Spring only comes once a year, but luckily in Texas it comes early and stays awhile. Having grown up here, I always loved the springs and all of the beautiful flowers that come with it. This year has been an exceptionally nice one. “Spring green” is currently upon us, it is that vibrant color that only comes with new leaves and some rain. The bluebonnets are bursting, yellow wildflowers are so pretty, and our blue eyed grass is so thick that it is preventing me from mowing, as it is just too pretty to mow down.
We live on the property that my parents had bought nearly 40 years ago and have some wonderful established plants. One of these is a banks rose bush, and it literally is the largest one I have ever seen. I am still trying to figure out how to properly capture the giant rose bush in correct proportion. All I can say is that if you put to Chevy Tahoe’s on top of one another, it may come close to equaling the size of this thing. This year it started blooming in early April and I have relished in the faint and sweet smell that the small, delicate, white blossoms produce
On an exciting gardening note we have had some special German bearded irises bloom. My grandmother was an avid green thumb and she had a backyard oasis, despite the dry west Texas climate that it was in, She had all varieties of roses, flowers, honeysuckle, and vegetables. From time to time my mother would transplant some of those items to our property in central Texas, including some irises. For years these irises bloomed and spread and would get transplanted to other areas. Last year we didn’t have a single bloom, either weather or lack of attention. This year I transplanted some of those bulbs to my garden, specifically to my mother’s memorial garden. Despite the somewhat lack of attention I gave them and there small size, low and behold one of them bloomed- 2 blooms to be specific. This has been very special to me to have a flower that came from my grandmother’s yard via my mom’s yard. Now that both of these women who were so dear to me are gone, I still have something blooming that they left behind. It feels like a real gift to have that left for me. Every time I look at the Chinaberry tree or the honeysuckle that came from her yard, I think of her. I even have some ivy growing that came from my great grandmother’s house. What a beautiful thing to see all of these plants continue on and bring me back to the wonderful memories I shared with these special women.
