labelling
John Lonsdale (Wed, 24 Aug 2005 07:49:24 PDT)

I've used a method for two years now that is great for
both maintaining a record of accessions and also printing
highly legible labels which are permament and contain a
lot of information.

I enter my accessions into a column of an Excel sheet then
use mail merge within Word to create labels. Save your
Excel data, open Word and select mail merge. Choose your
label template sheet - I use Avery transparent return
address labels, 80 per sheet, for standard 5" or 8"
plastic labels. For larger aluminum lables I use a bigger
Avery label. Select the data you want to merge then
complete the merge and format the labels as you need to
get them to fit all the information. Generally Arial at
8, 9 or 10 point works best. Print them on a laser
printer - essential because it is the carbon toner that
bonds with the label that is responsible for the lack of
fading (same as the Brother method). You don't have to do
a full sheet each time - the sheets happily go through the
printer at least 3 times. Stick the printed labels on
your label of choice and put them in the ground/pots.
Before doing a lot I iteratively microwaved, dishwashed,
froze and thawed the labels a number of times and the
adhesive never deteriorated. After a couple of years in
the garden not a single label has peeled or faded. You
don't even have to type a lot of the information into the
Excel sheet if it is electronically availbe lesewhere,
e.g. when you order or on a web site.

The only marker I use that is guaranteed not to fade and
fine enough for plant labels is the DecoColor black paint
pen.

J.