It's the first warm Sunday we've had in many months. I hardly know what to do with myself. I pruned a little then I weeded then I bounced from iris to iris to count the buds. Just like a child at Christmas, I can't wait, can't wait, can't wait!
A few years ago a friend sent me a box of irises and told me they were historics, called Iris 'Florentina'. I'm always glad to get gifts of plants and so very happy to get any historics. I'm the one who even loves Ditchlilies that grow alongside the road and just keep right on growing no matter the efforts to get rid of them. So if it's historic, I already love it. What I didn't know about this iris that came as a gift is that it is very, very historic. It's recorded in those ancient books of botany as long ago as around 1500. It was named by Linnaeus in 1762. Historically the plant is one of the most important irises to be grown commercially in Europe. Cultivated in Italy for centuries, it has been used to make orris root, a powder that can add fragrance to perfume or flavor to Chianti wine. The blooms are white with a tinge of blue and with white beards.
Isn't that something, and now it grows in my garden and is the very first iris to bloom. It's a true treasure. And the best part is that it's increasing and soon I'll have a lovely full clump. At the moment the buds are here and there, not yet clumped into one big happy family. I can wait, it will be worth it.
With all the rain, the flowers came mostly in the form of shrubs or flowering trees, though my azalea wasn't worth mentioning. The wisteria doesn't mind wacky weather, it's always center stage. Even the heuchera that looked positively dead a month ago is a beauty. Now I wait for more of the Florentinas and Pompano Peach and all the others whose buds are almost ready to POP. It won't be long until the buds on the peonies open, then can roses and daylilies be far behind? Surely not! It was a long time coming, but Spring is finally, finally here.
