These hearty irises made the transport and transplant from Missouri last spring to expectant blooming this spring in Kentucky.
It’s usually the first thing I do after getting out of bed every morning – raise the window shade that opens to a view of my back yard.
I don’t necessarily do it for me, although I like the light it provides. I even keep the shades on the other two windows of my bedroom drawn. I do it because it’s one of two windows in my house my cats have access to for sunbathing, bird stalking and daydreaming.
Read: If I don’t open the blinds, the cats will. And thumbs outweigh the destruction of claws in this scenario.
And while for most of the year it’s been a perfunctory task (ha, purrfunctory….punny!), I’ve taken great delight in raising that shade the last few weeks.
The first thing I see when I open my blinds is the progress my irises are making. And there are so many blooms waiting to burst and unfurl their tender waves of color!
Even though I’ve been in my house, the Midtown Manse, for two years now come Monday, this will be my first with my flower bed in full bloom. Last spring, I traveled home to Missouri where my brother dug up and sent me home with literally a trunk full of transplants. On the property he owns, he found he had irises, daffodils, hyacinths, and a lilac bush once loved, but since forgotten as the previous homestead has long since ceased to exist.
The full-grown plants made it through the 5-hour trek to Paducah, stayed alive in their buckets and pots on my porch long enough for me to dig flower beds around my house, and even survived the transplant into Kentucky soil. However, the trauma of the transplant process only produced one cream-colored iris bloom last spring.
This spring, however, promises to be different. I’ve been monitoring the pearl green stalks for the past several weeks, and there is so much hope and promise and PROOF that this spring will be different.
My little lilac stalk survived winter, and was heavy with purple, fragrant flowers.
The daffodils had about three little blooms, and perhaps need to be thinned some for more future success.
The irises, though. Oh, the irises!!!
One creamy yellow dude (or dudette, they are bearded, anyway) bloomed just today. Dozens of expectant buds still dot the small space under my bedroom window. I’ve spent weeks wondering just what colors made it to my flower bed. The cream color I was sure of, but the others were a mystery.
Today, under my window, it appears I will have an abundance of creamy blooms, but also many, many royal purple plumes.
Even though we just celebrated Easter, and the resurrection of our Lord, I feel like a kid at Christmas, waiting, with expectation, the advent of something big. Christmas presents, or iris blooms. Same thing.
Soon, there will be unbridled joy blooming under my window. And it’s a beautiful reminder of hope and celebration for me.
~ Dusty