Celebrating botanical heritage with Longwood Gardens (USA)

Knowing the name of a plant helps us better respect it. In this spirit, we made a special trip to Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania to learn more about an industrial stamping machine that produces tags for virtually every plant in their vast displays.

Having visited several botanical gardens around the world, we were intrigued that Longwood is the only one that thought to repurpose this Italian-made machine that was designed to serve the automobile industry.

With its European airs, Longwood Gardens is in a class above its American peers so it is only fitting that their tagging system also exudes elegance. All of the tags are made of copper, which  ages beautifully and offers a more environment-friendly alternative to plastic. The team at Longwood also devised an ingenious system that would make the tag less of a nuisance to the growing plant. They fitted the tag with a screw and a spring so that the tree can push the tag as it stretches upwards and outwards.

We think this sophisticated tagging system would be a welcome addition to residential gardens, especially considering all of the ways to personalise the tag with, for example, the date a tree was planted or the name of the person who planted it. These personal touches help celebrate a place’s history and heritage.