iris

What is there not to love about the iris?

I love the shape - with the central petals standing, the outside petals gracefully folding out.  The way some have smooth edges, and others ruffle.  The variety in sizes - from small and demure to huge riotous blooms.  The way the colors shade from the center of the flower toward the edges.  The slender buds.  The fuzzy yellow stamens. The fact that a lot of them are in my favorite shades of purple doesn't hurt - though they also come in a variety of beautiful blues and yellows and reddish tints as well.

G's mother, it turns out, has some gorgeous irises in her garden.  When my lack of garden grows up, it wants to have this many irises in it.  This may be difficult, given my history with plants, and given that currently, we only have a balcony... but I can dream.

(warning:  this post has a lot of pictures in it)

Oh yeah, she has some other flowers too...

I even got to bring some of the irises home with me :-)