Blooming Season
I couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend Mother’s Day than walking with my son among 600 or more varieties of iris, along with the many “companion” plants—oriental poppies, fringe trees, lupine, and more. The weather is perfect. The sun comes out enough to keep us warm, but then slips behind a cloud for respite from its rays just as it’s feeling a little too warm with a sweater on. Who knew there were so many different iris? Two-toned purple Poets Rhyme, burnt orange Drinks at Sunset, gold and pale yellow King of the Road, and vivid yellow with brown beard What It’s Worth (according to the sign, $40—yeah, I don’t think so).
Then there are the darker hues, purples verging on black, that catch my son’s eye because of their names. “These are some pretty edgy names for flowers,” he says, taking a picture of Hello Darkness (my apologies if you are now singing Sound of Silence in your head), Before the Storm, Banshee, and Old Black Magic, to name a few. Finally he decides he’s taken enough pictures.
We continue to wander up and down rows of iris while my husband takes a rest on an orange bench in the shade. The color combinations are simply stunning—I want them all in my own garden but I’ll later have to settle for just two. Then I happen upon what my son decides is the best iris name ever—”It’s as if the iris took my challenge to come up with the edgiest possible name,” he says—and there before me is Pretty Edgy. He snaps his final picture. The day’s perfection is complete.
Iris, iris bloom
Ev’rywhere the eye can see
Divine artistry
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This is posted for Haibun Monday at dVerse Poets Pub today where Bjorn is asking us to write about walking.
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Loved the ‘Pretty Edgy’. I can imagine it cowering nervously as the picture was taken.
What a wonderful way to spend Mother’s Day. Well written. Have a nice day.
Thank you! And I still have the free cut flowers to remember it by.
600 varieties of irises?? I would need more than one camera chip. Appreciating nature with you son….very precious moments indeed. 🙂
A nice day and a nice place to take a walk.
Tim
Thanks. I’m glad you liked it. And thanks for following my blog.
I’ve had a calming and soothing piece.. Smoothly done, Linda. I love irises, too! <3 It was nice taking a walk with you and your words. Have a great day! 🙂
Thanks. I’m glad you enjoyed the walk.
How beautiful. I am deeply enamored of all the flower names, especially. 🙂
What a wonderful way to spend Mother’s Day! 🙂 I felt a bit of a voyeur coming along with you here 🙂
I’ve always thought of Iris as a “bearded flower.” Wonder if there is a named one somewhere like “Mister Whiskers” or “Ms. Beardie.” 🙂
Some time ago I wrote for a prompt (in NaPoWriMo?) where the challenge (and it was a challenge) was to write poem using words from a seed catalogue. Loving sunflowers I googled Burpees (a seed catalogue we used many many years ago when we lived in Iowa) and found soooo many names for sunflower varieties! 🙂 It turned out to be a quite fun poem 🙂
Thanks for taking me on this walk with you!
I remember that seed prompt but wrote something else that day.
As for bearded iris, that is what they call a whole category of iris. Click on the Pretty Edgy link and you can see all the ones they sell at this iris farm. Maybe there’s a Mr. Whiskers.
This is such a lovely walk with your son for Mother’s Day. Yes, the iris blooms add richness.
I love how you have weaved the names of flowers into your prose. They are so very innovative… I had no idea of all the sorts you can grow.. If I have any passion it’s probably for geranium… also there the variety is huge… (and you can eat them too).
I did not know you can eat geranium. That’s weird. 😉
There are species with a wonderful smell and taste… but often both flowers and leaves are edible…
I could see a sea of irises with its multi hued waves…a beautiful Mother’s Day indeed….
What a lovely Mother’s day. Irises! Every spring new and never old.
I walked with my son yesterday through the flowers too. Just had to smile with this
Thanks for sharing your beautiful Mother’s Day with us. Do you know Van Gogh’s Blue Iris painting?
Yes, I have seen that painting. I love Van Gogh–not as much as I love iris, though.
🙂
Love the flowers with so many colors ~ Indeed a delight to take pictures, a divine artistry ~
I took too many pictures, and yet I didn’t take enough. 🙂
I did not know the name of these flowers in english. Iris is a beautiful name. I learned something new, through a nice, poetic walk.
I love irises. The haiku is so much fun. When I lived in TN, I discovered that iris is their state flower. They bloom wild along the roads, in ditches, fields! Every year is a huge Iris Show with new varieties, old varieties – some of the blooms are not much bigger than the first digit of your thumb. And the fragrance of them all mingled together. Of course you can buy rhyzomes for them. Some are indeed pricey! Thank you for sharing this walk. it brought back such happy memories. And on Mother’s Day with your son – how blessed!
I liked the gentle humor in the piece. And the names of the iris varieties, and those of the “companion plants” are so evocative. Sounds like a fantastic way to spend Mother’s Day
It’s hard not to have a little humor in a story involving my son. He’s a pretty funny guy. Glad you liked this. If you click on the “Pretty Edgy” link it takes you to the website for the iris farm where you can see even more interesting iris names.
Oooh, thanks! I love “collecting” interesting names for my writing. And your son’s comments make him sound like he & I would have similar senses of humor haha XD
I love irises and what a wonderful way to spend Mother’s Day. Our first bearded iris opened this morning and we took photos, one of which I posted on our photography blog. Thanks for sharing your walk, Linda.