By Bernard
Cambridgeshire,
United Kingdom 
Does anyone have a solution to my plant labelling problem in the open garden? I particularly need labels to record the positions of plants that disappear into dormancy so that I don't destroy them with new planting.
I have tried wooden stakes - they rot. The white plastic ones succumb to ultra violet, become brittle and break or are removed and scattered about the garden by anmals or birds. I have an enormous number of plants and would dearly like to have labels that last and stay where they're put, but cost is an important consideration.
22 Jul, 2010
Answers
Hi Bernard there is a Goypeadia page 'Plant labelling' which has ideas that may help you? I find that if they are loose - animals and birds move them. So I use pegged ones.
23 Jul, 2010
I used to use metal tent pegs to mark the spots where plants that disappear are - they don't rot at least, and even if the label goes missing, at least you know where something is under the soil.
I'm afraid I resorted to a sketch or drawing of the garden, to scale, marking the position of various plants with a number and did a separate list of what the numbers meant, along with the tent pegs for things like Platycodon, which disappear completely.
23 Jul, 2010
Drc726, either I'm thick or they are incredibly well camouflaged, but I can't find a Goypedia page anywhere :-(
23 Jul, 2010
Hi Bernard - go down to the bottom of this page select the the Letter 'P' and when it opens select 'Plant Labelling'
23 Jul, 2010
Previous question
Bernard, last year someone described how they wrote the names of their plants on pebbles and used those as labels. Sounds good - cheap, rot proof and uv resistant!
22 Jul, 2010