It can seem like a lot of bother to label your plants, but here are some reasons to consider doing so:
- Which one is this? You might be looking at a plant and wondering what color the blooms are. With most plants, like tomatoes, petunias, daylilies and hellebores, all the different varieties look exactly the same until they bloom.
- What plant is this? Like a name tag at a party, a plant label helps you to put a name (you can’t recall) to a face that is familiar. Knowing the name helps you to retrieve information about the plant species. Sometimes we want to know why a plant is not doing well, or we want to move it to another part of the garden; knowing what the plant needs to thrive helps us to help it.
- Where is my (species)? Wondering if your plant survived? Can’t remember where you planted something? Especially for ephemerals like Bleeding Hearts (Lamprocapnos spectabilis, formerly Dicentra spectabilis) and Trout Lilies (Erythronium Americanum) and herbaceous perennials that die back in winter.
- Can I dig here? So many experienced gardeners have accidentally dug up and lost a desirable plant, especially small ones. With a label, you know there’s something there and need to be careful.
Maintain a Labelling System
- When you plant something new, immediately take a picture of it with the tag that identifies it. Tags get lost, broken, fade with age. You will always have the photo of the original and the plant that it belongs to.
- During the summer, when it’s too hot or wet to garden outdoors, use the photos to create a photo library on your computer. Naming each photo will save you having to peer at a wall of tiny thumbnail photos trying to identify what you’re looking for.
- With the photos named, you also save a bit of typing by being able to simply copy and paste the names into the label maker. I enjoy playing around on a computer, so this is fun for me. I chose the Brother PT-D600 because it can link to a computer. I’m terribly slow at typing on the label machine itself. This was purchased several years ago, so there might be better models now. This model also takes tape that is weather resistant, so labels last longer and don’t peel or fade for several years.
- If you want to go a step further, copy it into a spreadsheet at the same time. If you have over 50 plants, it is useful to have an alphabetical listing. You can also categorize by growing conditions, area in your garden or whatever is useful for you, like native or culinary.
- Choosing materials: There are many to choose from both from local shops and online. They may be called plant tags, garden labels or stakes. If you want metal, search specifically for metal or search “decorative plant tags”. Or create your own, if you have the talent and imagination. There are many, many examples online. Try searching, “creative garden labels”.
For annuals and seed-starting, inexpensive tags might be the way to go, since you will likely need many and will only use them for one season. Using materials that you can write on with pencil, enables you to erase and reuse the label a few times. Or you can scratch over one side and write on the other side.
I tend to just dump old tags in a pot or any available container and accumulate them until a rainy day, when I clean, erase and organize them. Different colors help you see, at a glance, what category of plant you’re looking at. I use pink for cherry tomatoes, red for globes and yellow for sauce tomatoes. Always, always, prepare the label and stick it into the pot or tray before you seed, because it’s so easy to forget to do it after.
