On a day like today—cold and very, very wet—I find myself looking forward to my spring garden and wondering what is taking so long? The Dutch irises first broke ground way back in November. Their leaves have grown longer, their stems taller and more sturdy and, still, there is no sign of their brilliant blue blooms. Perhaps they need less rain and more sunshine. I know I do.
The iris is February's birth flower. But they're not going to make it in time to celebrate—not at my house anyway. When they do appear, I'll take note of their three upright petals symbolizing faith, valor and wisdom. I'll remark to someone, as I always do, how much they resemble the French fleur-de-lis which, in fact, was modeled on this flower. History tells many stories of how this came to be and how the symbol has endured. It is impossible to recount them all here. History also tells that symbolic use of this dignified and graceful flower dates even further back—to Ancient Greece—when Iris, the messenger of the gods and the personification of the rainbow acted as the link between heaven and earth. An interesting article about the iris of history and legend can be found here.
Gorgeous blue hues like that of the iris find their way into our homes with such regularity and to such great effect that House Beautiful magazine has devoted much of its March issue to blue rooms of present and past. You can see 53 of them on their website. Below, I've chosen to feature just one for this flower-of-the-month post: the kitchen in a Fire Island, NY summer home that stars a wall of glass subway tile in a color that designer Marshall Watson calls "periwinkle verging on cobalt". How lucky for these homeowners... to have such a lovely color on view all year 'round.
[kitchen photos by Julian Wass via housebeautiful.com]Happy birthday to all you February babies out there including my mom, who reads my blog (thanks Mom!), and my dad who I'm quite certain doesn't even know what a blog is. :)
First photo by dks221 via webshots.com, second photo is my garden by me
14 comments:
Nice little way to start my day!
That little peek at your garden is just lovely, Tracy! I am sure we will all be thankful when Spring arrives {I'd just be happy if it would stop snowing!}. I am so looking forward to seeing some color on the ground instead of white stuff!
Amen to that! Yes spring needs to come sooner rather than later!
Thank you, I needed this post today. Take care.
I'm soooo looking forward to SPRING here on the Gulf Coast! Have FUN in your garden:)
Blessings,
Linda
Hop over and enter my giveaway!
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I love your blog! Happy Birthday, too!
Tracy F.
Honeysuckle and Hissy Fits
I love that blue tile.
My husband, my father, my mother in law and I all have birthdays in the month of Feb.
Spring can not get here fast enough. I want to see some sunshine and be able to work in the yard.
This kitchen is beautiful. Hopefully you're February was a great month and March brings with many wonderful surprises. xoxo
Blue is such a soothing color and I agree it would be a pleasure to look at that wonderful kitchen every day. Kathysue
So pretty! Iris is my favorite flower. Love the comment about your dad!
The blue iris is one of my favourite flowers. It never ceases to amaze me how they look fantastic in a bowl with any other flower or any colour. Just goes to show how versatile blue is.
That blue tile is gorgeous! Blue and white kitchens always look so fresh and summery. This would be a perfect look for a beach house. Ahhh.
P.S. Happy birthday to your mom and dad! :-)
Never though that blue can be so lovely...as many of our Asean like warm color rather then cool. But I was astonished by yr application of blue in yr design. Great job.
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