writing actually stands out and looks better on the Wren markers than does a stuck on printed label). The garden marker writing does eventually start to fade, but one advantage of the Wren labels (over other types of "long term" garden labels) is that (as Sherry noted) one can always write in long-lasting pencil (on the reverse side of the label). It is not really readable in the garden, BUT the duplicate pencil writing on the reverse side ensures that the plant identity is not lost if the gardener is too slow/lax to update the label.
http://www.charleysgreenhouse....
I did try paint markers once or twice, because they are supposedly better than Sharpies or garden marker pens, but it was messy doing it, and the labels were an absolute mess too - it's not like writing with a Sharpie/garden marker at all, and the labels looked so very bad that I just gave up on the whole idea.
One final comment on this whole labeling business... Our desire, of course, is to have our plants all labeled in such a way that we can easily read their identities in the garden. However, that kind of labeling is basically at odds with a permanent labeling of the sort such that the identity of the plant cannot be lost, simply because such stakes/labels
can be knocked over/about/carried off by critters/raked up by clueless garden workers/otherwise lost in the garden. I have read that what some people do is to tie on, or otherwise place beneath the root ball, those impressionable copper or metal tags, of the type that are sold as rose labels. There is no writing that will fade and the tag will always be there with the plant, even when/if the garden marker has been lost or is no longer readable. (After you have moved on, future garden owners can dig up the plant and discover its identity, if you want to be altruistic in your thinking about this.
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https://www.antiqueroseemporiu...
