Practicing Patience

On Monday, January 28, I showed you the first iris bud of 2008. It was shivery cold, and I watched and waited for petals to peek out of the bud. By Thursday, I cut the stalk and brought it inside to thaw. nothing. It was that cold.

But yesterday, I finally saw signs of life, and this morning, the petals have decided that they might actually like to bloom after all.

This must be one of those "time is relative" experiences. When it is sunny and truly spring (all two weeks of it in the Central Valley), the irises throw up their buds and bloom faster than I can snap pictures or tag them. But now, as they offer promises of things to come...they seem to be blooming slower than the snails that stand by, ready to eat them! go figure.

But this iris IS going to bloom! And now I'm thinking it might be red violet. It's not acting like an ordinary knee-high dark purple with white beard garden variety iris.... stay tuned.