It used to be that I adopted miscellaneous daylilies and planted th em in amidst my other flowers without much thought.  What’s in a name, after all, as long as the flower is hardy. Then, I started collecting them.  Some I got for the names.  Others, I just needed to organize.  So, I got cool software called Plantstep to manage my habit.  One part I like about the software is that you can print labels for each flower.  However, with inkjet, they never lasted long.  And, I have enough now that relabeling is a major chore.  What to do?

My first thought was to paint names on my plastic labels . .prime, outdoor paint, polyurethane.  I especially wanted my Roberts southwestern garden to have sustainable labels until I learn the blooms.  Somewhere in the process, I began to wonder if you could seal the inkjet labels with the polyurethane.  It worked!  (I googled it later, and they use the process to seal inkjet photographs).

So, I decided that my Southwest garden will have two-sided labels.  One side is painted, the other is a plasticized label.  I’m only half done – it is a multi-step process.  But, I have a good start with the first batch in.  I think I will just use the plasticized labels on the other gardens for now.  It is an experiment . . . we will see what spring brings.  (I like that I painted the label with the color of each bloom.)

My blooms for today are Heirloom Heaven (almost done for this cycle):

Heirloom Heaven – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

And, Red Hot Returns (darn thrips are back):

Red Hot Returns – Photo by Colorado Kid Daylilies – C. Hartt

Best of all, it looks like Ruby Stella is sending up yet another scape!  This may be my graduation day flower!!! Rock on Ruby.  2016 came in with the yellows and is going out with the reds.

My new Ruby scape!!!