Spring Has Nearly Ended

The end of spring is upon us and today Summer Camp at Vicktory Farm and Gardens begins with Flag Day.

But Today's_Flower selection is the Blue Flag's cousin, Iris Germanica, Bearded Iris.

Iris Germanica is one of my all time favorite flowers. And particularly the incredibly fragrant common purple ones.

I cannot imagine living in a place where irises don't grow. Like the seasonal treat of asparagus, the year would not be complete without iris. Every spring I crave its fascinating appearance and it's memory propelling fragrance and when it's season comes to a close and the last one is just a funny mooky browned mass on the stem, my heart sinks a bit, lifted only because I know he and I will meet back here again next year.

Driveway view of the North Garden and the two beds of iris.

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From this view of the North Garden I am reminded that I've been here quite a while and my oldest daughter has been married quite a while. For all these lovely mustard colored (or diaper colored if you want to know my true feelings) are from the house she lived in when she was first married, I believe she inherited them from Rebecca who in turn got them from Grandma Grace.

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The have certainly multiplied and much quicker than my preferred old purple ones or purchased white ones, which are not by the way who they were purported to be. And while the color of this "gold" one is not exactly one of my favorites it most certainly has a perfume that I have come to look forward to, vanilla honey with a hint of citrus.

A place for old friends to set a spell within sniffing range.

Fortunately a couple of friends have stopped by to pull my head out of the weeds and soil and caused me to rest a moment as we talked of our favorite irises and other fragrant delights in the garden. Prior to them stopping by I was just enjoying the fragrance as I unhooked and went through the pasture gate to the pumpkin patch or while I was here weeding the North Garden.

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One friend came by when I was at the other end of my gardens and by the time I got down to where she was she was stepping into her vehicle with her arms loaded with my gold irises, waving to me and telling me she just came for my flowers that day. I am glad she knows she can come and get whatever she needs that I have, because it is not really mine anyway but His.

Gold standards and falls, with yellow beards and bronze veins,

it has a strong fragrance that perfumes the air with vanilla honey and citrus.

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When a friend comes back a few days after sitting in your iris garden while talking over childhood memories, heartbreaks, endearing times and prayers for the day and the future, and takes an arm load of your least favorite colored iris, it makes you stop and take a second look.

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Perhaps I do have a good thing here. Perhaps I should change my perspective on the good gifts God sees fit to give me even though I have a disgruntled attitude. Perhaps it is time to have a new attitude.

"Stephie and Kai's Gold" is what I've dubbed this one.

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They came to me through her, appropriate then, it should be named for her, and because, she can always see the upside and the "gold" lining to any cloud life hands her. I've added her son, Kai, to the name because of the fragrance of honey, he is becoming a beekeeper like his grandfather Rick, Pop.

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I've been lucky that all my additions to my iris garden have been fragrant. Not perhaps as strong as the common purple one that causes me to see my mother's kitchen with the light pressing into through the bamboo shades on the outside and the closed venetian blinds inside, still managing to give a summer glow to the wall and the counter where the pitcher of Kool-Aid, darkly purple, sits dripping with condensation and smelling like the iris I love, no, not as strong as that, but strong enough. And like Stephie and Kai's Gold, each new addition has brought it's own twist to the sweet flavor of late spring, and the fanfare of summer's commencement.

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White with yellow beard and shoulders gives off a lovely sweet fragrance,

like cookies out of the oven.

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My purchased irises have not grown out to be what they were labeled to be. This white one is supposed to be "Immortality" but a proper "Immortality" does not have yellow shoulders and isn't purported to be fragrant. Hmmm, perhaps the bin at the local garden store is not a reliable place to pick up named varieties.

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I've looked and looked for what this white one is supposed to be along with the blue one below and the pink one I failed to get a picture of this year (it must have been deleted). I even spent time looking for Stephie's gold one. Just when I think I have one pegged, on closer evaluation and comparison of the official description and the flower I have, I am left without a name. So I'll just name them myself.

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This white one..... "Farmhouse Bride". In honor of my second oldest Michelle, a bearded iris lover like myself, who was the first girl to be married right here at the farm. She looked as lovely as this blossom. She and the fragrances of her wedding that swirled around all of us for weeks is brought to mind by the sweet fragrance of this flower.

Supposedly "Best Bet" but not, so now it is "Better Bet".

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This blue one was supposed to be a "Best Bet". I picked it up for it's name, Bet, for that is what we call Elisabet, my third daughter. I know that the privilege of naming a variety usually rest with the person who hybridizes or discovers them. But since I cannot find what their rightful name is I figure I need to name these poor little orphans that have come to live here with me at Vicktory Farm and Gardens.

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Oh, I know most flowers and bushes don't need fancy proper names, their beauty in the yard is just as grand and compelling without a name as it is with a proper name. But lately I have been picking up this or that flower and paying attention to its proper name and Bet and I have been having fun discussing them as if they were a real person. So my plants need names now.

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And how much fun to rename my irises after my girls and their families, even if it is terribly improper! So the last one, the one I don't have a picture of, I've pegged for my youngest, how appropriate that I don't have a picture of it! Next year I'll show her to you. Her name on the bin when I took her home was "Pink Parasol", I cannot for the life of me find a Pink Parasol iris, lots of other flowers have a Pink Parasol variety but not the bearded iris as far as I can tell.

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This girl begins as a purple bud, changes to a muddy mauve when it first unfolds and then becomes a delightful rich dusty corallish pink, with a nearly day-glow orange beard. Mmmm perhaps a nice long name like "What Will You Wear Today Anna".

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Have a great day and take a spin around the world and see some other flowers for the day by clicking on Today's Flowers up at the top of this, another Lengthy Lanny Post!

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And Dear Reader, if you're an American, have a great flag day!