The land of Green

A minute ago there were still 6 weeks left of school and only the first tiny shoots of summer vegetation were showing.  I love those moments when there are dozens, hundreds of shades of green.  When the new leaves are little more than buds and the earliest crabapple and magnolia blossoms add pastels to the mix.  Oh, I also love it when everything is GREEN, pretty much all the same vibrant, verdant shade from fern to grass to leaf like it is now until fall.  But it makes me sad that the spring just disappears in a flash, before we can really stop and just luxuriate in the promise of the new growing season.  It seems like everything condensed this year, so that the peonies and iris are just now blooming about a week after Memorial Day and everything else has the deep, strong green of summer.  

This year seeing the iris has reminded me of my dad.  We had an iris bed, which I didn't think much of as a kid.  But I remember my mom cutting them and arranging them with peonies and maybe some lilacs for Memorial Day bouquets.  My dad called the iris "flags" one year and of course I thought that was hilarious and dumb.  When I questioned it, he said that they were called flags when he was a kid.  Only people trying to be "high toned" called them iris.  :)

Oh, boy, one memory leads to another.  The flower beds were on the south side of our house and were bordered by a narrow sidewalk.  I vaguely remember when my dad put in a portion of it.  He had a section with a hand and foot print from my brother and from me and then foot prints of his and my mom's bare feet.  A number of years ago, I stopped by that house and asked the new owners if I could have that square of concrete.  So we went to look and the impressions were all but gone.  You wouldn't know there had every been anything there.  So I left it.  But I can still see it in my mind.

For years in one of those beds there was moss rose.  It must be one of the most invasive species!  For years my dad tried to eradicate it.  I think he was finally pretty successful, but it required a lot of spade work.  There were also early blooming daffodils and jonquils that my mom had planted.  I wanted some of those, too.  But they were also gone.

Oh, I love Iowa and all my memories and the seasons, well, except for our long winters.  I even want to be cremated and have my ashes scattered in the loess hills.  Driving through them has been such a part of my life.  I love their beauty and think I'll have to make sure to take a few trips westward this summer.