The Best Way to Label Garden Plants

Looking for the best way to label garden plants in your garden? Throughout the years, I’ve used many different garden markers and plant labels. 

My favorite way to label garden plants is easy to see, lasts all season (even in the Arizona summer sun), and can be reused season after season. 

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Garden labels should be easy to see

I use these plastic labels from Amazon with a sharpie when starting seeds. They are simple to use and work well for labeling small seedlings. 

However, the labels are difficult to find amid the dirt when the plants go out into the garden. The writing on these plastic labels often fades by the end of the season.

Instead of using them in the garden, I reuse these labels for starting the next round of seedlings by wiping off the writing with a Magic Eraser. 

When I’m ready to transplant my seedlings or plant my seeds in the garden, I love using these metal plant labels (also from Amazon). When it’s time to plant, I label the seeds or seedlings and plant them along with the transplants.

These plant markers are easy to spot in the garden even when the plant gets large. I often have visitors in my garden, and an easy-to-see plant marker is as helpful for them as it is for me. 

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The best way to label garden plants should last all season

Keeping accurate records each season is an important part of gardening. Gardeners often learn as much (or more) from failures as from successes. If labels are lost or indecipherable, it’s difficult to document what went well (or not so well) at the end of the season. 

Wooden labels:

• absorb moisture, and writing bleeds
• often rot quickly

Plastic labels:

• easily lost or buried
• get brittle and break
• the writing often fades by the end of the season

Black metal plant labels are written on with sharpie paint pens and last all season (or all year).

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The best way to label garden plants should be reusable

I love using these aluminum labels that are easy to emboss with a ballpoint pen for trees and long-lived plants in the garden. 

However, many of my garden plants are annuals. The plants change each season. After the current plant is removed, a different plant will be in that spot. Chances are you will plant a different variety of tomatoes or peppers next time and need a different label for the new type of plant.

Ideally, you should use your plant markers again next season. 

I love that at the end of each season, I can paint over the labels with black paint and use them again. 

Many of these tags have been used for several years. 

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