Just Call Me Minnie Pearl

"How-w-w-DEE-E-E-E!"

I've been called worse.  While growing up down South, if you wore new clothes neglecting to remove the price tag, you might be called "Minnie Pearl". Minnie was the popular Southern comedienne, starring on the long-running television show Hee Haw,  who was famous for wearing a new hat with the price tag proudly visible.

My "Minnie" moment occurred recently as I inspected my Hamptons garden.  I observed quite a few new shrubs that I planted in 2011 with their price/ID tags now prominently visible among the leafless branches.  For me, it doesn't reflect boasting, but my usual eagerness to get everything planted. Stopping to take off the tags before planting might actually slow me down a few seconds.

The plastic tags are pretty harmless, but the metal wired tags can eventually bind into a shrub's bark as it grows.  So it's a good practice to remove them all before the shrubs really start growing.

$22.99 for a healthy Rosa 'Blanc Double De Coubert'

The leafless months are a perfect time to find and remove those forgotten tags.  But don't throw them away.  I save all my plant tags that list plant names and/or growing information.  I just drop them in a folder for future reference. They come in handy when I'm confused over the exact cultivar planted years before. In addition, the listed growing info may give me some idea why a plant doesn't perform as expected.  It's also interesting to see how prices have risen over the years.  The price of a Rudbeckia a few years ago was $9.99 compared to $11.99 last year. (20% increases add up!)

My folder of tags is quite full these days so I need to come up with a more organized way to save these.  If you have an idea, PLEASE share.

And if you're curious, the price tag on that beautiful hat above with its everlasting flowers was just $1.98.   Less than the cost of a four-pack of annuals today.