My new way of labeling plants helps visitors, my garden helpers, and me. It’s especially useful for multiples of plants that die back after their seasonal growing cycles. The secret: make one printed label for each type of plant and put a glass-topped plant marker in front of it, as shown above. Put a matching marker in front of any other plants of the same species nearby. I start by coordinating the color choices with the plants, but the important point is to use different colors for each nearby species. For example, I gave four blueberry plants blue-topped markers and the nearby Jack in the Pulpits clear-topped markers.
How to Make Glass-Topped Plant Markers with Flat Marbles and Golf Tees
To make glass-topped plant markers yourself:
- Wash flat marbles and the golf tees in soapy water. Dry well.
- Put a little glue in a clean, shallow, disposable container. I used an old take-out pan.
- Dip the top tips of the golf tee in the glue.
- Push the bottom of the tee into a scrap of styrofoam so the tee is upright and the top level.
- Balance the flat bottom of a marble on the tee.
- Let the glue set as directed.
- Tug gently on the marbles to see if they are firmly attached. If not, try again with more glue.
I use a Brothers labeling machine to print names in black on clear tape that is rated for outdoor use. The common name appears in the largest font size, with the botanical name in a smaller, italic font. The writing area on the zinc labels is three inches by one and an eight inch. That’s room for three lines of text.
The graphite markings on my old labels would wear off in five or so years. I usually only had space for the common or the botanical name, plus “N” if native and the season and year the specimen was planted.
