A Grateful Gardener

Somehow, it is once again Sunday night, and even though it’s December, the weather today was just magnificent, and I was able to work outside in the garden all day. I am a lucky so-and-so, I just know it. There are plenty of locales where iris are deep under the snow already, and the fact that it was 70°F in our area today is decidedly unusual for this time of year, but not so rare that I was unprepared. I worked outside until it was too cold and too dark to stay out, so of course I consider today to be a roaring success.

There isn’t much for me to do in the iris garden these days, as pretty much everything is planted, and the hatches have been battened down for a few weeks. Well, I will admit to still working on getting name tags finished and into the beds, but I have my layout in an xl file, so I can focus on that when it’s actually too cold or wet out to be IN the garden. And speaking of name tags, I am in the continuous search for a more efficient and long-lasting way to label my rhizomes.

Currently, I am using the metal staked tags with printed labels. The label media is weather resistant, which is good because before we knew better, we used whatever label cartridge came with the printer, and all our labels (and that was over 100 of them) faded in one season. What frustration. I am still in the process of remembering names and trying to match them to blooms each Spring... Having learned my lesson, I now use the metal staked tags, and weather-ready labels.

I also write the name of the rhizome on the back of the tag with a paint pen, so that if the tag should fade or peel, the name is still preserved on the back. This has worked well in previous years, but for some reason, this year my pen is, er, what’s the nice word... inconsistent? Irregular? Here’s what I mean:

Well, it’s good enough for the backside, right? Ahem... at least I can tell what the name is supposed to be if the front side gets ruined. No style points, though, ha ha.

I’ve also painted a few of the backsides completely, creating a dark, solid field. I will experiment with using a china pencil (white or yellow) on those as the alternate label, and report my findings.

Additionally, I’ve got some weather-resistant labels on plastic knives, which are great in beds that don’t have a gardener near them. I put the label on the blade portion of the knife, then stick the handle-end into the ground, with the label facing away from the sunniest/hottest direction. Not effective if you have sheep or other critters moving through the beds... it’s a long story, which I’ll save for another post.

In the meantime, I’d love to hear what methods you use for labeling your rhizomes. I have heard of several very clever and attractive methods, and I bet you have some good ideas to share... hmmm?

But, I’m saving labels for rainy/cold days. Today was not that day, and again, I feel lucky! Being able to go outside for hours at a time and (comfortably) work in my yard is just my favorite thing to do. It feeds my soul. It makes me happy. It heals me. It brings me joy. And at the end of the day, or to be more precise, at the end of the daylight, when I look around and can see the difference my time and efforts have made, I have an enormous sense of accomplishment that few other things bring me.

I think gardeners in general are very lucky people. We have a bit of land, a bit of time, a bit of nurturing, and a bit of nature in us. We have a desire to work with nature, the patience to wait for the results, the creativity to choose and plant, and the time to give to our gardens. Those are traits to be admired and cultivated, no pun intended! I know in our local iris society there aren’t too many member under the age of 45... I also know it’s very expensive to buy a house, and most people in their 20s and 30s have kids which absorb the kind of free time required to garden. Nontheless, I have a hope that gardening, and iris gardening in particular, continues to be popular, not only for the sake and beauty of the plants, but also for the traits and qualities gardening engenders. My favorite people are gardeners.

I would love to know how you were introduced to gardening, and iris gardening in particular. Please feel free to share that in the comments section below, or you can write to me through this blogsite. We compassionate, patient types have to stick together! I’m grateful for my garden, and what it brings me. I’m also grateful for my gardening friends—they’re lovely people, and I’d really enjoy adding you to my list of gardening friends.

The weather will go back to normal late-fall temperatures tomorrow, and the nights have been hovering near freezing. Leaves are coming off the trees in steady droves. I will be “stuck” inside soon, since I don’t have the toughness to garden in cold and wet conditions. You can bet I’ll be sitting at the window, peering out at the leaf-covered yard, watching it rain, anticipating the new growth we’ll see in the Spring. My labels will be finished, and in the beds before the end of the month, I’m sure. Then, we all wait while nature works her miracles. How lucky are we?

As promised, a gorgeous blooming iris, to keep us warm until the Spring

Jaguar Blue' (George Sutton, R. 2001). Sdlg. G-57. TB, 36" (91 cm). Midseason late bloom. 

Heavily ruffled ethyl blue (lighter than RHS 112D); beards ethyl blue, hairs tipped pale yellow; edges serrate; slight sweet fragrance. 'Silver Flow' X 'Silverado'. Sutton 2001