For years I made labels with Dyno label maker and had little trouble with them fading or falling off. Couple of years ago made all new labels using clear address labels made on the computer. Make sure you use labels for laser printer so they do not wash off in the first rain storm. Have not had any problems with them as yet. They look nicer than if I labeled them by hand. I think several other members in Midwest use this type of label.
A few years ago I started burying a label made from blinds using marking pen writing on both sides. Am having problem with them heaving in the winter. Maybe should make them shorter and plant deeper.
If I plant a miniature in a pot I write on the outside of the pot and also place a small plastic label in it.
Naomi
Kathleen,
Inkjet printing does not last long, neither do inkjet labels even if printed on a laser printer. It takes the Water Resistant labels (that used to be sold as Waterproof) and a laser printer to last. Some of them have lasted for about 4-5 years here when applied to one of the Eon Industries rose markers, though occasionally they will start to peel off the marker sooner than that. I have not been able to find the laser printer clear labels as I prefer and could find at Office Depot or OfficeMax (note sure which) in the past. The clear ones are much less obtrusive in the garden than the white ones. I list all my daffs in Excel and can put whatever info I want on the label. Obsessive, maybe, but fun! I am an organizer, so I like this–to be able to see the name of the flower, division and color code, hybridizer, year of origin, source of the bulbs, number of bulbs planted, season of bloom, etc. while looking at the flower in bloom is great fun! I also list on Excel the location, so it is a backup to my hand-drawn map, and I can also list other info on the Excel file, like notes, fertility, and pollen and seed parents if known. Early on in my yellow fever, I could sort the file by division or color or season and determine what I wanted to concentrate on to round out my collection. When I have time now, I like to mark the ones I have picked for a show, save them to a separate Excel file, and sort by a few fields to see what collections might be fun to enter. I usually do a sort by Code, a column where I note M for Miniature, I for Intermediate, S for Species, and H for Historics. I also do a sort by division and color code and perhaps country of origin. I do sometimes fine the Water-Resistant white labels at local office stores, but ones I have ordered from unknown websites have not been dependably consistently water resistant–the old “if it sounds to good to be true, it probably is–beware!”
Becky Fox Matthews that daffy girl near Nashville with a huge case of yellow fever