The Historic District

Plant tags are useful for a variety of reasons. Keeping a drawer-full of ID labels from the nursery only works if you remember which label goes with which plant. If you grow a few varieties of tomatoes, you might want to identify which ones you liked best so you know what to grow the next year. If you start plants from seed, it's a way to remember which plants are growing in which container. And so on.

I came up with this method. Take an aluminum beverage can and cut off the top and bottom. Kitchen shears work well for this; I use a single-edge razor blade to puncture the can without mashing it. Cut vertical strips to your preferred size. (I find 1" strips adequate for most plants. One can will yield eight strips about 3.5" long.) Nail to a board for stability and write (emboss) the name in the soft aluminum; I find that a dull pencil works just fine. The nail hole can then be threaded with a piece of twine to tie to a stake or directly to the plant.



I like this method because it's simple, cheap (or free) and stands up to the weather - a tag will remain readable for years.

That's a smart idea, cheap, easy and then they don't fade.

I bought one of those can openers that cuts the lid off cans without leaving a sharp edge on the top of the can. we have both opened a few cans with it and it works but every time we go to use it it still feels frustrating. I miss the old type that mount on a wall with a crank that just worked. The new ones seem to be made so cheap and flimsy that I throw them away in frustration and then find myself looking for a bic pen or a screwdriver or a chisel or something..
I find myself scouring thrift stores hoping to find a can opener that was made before about 1970 while we still had quality items available.

Yes, that is a great idea. I recall seeing nursery trees with stamped metal labels attached, they were purpose built for the job and contained other info other than type of tree. Probably stuff about supplier, date of seedling ect. All in a set of codes.

Along the way, I picked up an older wood burning letter kit (pretty sure there are numbers too). I wonder if I could also use that to "stamp" the metal tag since the letters are raised metal, or if that would damage the individual blocks from repeated stamping even though the metal of the strip is soft. The plan this year before I saw this post was to use those plastic tags that come on bread products (we've been saving them for a while but still likely don't have enough). Then use magic marker to put a number on them, then have a list saying what each number is, but I'd much rather do something like this.

i thik if you just put them on top of a few sheets of paper and write heavily with a ball point pen it will leave a readable indent.

If you want to go into mass production you can make dies and I do happen to have one of these..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGuA9N-yp0Y

shes printing with it here but it will also do embossing , die cutting , perforating and numbering. it will do gold foil too but you need a heater for the dies.
her's has a motor and mine did too. when you have to treadle it that helps you keep in time. I saw a couple of people crush fingers by not keeping in time properly. it can run about 3000 per hour or so. that video did not realy show how beautiful that actual machine is but there are lots of pics on the internet.

i sometimes think I might use it to make tin signs or some crafty thing. I have lots of experience and training so I know how but it's a pretty specialized and antiquated machine. It has some purpose though for example it will print on many awkward things like a matchbook or a napkin . type is just nder an inch tall , it is a standard height . I forget biut .981 inches or something. so maybe lily has some type metal. sometimes it is heated to imprint on gold foil , then only where the type is, prints. that's common for wedding invitations etc.

the one I have was used to print on top of already finished magazines until a more modern process was used. It's much like the one john boy did his newspaper on.

the think is too big to fit in a door unless I completely disassembled it and it is super heavy. Ive had mine in the yard covered in tarps and now and then Ill open it up turn it over, grease it and coat it with grease to try to prevent rust. it's a very beautiful casting, a thing of beauty really. a very heavy thing.

here is one in Michigan for $ 2900
http://www.briarpress.org/46316

what should I do with it?

The plant tags that Phil was referring to are manufactured by a couple in VA and are part of a database they maintain called PlantsMap. You can enter your plants and gardens in PlantsMap and have people all across the country see them. I've done two public gardens for the Master Gardeners (a community center and a tree trail) that are in their database. It's neat to see public gardens as well as homeowners ones. I'm thinking about doing mine now that the waterfall and pond is in place and the phlox is growing on the surrounding mound.

Matchbook, good to see your name up on the board. What have you been up to lately, would love to see pics of your home garden.
Ron