Mike Goes Virtual For Gardening Group
by
Mike Lockatell

The Covid 19 Pandemic reordered our lives this spring. “Social distancing” became a buzz word to protect those with health risks. This situation is particularly keen for me with two senior citizens in my household, so person to person contact is out even with protective gear. Plant sales and speaking engagements this spring were rightfully cancelled. The fall season promises more caution and few events. How do groups with older members continue to meet and thrive? The Anne Arundel County, MD Master Gardeners have the answer. Go virtual.

If members are tech savvy, Zoom sessions offer a neat way to bring speaker and audience together online. The big problem is teaching this dinosaur new tricks. During the lockdown here in Virginia, neighbors walked the streets around our home to relieve cabin fever. Fate brought a chance encounter with a neighbor familiar with Zoom technology to help me to present my powerpoint program, “Reblooming Bearded Irises for Central Virginia Gardens” to the group on Tuesday night, August 1lth.

A great incentive has materialized to update a my website dedicated to cool season reblooming bearded irises to support giving an “out of town” virtual presentations. The site, “springtimeinthefall.com” was originally used as a vehicle to promote the 2013 AIS Region 4 Fall Meeting held in Richmond in October. It is hoped the new layout and features will help resolve any lingering questions not answered after my remarks.

One of my main goals as Eastern Director for the Reblooming Iris Society, an American Iris Society affiliate, is to encourage suburban gardeners to try growing cool season reblooming bearded irises in their yards. The challenge for me is find the right varieties to recommend. A tough chore since most of my customers are in Hardiness Zone 7A. Anne Arundel County being relatively close to the water may be similar to my micro-climate in metro Richmond.

If you would like to try some cool season bearded iris rebloomers, here are some special bare root mail order offers for you. Please know, a check or money order must be received before an order can be shipped. Requests should be forwarded to Cmarti8855@verizon.net. Checks should be made out to Mile Lockatell and mailed to:

Mike Lockatell
500 Pantela Dr.
N. Chesterfield, VA
23235-5020

One of my responsibilities as Eastern Director for the Reblooming Iris Society (RIS) is to collect rebloom results on varieties and seedlings from micro-climates along the East Coast.

Little fall performance data is currently available from Maryland locales. Here is an invitation for a Anne Arundel County Master Gardener or a group to grow cool season reblooming bearded irises and report yearly results to me. The information can be posted to my springtimeinthefall.com website and sent to RIS in my yearly reporting for the group's national newsletter. If you are interested, please contact Nancy or Betsey to work out the details.

Thank you for inviting me to learn virtual and share my love of reblooming bearded irises with you.