Winter Flowers

Dwarf iris re-emerging from the snowdrifts

The day before the winter storm came, I saw some of my dwarf iris just starting to bloom for the year.  Then they were covered by over a foot of snow, plus all of that shoveled from the drive next to them.  As the snow finally melted off in the last couple of days, there they were again, and in greater numbers than before.

I was so glad to see that the crushing weight of all that snow hadn't stopped these pretty little flowers from providing their annual show.  They are always among the very first flowers to come up and bloom each year, generally just after the snowdrops, and I would have hated to miss them. This year, they even beat the snowdrops, as those flowers are still under snow. 

"The snow's gone, let's bloom!"

Dwarf iris are quite small flowers, only about 4-5 inches tall.  The blossom is large proportionally to the rest of the plant.  They are quite hardy here in zone 6, and slowly multiply. They are easy to care for, but do prefer well-drained soil.

The pansies, of course, were not stopped by the cold and snow.  Some blossoms look a little battered, but new, fresh flowers are opening. Those pictured here are in a half-barrel planter, which emerged from the snow a day or two sooner than the bed with the dwarf iris.

Spring flowers tend to be hardy, so they handle snow and cold better than many people realize.