Top 5 things to include on plant tags

Common and Scientific Names

Plant Placement

The label can include plant spacing and planting depth for seeds too. Knowing how deep to plant seeds on a reproductive and established plant is helpful for sowing ahead of the season. Understanding how far apart a plant should be from another is important as well. 

This gives you some idea of whether or not temperate season division should occur or when to prune a plant back.

Hardiness Zones

Knowing where a plant is hardiest helps you decide to bring a plant inside in certain conditions or helps to simply know which will do best in which season in your USDA hardiness zone. While this is important, couple your understanding of your regional climate with this information. Consider the projected first and last frost dates to know whether or not a plant is best in-ground or in a container.

Plant Description

Plant labels may also include the height, spread, and growth habits of plants. Knowing how tall or wide a plant gets gives you an idea of where best to place it. The same goes for knowing which color flowers the plant produces and understanding how it reproduces. If it crawls in the garden, it needs space. If it spreads by seed only or by trailing rhizomes, you’ll want to understand this before placing. 

Also, getting some indication of what kind of plant you’re growing tells you which garden to plant in. Maybe you like to keep herbs separate from flowers, or perhaps you have native plants in one area and annuals elsewhere.  

Plant Care Needs

Finally, plant labels can tell gardeners how to care for them. This includes information about soil, water, temperature, and fertilizer needs. Among all the practical information included on plant tags, this may be most beneficial to people who don’t want to keep track of plant needs elsewhere. 

Much like the rest of the information we’ve covered so far, with plant care listed on a marker, you’ll know how to place the plant in question. Even more important is the appropriate planting season and nutrition needed. Often the fertilizer NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) is listed.