Re: 10 most popular irises
- Subject: Re: 10 most popular irises
- From: I*@aol.com
- Date: Sun, 18 Feb 96 16:52:04 MST
In a message dated 96-02-18 17:40:56 EST, you write:
>
> Speaking of identification, what is the best way to *label* the plants.
>Finally, this list is the greatest!!! Bob Kromenaker in Mountain Home
>AR - happy to be 800 miles south of Minneapolis.
>
Bob: I've been through many changes in my garden, but I have finally settled
on Eon zinc rose markers, 10" marked with a Brother P-Touch machine. The
labels are cheap (you can get 100 for about $25), the Brother P-Touch is
not. Alternate ways of marking the labels is to use one of those Dyno tape
guns that you can get anywhere... but if you have a lot to mark, it can be an
ordeal. Another method I'm experimenting with is horticultural plastic
(adhesive backed) that you can print in a lasar printer. I have the address
for anyone interested - it costs about $1/sheet... $50 minimum order (share
with someone).
Methods that did NOT work for me are... plastic stakes (get brittle and
break), wood (rot) anything marked with 'permanent' marker (it ain't so.... I
know someone now who wants to get a lab to to try to read his faded label
with his iris cross information on it).
Some other things to think about.... always map your garden...even if it's
not fit for anyone to see but you. Labels get mislaid.... labels get pulled
up deliberately... all kinds of things happen to labels.... and if you want
to have a prayer of repairing the damage, you better have something to go by.
Don't plant mono-color gardens. This sounded like a grand plan to me at one
point...but what I learned is that...irises look best in happy combination -
nature gave you those colors, they'll blend - monocolors wash out. When the
labels get lost... or the irises grow into each other.... you won't have a
clue who's who!
BTW: I don't remove my labels in the winter (for you southern folks, this is
the season from Halloween to Memorial Day when every single thing you do is
an ordeal... but at least you're cold - and damp). I push them down level
with the ground... when (if) the ground thaws, it's a simple matter to just
pull them up again.
Hope this makes some kind of sense... and this is just one girl's efforts to
make order in the garden.
Kathy Guest, East Aurora, NY
Where it's cold as OJ's heart
