The best to date for me have been aluminum mini blinds cut to the length you like and a china marker (grease pencil).

Annette

I've been using these for my tomato plants for many years. Originally wrote the names with a china marker. That's not easy to remove, so now I use a laminated tape when I need a new label.

{{gwi:689386}}

Yes on mini blinds. Because we have 2 plant swaps a year, we have found that plain old pencil lasts longer. I have some labels that I know are 3 years old.

Kathy

mini blind and pencil - lasts forever .....

Lynne

On another forum (hosta), on the plants you know you're going to keep for a long time, someone purchased dog tags and engraved them), put them on a metal skewer that they bent to form the stake. VERY VERY pretty & classy and probably way more expensive than mini blind and pencil :P

I have a few that I've used several times, but I'm going to try to spray paint them, then I could use them over and over. Maybe it would be best to use a green like the color of foliage instead of that silver/zinc plant marker. I don't know how that would work but it would blend in with the foliage better.

I just went to the local thrift store and bought a load of knives. Then using a permanent marker wrote the name of the plant on it and stuck it in the ground in the middle of the plant or right next to it. Simple easy and last forever.

Great idea! Maybe my dog would not be able to chew those.