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I have been using "DooHickey" labels and wire stakes through very hot summers and below zero icy winters. We've had heat, excessive rain, sun, ice, snow, extreme cold, etc. They look like the day I pushed them in the ground. The stakes are heavy duty. The tags (I use the ones that hang down) are their own soft metal and I write with pencil. Yucca Do Nursery is the only one that carries them now days. The ones that hang down don't accidently get pulled out as easily. BUT, the only sure fire way to have "label insurance" is to map your beds. It's a big job and one that must be done on a regular basis if you move and plant new. But you will never have that precious grandchild bring you a bouquet of markers and be hopelessly lost - again. These markers are probably too expensive for seed starts but for all the times I've bought markers for my garden that never worked, it is well worth the cost to have these.
Being retired, I now have the time to diagram my garden. BUT I love doing things like that and it helps when figuring out what and where to put things. Once you get a big garden or yard with lots of plants, it reminds what worked and what didn't. I also realized that every time I see "Lilting Belle" daylily I'd think, "Oh, that's so beautiful and inexpensive, I have to have it." Now, I know I already have three and to stop buying new! I know, a duh moment.
I read someplace that the ink pens used to mark cattle ears works really well as far as not washing off or fading, although I've not used them.
I think this label topic is one of the most talked about in any group of gardeners. The person that invents "the perfect" and inexpensive label device will have a zillion sales let alone our forever praise. Thanks for getting this discussion started.
You're right, it's an ongoing discussion... I wish I'd been able to offer the "perfect" solution, LOL... but I have to say that those laser printed labels are as close to perfect as I've found so far. I need to start printing out double labels so I don't have to hand-write my backup mini-blind label... one metal tag, one in the ground seems to be working out OK for me.
Sharpie makes a "Rub-a-Dub" laundry marker that I have found to last a whole season in the vegetable garden. I write on homemade mini blind labels. The mini blind plastic gets brittle after a season, but the "Rub-a-Dub" writing might last longer.
I tried embossing metal labels I cut from soda cans. This seemed promising. I punched a hole in the lable and wired it to a wooden stake. This seemed like the ultimate answer for cheap permanent markers, but the metal is too thin to stand up to the wind and the holes tear and the lables blow away. Back to the drawing board...
