Spring Beauty

 The  miniature, yellow, Irises have begun to bloom. I was concerned about them earlier in the year because they had more dead areas than normal and I was hoping that I wouldn't  lose them.  My aunt Millicent bought them when they lived in Knoxville TN and gave me a few rhizomes a number of years ago. We dug them up each time we moved and they have managed to not only survive but to flourish.

This plant is my pride and joy.  It is finally beginning to grow after being moved four times in the past twenty years. When my grandmother married and moved into a house in Boiling Springs, PA, a neighbor lady gave her a piece of her "Piney" for grandma's flower garden.  I grew up knowing the plant as a Piney and thought it was beautiful.  It has fern like greenery and the blossoms look like a single old fashioned rose.  The stems are rather delicate and it blooms early in May.  Grandma dug up the plant every time she moved and she shared pieces of it with my aunt Lorraine and  my mother.  When I married, mom shared part of her plant with me.  When I joined the garden club, I found that my "Piney" was actually a fern-leafed Peony.  We think that the lady who shared this plant with grandma was from the southern part of the United States and she was saying Peony but with her accent, it sounded like Piney.  Whatever we call it, I am so pleased to have the last remaining plant in our family.  My "Piney" is part of a plant that was given to my grandmother more than ninety years ago.

Bleeding Hearts are one of the joys of spring.  These two plants are happily blooming in the flower bed along the sun room. They receive the morning sun and seem to be thriving.  Next year, I plan to add a few more Bleeding Hearts to our flower beds.  They bloom for a number of weeks and the foliage lasts most of the summer.

Each spring, I wait patiently for the Viburnum to bloom.  The fragrance is so sweet that I wish the blossoms would last longer.  Terry's favorite Lilac is planted next to the Viburnum and when we sit on the glider, we can smell them both.  Thank goodness we don't have spring allergies. I believe our yard needs another viburnum and maybe another Lilac or two.