The Simple Magic of Plant Labels (and Why I Label Everything I Put in the Ground)

One of the most unexpectedly important habits in my garden — something I didn’t realize mattered until years later — is labeling every single plant I put in the soil.

Perennials, shrubs, trees, bulbs… if it’s going into The Odd Garden, it gets a label.

And honestly? It has transformed how I learn, how I plan, and how I understand what’s happening out there in the dirt.

It helps me learn the plants’ names

When you’re first getting into gardening, it’s impossibly easy to forget what you planted where. A label is like a gentle reminder every time you walk past:

“Oh right — that’s the Akebono cherry.”

“Ah yes — rosemary ‘Arp’ lives here.”

Over time, those repeated glances build real knowledge. I genuinely learned half my plant IDs just from my own garden labels.

In early spring, labels save you from guessing games

There’s a moment every spring where everything in the garden looks the same: a blanket of soil with tiny green nubs poking through.

Herbaceous perennials vanish completely over winter — hostas, ferns, daylilies, phlox — all look identical when they first return.

Labels turn that confusion into clarity.

Instead of staring at bare soil thinking, “What was this again?”, you know exactly what’s coming back. You can avoid accidentally digging something up because you thought it was empty space.

Labels help you know what survived winter (and what didn’t)

Some winters in the PNW are kind and mild, and some are… less friendly.

Labels help you track:

• What bounced back strong

• What struggled

• What didn’t return at all

This gives you real diagnostic power. If something didn’t make it, you can ask why:

Was it the wrong USDA zone?

Did the soil stay too wet?

Was it a hungry rabbit’s midnight snack?

Labels turn losses into learning.

What labels do I use?

These are the exact waterproof tags I use for every perennial, shrub, and tree in The Odd Garden. They hold up through PNW winters and don’t fade. They’re sturdy, easy to write on, and they don’t fade after one season and look quite nice in the garden i think.