Mark Rayner has some great ideas for naming plants.
Plant labels can be decorative as well as useful - and they're a great way to add a personal touch when giving a potted plant as a gift. Use some of these ideas to create your own labels or adapt the techniques to suit your own designs.
This chalk-labelled pot is ideal for an indoor plant or using in the greenhouse. It also makes a fun gift. Seal the inside and outside of a clean terracotta pot with Resene Terracotta Sealer and allow this to dry. Paint the rim with two coats of Resene Billy T, allowing two hours for each coat to dry. Then paint the side of the pot with two coats of Resene Blackboard Paint, allowing half an hour for each coat to dry. Plant up with your favourite herb and label the pot with chalk.
This little chilli label made from a plastic plant label tells you what's growing; the exclamation marks remind you how hot it is. Roughen both sides of the plastic label with sandpaper and prime with one coat of Resene Waterborne Smooth Surface Sealer and allow to dry. Paint the label with two coats of Resene Twentyfourseven, allowing two hours for each coat to dry. Paint 'Habanero' and chilli with Resene Get Reddy and with Resene Kermit.
Create a nifty wire label in a flowing 'handwritten' script using soft galvanised wire and long-nosed pliers. Cut a length of wire and use the pliers to carefully bend to spell out a favourite plant herb. Prime the metal with one coat of Resene Galvo One and, when that is dry, paint the label with two coats of Resene Nero.
This simple-to-make crop label is perfect for marking a row of newly sown carrots. Prime a Resene paint stirrer (or similar piece of flat wood) with a coat of Resene Quick Dry. When this is dry, give the stirrer two coats of Resene Malibu, allowing two hours for each coat to dry. Paint in the carrots with Resene Gold Drop and Resene Bilbao and allow to dry.
This hanging label adds a quirky touch to the strawberry patch - and by swinging in the wind, it might help to deter hungry birds. Punch a hole in a small paint tin lid with a large nail. Roughen the surface of the lid with sandpaper and apply one coat of Resene Waterborne Smooth Surface Sealer, allowing two hours for it to dry. Prime a Resene paint stirrer with one coat of Resene Quick Dry and allow it to dry. Paint the stirrer and lid with two coats of Resene Retro, allowing two hours for each coat to dry. Paint a circle in the centre of the lid with Resene Riptide and, when it is dry, paint a strawberry with Resene Guardsman Red, Resene Bahia and Resene Bilbao. When all paint is dry, fix the upright and label together with galvanised wire. Position the upright at an angle in the ground so the hanging label can swing.