WINS AND LOSSES
On my potting shed bench is a big jar of plastic plant labels which are reused again and again. A downside of some label marker pens is that the writing fades relatively quickly over one growing season, but the labels are easily over-writeable. Pencil lasts much longer, but needs scrubbing off. I do use pencil, especially now for long-lasting plants, such as auriculas.
Recently ‘retired’ labels give me a snapshot of some of this season’s wins and losses. With the prairie plant, Silphium terebinthinaceum, three seeds germinated, then faded away. It was the same story with orange-flowered Asclepias tuberosa. I did not have much luck either with Salvia patens cuttings: none rooted. Seed successes included tall antirrhinum ‘Rocket White’ and the smaller, rich crimson snapdragon ‘Black Prince’. These plants are now ragged shadows of their summer selves. I have harvested seed from ‘Black Prince’, but ‘Rocket White’ is an F1 hybrid, so it will not come true from collected seed.