Bearded Iris

This is the first one this spring. when we moved here (in November) we found several pots  next to our back fence. We planted them in a half wine barrel that we also resurrected  and awaited developments. In the spring they bloomed with an amazing variety of colors. They still come back every year with very little attention from us, but the unusual colors have all died out and what must have been the original blue has taken over. I love their frilly skirts.

Our house is halfway up quite a steep hill. The house and garage is on a flat space surrounded by garden and patio which is not more than 15 feet wide. The hill continues 'up top' to the raised beds, an arbor and what was once sort of a no man's land between the arbor and the field behind us. The planted areas, including the steep hill behind the house, seemed well established, but as we have toiled away in this rather difficult space, we realized that it had probably recently been landscaped with fairly mature plants. 

The ensuing years have been spent taking out lots of big plants as they began crowding each other out and trying to amend the soil and coax things to grow on what is not only a steep hill but is also mostly rock and clay which doesn't hold the water very well. What there is of that seeps out of the hill runs all the way down to the street. 

The benefit of the hill location is our wonderful view and our relative isolation from the street.

The weather is finally warming up to the point that I can sit outside with my coffee and listen to the birds in the oak trees as well as watching them vie with each other at the bird feeders. This morning I saw house finches, goldfinches, hummingbirds, chickadees, titmice, stellar and scrub jays as well as several different kinds of woodpeckers, sparrows, grosbeaks and thrushes. 

These birds clearly have their 'bubbles' as they always maintain a fairly clear distance between themselves. What do they know that it has taken us centuries to learn and are still trying to figure out? Apparently the covid virus might be airborne as well as by the famous droplets, which is why greater distance and the wearing of masks are still crucially important.