Jitterbug Iris

Featured image: Jitterbug Iris

I just love watching the gardens come alive with different greens, dark, light, lime and other different colors. I always cherish when my mom’s iris pops up. It is called a Jitterbug. Great name. It is a tall, bearded Iris with sunflower yellow, goldenrod yellow and a wonderful bronze yellow beard, the caterpillar in the middle.

The story and memories surrounding this iris is a neat one. This was in 2007, both my parents had passed, and I was leaving their house for the last time. Their house had burned down about a month before. I had taken care of all their affairs and was just tying up loose ends when I looked over at one of mom’s lower gardens. There in the middle was this lone jitterbug iris. Mom had planted that iris, and others that didn’t survive from her previous garden. To my knowledge, the iris had probably been moved by her at least 3 times. I walked over and dug the lonely iris up with my hands. I took it home and planted it in my garden. In 2010 I moved to up north. Again, I dug up the iris and its friends and brought them up north and planted them in my new gardens in the Northwoods. Every time, absolutely every time the first iris blossoms bloom, I think of my mom.

Yesterday I sent some Jitterbug bulbs to my daughter to plant in her garden. Tradition – memories, history.

There are many memories of my mom and I cherish them all. So, I painted the “Jitterbug Iris” today to honor my mom but also honor my history and foundations.