Most labels don’t last so read the following carefully…
Aluminium tags and indent them using a stylus that you can buy at a craft shop. A stylus has a large round knob one end and a small round knob the other end.
White Berol Prismacolor coloured pencil. Lasts forever, never fades and you can wipe it off with alcohol.
White duct tape on plastic pots for labeling.
Labelling your trees by David ChulowI am very particular about my labels – I like them as perfect and informative as possible. I use a free version of a program called “My Label Designer” NOT the DeLuxe version which is almost unusable and expensive and print my labels on my laser printer using ordinary paper, then laminate them with thick 250 + 250 plastic laminate. If not damaged they will last at least 7 or even 8 years. I have a private arboretum specializing in rare fruits and palms and each tree has a scientific label. I have been using this system for many years since the introduction of the first Apple computer and Laser Printer. However, this will not work on my new Windows 7 Professional computer and I have to keep my old computer just to make labels so if any of you computer experts out there have any suggestions on how to make an old program work on Windows 7 I would appreciate it. In a collection it is very sensible to have a numbered accession label in metal, The International Dendrology Society recommends this for serious collections, however I no longer bother. I keep a number of templates and it takes only moments to type in a new accession – then adjust the font sizes to give the best looking labels. These labels last at least 7 to 10 years if not damaged, however you MUST use a laser printer, I once ran out of ink and printed some up with an ink jet printer and within a year they had faded almost away and became quite illegible. Also if the labels get damaged water can get in and the label will fade but they are so easy to make and so inexpensive that replacing them is no big deal. Visitors to my garden are always appreciative of my comprehensive labelling and it is also an aide memoir.