Iris Time

     The month of May is my favorite time to walk my acres.  It's not that I don't enjoy all the other daily walks, but May is Iris time.  I love iris.  The queen of flowers.  And this month she is reigning in Iten's Acres.  She is, of course, mysterious and fickle.  She is always full of surprises--and not all surprises are good.  But I love her still.  And will sing her praises.  And will add some more of her children to the kingdom for next year and the years to come.
     To be honest, she disappointed a little this year in some areas.  Bed 1--the first bed as you enter the acres--was down this year but that was not her fault.  Last fall I dug up this bed and re-did it.  I had few expectations of iris blooms.  The dwarf iris did "okay," and some of them will re-bloom in the fall.  The iris that looks like a sunset according to my older sister is going to grace the bed again.  (Keep an eye out for the next installment of pictures on facebook.)  The other iris in the bed which I was sure would bloom this time for the first time grew magnificently--but no blooms.  Those are the iris that frustrate me the most.  Why go to all the trouble to grow so luscious and then fizzle at the end? 
      Other of the queen's subjects disappointed as well.   Bed 2 and Bed 9 had a few blooms but not many.  Bed 2 is in need of what Bed 1 got last year--a re-do.  Bed 9 is just cantankerous.  My favorite iris is in that bed, and it has only bloomed once in the six years I've been here.  My patience is being tested.  I may have to break down and cheat next year and put some special iris food on the rhizomes.  Don't tell anyone please.  I hate to spoil them.
     On the other side of the spectrum, it has in many places been a glorious year for iris.  Bed 5 has been magnificent again.  Bed 11 up by the house--the one Mom can see from her window seat--has been more than magnificent--again.  Mom must have a deal going with the iris in that bed.  It's a rainbow of color--blue, white, red, apricot, yellow, purple, lavender, peach, ocher, a feast for the eyes and a bouquet for the nose.  And the other big surprise this year has been the number of iris that ignored the two year plan.  As I've mentioned over and over again, my experience has been that it takes new iris two years to bloom.  Not so this spring.  I've had a dozen iris, at least, that have ignored the plan and bloomed in this their rookie season.  Some in the beds, some by the pond, some in the rock garden, and even some in the wild area.  The glorious has far outweighed the disappointments.  Ahhh, the iris.  There's still a week or two of her beauty to grace my walks.  I will enjoy each one.  And though there is some sadness at her withholding of some of her beauty, I cannot complain.  Love is not perfect, but it is love.