Planting The Gift of Iris ...

You can give without loving, but you can never love without giving. 

~Author Unknown



Today was a beautiful fall day!  I decided I would plant my Iris bulbs along the drive way at my daughter's home.  As I made each hole, I wondered how many times I had planted these very bulbs.  Irises have always been one of my most favorite flowers, but these Irises in particular were very dear to my heart.  They had been a gift given out of love.

In the fall of 1989, I drove to Chicago with my children to meet my sister at her in-laws home.  While we visited, her father-in-law cleaned out his flower bed.  He asked if we would like to take any of the discarded Iris bulbs home.  My son Matthew, then entering 8th grade, readily agreed and packed them into the van.

The following Mother's Day in May of 1990, my son Matthew told me that he had not bought me a present, but if I would follow him outside, he had a surprise for me.  Together we walked out behind our old country home towards the garage by the big white fence.  There by the hand water pump, much to my surprise, were numerous Irises growing out of the rich dark soil.  They were an unforgettable gift to me, a reminder of my son's love. 

Matthew explained to me that it had been dark when we had returned from Chicago, but the very next morning, he had planted every bulb carefully into the ground.  At the age of eleven, he had decided to keep this a secret in case the bulbs had failed to grow. 

Every year, I am once again given the gift of his love when the Irises proudly poke through the ground and then display their various rich colors.  They have been a gift to treasure, and they have become a definite part of our family history.

When I left the country house and moved to a neighboring town, Matthew went back out to our country home and dug up the bulbs.  He planted them for me in the back yard by the deck.  They remained there for ten years.

With the children grown and out on their own, I moved to a condo in the city.  Once again, Matthew transplanted the Iris bulbs into my small courtyard.  Four years later, he would repeat this same routine, sinking these flowers lovingly into the soil where I then lived.

My son is now 33 years old planting his own lovely gardens in Illinois.  When he bought his home a few years back, he took some of the original Iris bulbs to plant in his own yard.  So today was a bittersweet day for me as I doubt that I will ever move these flowers again.  They will more than likely remain in Tennessee becoming a part of my daughter's history.

One thing for sure ... an Iris will always remind me of the gift of love that holds us all together.