Mystery solved. Meet Gerald Darby. One of my favorite plants in the garden this year now has a name.
How’d I find out who he is? I stumbled upon another Gerald over Memorial Day weekend. I was so excited to find one that I was tempted to buy it. But there was only one, so I left it for some other gardener to accidentally discover—just the way my Gerald came into my life. Since then, I’ve been waiting for him to bloom so I could tell you his name. Waiting … and waiting … and waiting.
Gerald and I are tight. After the cheater’s iris incident, Gerald has been hanging with his homies in the high-security Iris Protection Program with electric fence, liquid fence, and fox urine. I even peed on him myself for good measure. And I haven’t left the house for a week. I told the folks at work I was having my wisdom teeth removed.
The other night, I got up “for a glass of water” and shined the flashlight outside to check for Gerald’s nodding heads. As soon as I wake up, I peer out to see if he’s been eaten. Over morning coffee (he takes cream), he tells me about his plans for the day—the standing around with his toes in the dirt, the blowing in the breeze, the leaning toward the sun. Later, in case tragedy were to strike while my back is turned, Gerald poses for some intimate photos of his tight blossoms as they unfurl millimeter by millimeter. After dinner last night, Gerald whispered in my ear that today would be his day to shine.
After all that, even though I love the guy, Gerald in flower turns out to be rather unremarkable. Frankly, he looks a helluva lot like a helluva lot of other purple irises. But his impressive display of purple foliage in early spring and his long, graceful purple stems make him quite a handsome fellow overall—the way an average guy cleans up real good when he puts on a tux.
It was worth waiting, such a beauty!
Oh my, you sound like me. Waking up in the middle of the night to go check on my precious babies, because somewhere in the dark recesses of my memory one of them has gone missing. But really, in my world, who in their right mind is going to steal a 15 foot tree in a 20 inch pot?
I don’t have the deer problem that you have, mine is raccoon. Midnight messes, ponds dumped over, water everywhere.
But…..I never went so far as to pee on them. Maybe that would be a good deterent for people as well as the deer.
Jen
Very cute post!
Well Hello, Gerald Darby! Welcome to bloom time~
I LOVE your sense of humor! I always get a much needed laugh. Oh, and the iris is really pretty, too! Glad you put the tp trip on hold and took the picture. Thanks for linking the cheater’s iris. I enjoyed that unfortunate story as well. Keep up the great work
I love it ! Wonder where you got that great sense of humor
Just wanted to know how you came up with the name Gerald Darby for the flower?
Why, hello, Judy Darby. Sounds like you have a vested interest in how I know that’s a Gerald Darby iris. I did actually find the tag to confirm the name, and the one I stumbled upon at the nursery was also marked with that name. It has very distinctive purple foliage that makes it pretty easy to confirm and very easy to enjoy year-round.
If you’re interested in irises, you might check out this blog: http://historiciris.blogspot.com/ which also has a lot of great links to iris info.
Also, I am moving some of my irises. So if you want a start of Gerald Darby, I will send you one. I’ll send you e-mail so I can get your address.
Please do let us know why you’re interested in old Gerald–husband, father, brother?
And thanks for stopping by.
Kelly
For those following this thread, Judy and I exchanged e-mail and her son, who passed away, was named Gerald Darby. I’ll be sending her a start of my iris.
And that’s how amazing it can be to touch other people’s lives with a little ole blog.
Dear and MOST gracious Sorry Gardner, thank you, Thank YOU, AND THANK YOU … Meir Words can “NOT” describe my joy and gratitude for your charity and goodness, while you may think that what you have done is a small thing, I can absolutely assure you that what you have done is a great and noble thing…. Even though my Gerald has been gone from this world for 14 yrs now, a Mother never STOPS grieving the lose …. I search at times to see who is out there with the name of Gerald Darby, and there are few,… My Gerald Darby was a star football player, All State for the state of OR, MVP player of the league, Defensive Player of the league, and much, much, more, had he remained on this world, he would have been a pro football player, but more than his skills on the playing field of football, was his skills as a generous human being… story after story came to me from school mates….He was so loved … anyway, having a living plant with his name is just, well, you can imagine….. I’m just so thankful, he is planted right in the front yard and when he is ready to split, I will take him to the back yard too… Once again, Gods Best Blessings on you and your Sorry Garden and may your flowers grow in abundance and bloom beyond your wildest imagination…! Thanks Thanks and Thanks
Judy, so glad to hear from you. I hope the iris traveled well and blooms in the spring. It was my pleasure to share a bit of my garden with you.