IRIS

The Iris are blooming.  Iris is my favorite spring flower.  Well, it may be my favorite flower along with the sunflower, um--------------or hollyhocks,  or---------wild roses,-------or dandy lions, or-------When the Iris bloom it gives me hope that it will warm up eventually.  It is still freezing hard at night.  18 degrees on Friday night,  (yep, I live in burrrrrrrl) .

The word Iris  means RAINBOW.  Iris is the flower of the Greek Goddess IRIS who is the messenger of love.

they look as if they are dancing

Plant Care:  apply compost in the spring.  In Autumn, trim away dead foliage and prune back to a height of 4 to 5 inches.  Once the soil has frozen, apply a layer of mulch to protect the roots from heaving out of the soil.  Cover the roots with additional soil if they become exposed.  Divide every 4 to 5  years.  With my short season I have found early spring time is the best to transplant.  They however, usually will not bloom until the following spring.  Generally it is recommended to divide and transplant in the late summer.

There are well over 200 varieties of Iris and they come in many colors.   Their beauty is undiscribable and poetic.  I have  yellow, peach, purple, blue, and pale blue here at the farm.

What's your favorite flower?

SPRING FLOWERS

                                                                           TULIPS



As I was driving around town yesterday I noticed all the beautiful spring flowers.  I went home and dug through my paintings of flowers.  I took some pictures of the paintings and modified them with the computer.

                                                                            IRIS

                           Iris is my favorite spring flower.  They are not up yet, but will be soon.

                                                            WHITE LILACS on a chair

Lilacs are the smell of warmer days to come.  Here in Roosevelt we have several lilac bushes.  I am down to the farm by the time they bloom.  My lilacs at the farm have never bloomed.  When we first moved there a neighbor said she had been there 25 years and had never seen her lilacs bloom.  We have now been there 15 years and my more than 30 lilac bushes have never bloomed, it's just too cold.  I am hoping with this warmer spring maybe they will!!!!!

A FARMER

When I painted this I thought it looked like someone on my dads side of the family.  What do you think????