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I struggle with the problem of names and labels for my garden plants. On the one hand, I don’t want my garden to be overrun with little plastic bits that get chewed up by the tiller, the dog and the whatever else. I can’t afford beautiful bronze plaques for every major tree and shrub. The copper or zinc wire-on labels are nice, pricey, and they also get lost. I never was together enough to keep a current landscape plan in a garden notebook. I’ve started several times and I make it for about as long as I can stick to a new diet. But I do need to know what’s what.
The problem is a simple one—if you don’t know what the plant is called, you can’t look it up and see what care it needs, what pests are prone to visit it and (most importantly) you can’t get more of it if you just love it and want to expand the bed. I wrestle with the label thing. I haven’t totally solved it yet.
Compounding the label problem are two other things—common names and Latin names. It really helps to have both. However, whenever you chisel the Latin name in stone, somebody changes it. For example, my little wild bluebells are Scilla hispanica or Endymion or Hyacinthoides depending on who you talk to. We just call them “bluebells” but since this name also applies to several of the Campanula family, some of the squills and a few other plants, I can’t order from the nursery and expect to duplicate my original. Precision in labeling counts. So does the ability to change the label as the years go by.
For my herb garden, I have decided to try making “artistic” labels from polymer clay. I can write both sets of names in the soft clay, bake it in my oven, and then attach the labels to the fence with brass screws. I’m hoping this will last for several years, but if not, I’m not out a lot of money. Another low-cost alternative I have used in the Children’s Demonstration Garden is to write the names on smooth river rocks with a permanent paint pen. I then sprayed the rocks with clear polyurethane sealer. They do get moved around when the kids are working on the beds, but we can easily find them and put them in their proper places. Red letters on gray rocks show up well. The effect is casual and cheerful—just what this garden needs.
Seed starting is a label-intensive thing, too. I usually use the little white plastic ones from the nursery, but I have also used plastic knives from the picnic sets. The forks get used up while the knives are left over, so I recycle them in the seed pots. Or try popsicle sticks, or cut up slats from old window blinds. Indelible ink pens work—if you get the right brand. Some are more “permanent” than others. You have to experiment. With seeds, you just can’t tell what they are until they have several leaves and it’s so easy to mix up the babies. You must label each pot or flat.
Whatever method
or combinations of method you use, it’s really super to be able to point
out a spectacular plant to your admiring visitor and say “Oh, that’s
a Brugmansia x candida” and be able to show them the label. It
impresses the socks off most people, including me. If you have a plant you can’t
identify, take a good sized sample to your local WSU
Master Gardener clinic. Then be sure to write down all the names.
Hortsense: Managing plant problems with Integrated Pest Management
