Tennessee State Flower

A 2011 addition, still wet from early rains.

How fortuitous that Tennessee's state flower, the iris, is also one of my favorites. Not only are iris beautiful, but also they are forgiving. No plant that requires coddling survives long in my care. Happily, iris thrive on the little attention I supply. When plants become over crowded, I notice and thin them out. Given half a chance, the plants survive the disruption and go on to flourish in their new spot. True, having the chickens continually kicking about at new transplants can be challenging for the plants, but those that make it--and most all do survive--are hardier for their trials.

Another 2011 addition.

This spring I thinned out some of the iris that were settled along the side of our driveway when we moved in. Those plants coming directly from the original plot were resettled along the driveway in chicken-kickin' territory. Those plants that had been thinned out in 2009 and were being thinned again, they got transplanted to the far side of the fence. When the gate is shut, those plants are safe. When we get lazy and leave it open, well, the chickens just love to turn the as-yet-unpestered straw.

Transplanted thinly three years ago, this bed is now congested.

As it is, most of the iris here are either dark purple or lavender. The latter have proliferated over the past few years. To jazz things up, I have added some new plants, but none that are ready to be divided again this soon.

Another 2011 addition.

In a year or two, we should have purples--light and dark--strewn for much of the length of the driveway. Then, in a few more years, I hope to intersperse those with some of the more recent additions, as they multiply and become ready to be divided. The colors of springtime will be here to greet us for many years to come. For this, I am most thankful.