Spring 
has arrived! My first iris are blooming right on schedule, actually a couple of days early. The White Flags of Spring, as my grandmother called them, bloomed on the first day of spring, Tuesday of this week. These are a small, only about 14" high, white iris. The always bloom before the first day of April and this year was no exception.
I am looking forward to a pretty good crop of iris this year, I think. I just cleaned out the winter cruft. It looks like this is the year to dig up several of the beds, split them, give them away, and replant. I think I will get a couple of yards of new good dirt to work in with them, too. It looks like everything is just sand anymore in the beds.
I hope that the purple and bronze iris that my grandmother hybridized come back. I didn't see any last year, so I am afraid I have lost those. But I still have so many of hers that every time I go out I remember being at my grandmother's house in the springtime, having Easter egg hunts among the iris, and the sweet smell of the flowers everywhere.
For some reason, I have the Indigo Girls song Southland in the Springtime running through my head about now. Just call me a sentimental old softie.....