A Busy Day

I must be running very soon to keep appointments and do some emergency yard work--it seems we have allowed tent caterpillars to run amok in our flowering crabapple this year, to the point where there are no leaves on the tree at all. I hope the tree's not a complete goner as a result of our negligence.

I said in an earlier post that I hoped my mother's irises survived the drought and heat last year. My picture proves they did. They are back this year with great energy. These are the earliest bloomers in a series of cultivars we have in our front flowerbed that keeps us in irises of various colors for a couple of months. A cool, rainy spring, plus a little time-release fertilizer, does wonders. These particular Dutch irises are true heirlooms, the same ones my mother planted at the little house on Stuart Street here in Arlington, where my family was living when I was born. I've had them everywhere I've lived. They're care-free and prolific. Over the years as I've thinned them I've given tubers to friends far and wide, so that these beautiful flowers are gracing yards in various spots around the country. My mother did the same, so these flowers have spread far and wide. That's a nice legacy.

I hope flowers are filling your life, too.