Readers Respond: Ways to Label Plants without Destroying the Look of the Garden.

Responses: 43

By Marie Iannotti, About.com Guide

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This is how I plotted out my square foot garden. Label the vegetables in the boxes. In the notes you can add the dates planted, germinated and harvested or whatever notes you want to make.
—Guest Elsie bohn

I don't label the plants, but keep a journal listing them, including drawings of the plant beds.
—Guest ChefBreeZee

pix showing plants with labels, then you can remove labels, show to visitors and refresh in spring
—Guest lynchsteele

There is no need for labeling at all, do what a professional gardener does. When you plant you also write down where you planted it and for what reason. All of that information should be kept on a log in your garden shed. If it is not on your log then you are sharing it. Plants migrate in many ways if it is not yours and you did not plant it chances are that it could be your neighbors or that you have not cultivated your garden for that species. Plants often bed or find a way to bed together, when you see something new in your garden it is often bedding. It is up to you as a selected gardener what you want and what you do not growing in your garden. If you have a lot of weeds growing then you are not a selective gardener. Enough for now signing off. Lewis
—Guest Lewis Austin

I buy the tiny clay pots and label them. I take heavy gage wire and wire them to flip upside down like a tiny lamp shade. I dont spray as at the end of the growing season I can clean and lightly sand to use next year!! Its fun to see them all cute in the rows of veggies and in front of each flower type, Perennials and annuals.
—Guest Brenda

I use the wooden sticks off the popsicles to mark my flowers and veggies. They hold up real well in the garden, are easy to write on, and don't stand out against the plants.
—pdstreiten

I use paint pens and write the names on a piece of slate or a small flat rock. Looks more attractive and is long lasting even when covered over by plant growth.
—MarnHP

I am pretty new to gardening both veg. & flowers but I have been keeping a paper grid of my garden and writing in what I have planted and where. It seems to be working okay for me. My oval shaped flower garden is a little trickier. But I draw the shape of it on my paper and try to write what has been planted. I keep my little labels off the plants in an envelope with my garden stuff.
—Guest Diane

I cut up old vinyl blind slats and write in pencil on them - I suppose you could paint them brown first so they mix in with the mulch - but if I bury them deep enough they usually don't stand out too much once the plants come in.
—Guest Mindy

I use small wooden ice cream "spoons". Write with a permanent marker then stick in ground. Once plants come up and are fairly well developed I'll remove sticks. They only stick up out of the ground about an inch so they really don't destroy the view!!
—Guest Tandra Russell

I got to the craft store , where you can purchase tiny little clay pots. I use a sharpie to label and then spray a clear waterproof paint . I also use small flat pebbles and label in the same way
—Guest Shelley

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Marie Iannotti
Gardening Guide