Spring isn’t here in my mind until the first flowers appear. Then I get excited.
There are several types of iris. Flag Iris (Iris versicolor) is considered a boggy land iris. How I ended up with them, I can’t remember. But they have come back for a couple of years in our dry climate.
Their form is different from the more familiar Bearded Iris. The word Iris comes from the Greek word for rainbow, which is appropriate since there are so many different flower colors in the Iris family.
This is the very first sign of flowers on my Rusty Blackhaw Viburnum (Viburnum rufidulum) in five years old. It was first planted in a full sun area, so two years ago, we moved it to a shadier spot. Then it started to keep its green leaves through the summer. Hurray.
Actually, someone told me they were difficult to grow in this area of Texas. So, I took that as a challenge.
A couple of pots of Dianthus made it through the winter fine. They both came from my mother’s fenced backyard. It gets really cold in Snyder, but there was protection away from the wind. So I wasn’t sure they would survive the super cold winter on our windy hill.
The hanging yellow pollen flowers are pretty but a problem for people with allergies.
Dwarf Indian Hawthorne has pretty little flowers. The one we planted last year got some freeze damage from our unusually cold winter. Hopefully, it will fully recover. We planted two others this year because we liked their look.
This one has bloomed in a new flowerbed. Other shrubs around it haven’t yet gotten big enough to protect it from the wind and hot western sun, so the blossoms may not last long.
Because of several different circumstances, I haven’t done much flowerbed weeding, yet. But that’s not stopping me from enjoying the flowers. Have a blessed spring just inhaling the beauty around you.
“Hold fast to your dreams, for without them life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.” Langston Hughes