Twitter in the tulips!

Join Rainbow Iris Farm on Twitter! You can add us with handle @rainbowirisfarm. We'll keep you posted with updates to the website, new things in bloom at the farm, and other quick little tidbits to keep your iris appetite whet. Should be fun!

Vernal Moments

After a sunny, warm weekend with highs near 65, April showers lowered temperatures to well below normal today. The thermometer settled near a chilly 41, with dampness and breeze making it feel colder yet. But on the advance of spring, which assuredly continues in the face of such seasonal shortcomings, I have this to offer:

Don't you always find spring the most paradoxical of times? I lust for the growing season but by the same mind ponder the ruinous state of my yard. Limbs and debris scattered here and there. The spot where my dogs lounged all winter. The crusty, brown remains of my Chamaecyparis. All of this adds up to foulness in my head despite the joyous throng of Corydalis solida that sings in redness near a coincidentally red fence. Even the sunny faces of my favorite daffodil 'Mary Gay Lirette' don't contrast enough with the abundant mud which sullies my optimism.

Yet this very feeling of unrest and dismay defines the moment of the season. It's in this bleak and thankfully fleeting window of time that I learn the most about my garden--what's hardy and what's not, or what's well-sited and what isn't. In slogging through water-clogged soils and pulling back leafy layers, I admire these august ephemerals for the tick of time they last. Though on grey and cloudy days, like today, my mood grows dim, tomorrow something else tiny but not trivial will open until successionally an ode to growing things is born. Piece by piece in spite of those elements of days that make me weary, my love for the garden will grow exponentially.

Here are a few from the vernal tribe that keep my hopes aflame:

From top to bottom: (Narcissus 'Mary Gay Lirette', Muscari latifolium, Corydalis solida, Helleborus Mellow Yellow Strain)