I can’t keep up with it, how is it possible these days of spring are blowing by? A glorious May it has been, filled with heady fragrance, breezy blue skies, gentle rains. On this last day of the month, here are the Purples of May as viewed from The Urban Porch.

I’ve got a thing about the Siberian Irises. I’m sorry (not sorry) if their photos keep showing up on these pages over the years. I love the surprised exclamation points before they open. I love the look of them against a weathered fence, or all rising in a row.

There is a neighbor down the street – a Very Serious Gardener – who separated out her irises last fall and shared multiple pots to whomever wanted them. Over the weeks people would stop by to carry off large containers to transplant. Now our street is filled with gifted purple iris bounty, as are the homes of my children and some friends in other towns too!

I already had some vintage ones growing around the Urban Porch that are steeped in memory, transplanted from a home decades ago. It’s interesting how people who garden pretty much know where or who their plants came from, wouldn’t you agree? Almost anything I planted that came from someone else has a backstory. When they return year after year, I can’t help but think of those people. The newest irises were added along the fence line this past autumn. They did not disappoint.

There is also a bed of pale purple bearded iris growing on the far side of the porch. I am not as enamored of them, although they have lasted longer than the Siberian ones and have generally been pretty hardy.

The garden is filled with jewel-tones, the colors of semi-precious stones. Charoite and Serpentine. Fluorite and Malachite. Amethysts and Tourmalines, Jaspers and Jades. Jewels from within the earth and jewels from above the earth. I wear a garden of many-colored bracelets to celebrate the season.

With the recent rains, Spiderwort has exploded forth out of the Hostas bordering the front walkway. I don’t know how they got there, as I never planted them. Scraggly and bent at crazy angles, they rise above everything else and lend a bit of disturbing dissymmetry. Perhaps someone more meticulous might pull them out or move them, but I’m lazy and instead will just enjoy their shades of periwinkle blue until they are finished.

An almost neon pink/purple Spiderwort appears where the poppies had been. I did not plant that either, at least not to my recollection.

Along the back fence, lending some grace to a rather unsightly scrap metal pile (which I take no responsibility for and am not particularly happy about), the Wisteria once again blooms. It is a variety of wisteria with rather compact flowers, not the long, draping racemes that I am especially fond of, and not what I expected when they finally bloomed. But they are still pretty nice. It’s been years now. They have jumped the fence into the neighbor’s yard – I have no idea if she is cutting it back on her side or enjoying them. Perhaps next time I see her I’ll ask.

Overnight, magenta Rose Campion opened with a flush against the foundation of the house.

Did I forget the Lilacs? How could I forget to add them? I return to insert a few lilacs of May here. What does purple smell like? The rich tang of grape? The spice of violet? The “Ahhhhhh…” inducing, heavenly waft of lilac…..

Pots on the porch also mirror the shades of amethyst, lilac and violet.

I can’t help it – Earworm of the day – “Purple Haze” *

All the jewels! All the purples!

Farewell May! Hello June!

~*~

* “Purple Haze” – written by Jimi Hendrix – Are You Experienced (1967)