Garden Labels and Markers: Find Yours Here!

But have you noticed how there are never enough labels? There is never a fresh one at hand when needed, and there is never a label to be found when faced with an enchanting "must have" but unrecognized plant. And most certainly there is never a label when we have forgotten a name!

Jan. 2003 Note from the editor: this article was written nearly five years ago and many of the links no longer exist. For example, that one-time darling of the internet and monster site garden.com has disappeared since then. If I have time this month I'll try and replace them with appropriate substitutes. I'm sorry!

Plant labeling, unlike garden journals, leaves no room for leeway. Either the plant is labeled or it is not labeled. Heaven knows we try. We really do. Yet, in time, every gardener learns that labels are quite simply, ephemeral.

Labeling is not rocket science, by any means, but many of us have trouble with it. Why? Labels are available in all kinds of styles, from the upscale range of plant and herb markers to the plain Jane utilitarian.

The name on the label doesn't really even have to be in Latin, although binomial nomenclature is good. Presumably we can all scribble sufficiently to note down a simple thing like a plant name. (Even if you need help with this part, there is simply no excuse. Try these!) Yet still there are unlabeled plants in gardens around the world. How can this be?

Some of the unlabeled plants come as unlabeled orphans in the first place; some labels are lost in transit, some are lost in the wind, some to the rain. Some labels deteriorate in the sunlight, some grow brittle and shatter in the cold. Some are stepped on by deer, some are stomped on by gardeners, some are rearranged by children, and some are eaten by I know not what. Some I am afraid to say, are stolen as souvenirs. I know puppies delight in burying them, and I suspect the garden fairies borrow them, too.

Some serious gardeners cringe at the sight of an unlabeled plant, while others laugh and say "So what. It grows, I like it!" Beginners need labels because they are still learning to recognize plants. Some old hands need labels because we forget what we put where and when we did it and then dig things up by accident. Sometimes labels add helpful details, as in was that the blue one or the yellow one? Sometimes the labels are customized and indexed and used as a method of inventory control. Reputable plant merchants and their customers demand accurate labels, and rightly so.

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