Homemade herb markers

Hand-painted rocks are an attractive alternative to plastic plant labels. Photo/Illustration: Christine Erikson

I like to keep my herb garden looking as natural as possible, but every time I added a new herb, I used to have to leave the unsightly plastic marker beside it for identification. To change all that, I now collect flat rocks approximately 3 inches long by 2 inches wide. Using acrylic decorating paint and a small artist’s brush, I paint the name of an herb on one side of the rock, while on the flip side, I paint an A for annual or a P for perennial. To make it weather resistant, I coat each rock with a clear acrylic.

The best part of my new identification system is that when I send my husband or son out to the garden to get me a snip of a certain herb, I know he will come back with the right one.