More than you ever wanted to know about Alabama native Joe Watts
This is the third year we’ve had cone flowers. This year, they’ve grown to chest height. There are about 5 blooms on this one. We also planted a white cone flower this year. It has one bloom. These come back year after year. Hopefully, the seeds they produce will sprout and we’ll have even more.
Don’t worry, this won’t be an extended version like my obsession with irises–mainly because I just don’t have that many day lilies. These came, as many of my bulbs and rhizomes, from Mama’s house in Octagon, Alabama. These were dug about 2 years ago–the ones in the backyard, that probably won’t bloom this year–came just a year ago.
I sent our new Canon 40D with Ann to take a photo of someone at her office for their newsletter and went to the backyard to take a couple of photos of some flowers we have using our old (probably about 5 years old now) Canon 10D. Snapped a couple of photos. This photo of chives is one of my favorites and the other is a flower I don’t know the name of, but dug in Octagon, Alabama last year. It is beautiful–the flowers close every afternoon when it is hot and open up when it is cool.
I’m still so pleased that something I dug from Octagon, Alabama has managed to take root and thrive here in Birmingham. At last count, there were about 12 blooming yellow irises and about 25 blooming purple irises. At least a dozen yellow ones have already faded away. Don’t really know how long these will last, but I’ve really enjoyed them this year. Here’s a shot of them from above, taken off our deck (and we’ve been enjoying the deck so much this year–eating lunch on it most days over the last two weeks).
Finally, the irises that really remind me of Mama—the purple ones—are blooming. So far, only two purple irises have opened up, but many, many more are about to. I won’t be surprised to have 40 or more blooms. We’ve already had about 15 yellow irises, and they aren’t quite done yet. The purple irises far outnumber the yellow ones.
As noted earlier, these all came from my mom (Inez Watts) in Octagon, Alabama. I remember all the years of working in the flower beds and waiting each spring for these to bloom. They mean more to me now than ever before–by a long shot.
I’ve been waiting all spring for these to bloom. We’ve got about 2 dozen more getting ready to bloom. These are all originally from my mom’s house (Inez Watts) in Octagon, Alabama. Ann and I dug them over the course of several years after we moved into our house here in Birmingham, and have watched hopefully for them to bloom each year. Last year was the first year they bloomed. That was a year where I really needed them to bloom, too. I feel a little closer to Mama just looking at them.
Every day for the last week, I’ve gone out to count them and peek carefully to see if they were blooming. Last night just before dark, I took a look and nothing. This morning, this one and one more were looking beautiful.