Native Iris Blooming

After yesterday's lovely rain showers, the garden looked lovely. We went for our usual Sunday morning walk at the Arboretum. Today there were many more people than anytime in the previous month - many with children. However, most everyone seemed to be minding their distance and wearing masks. Our guess is that the children desperately need to run off some energy...and they were!

It was a glorious walk - the new leaves are that lovely early spring pale green, and all sorts of native flowers are popping up everywhere. I took so many photos of plants like Trillium and Downy Yellow Violets. But we stumbled across a gorgeous patch of Oregon native Iris Tenax, also called 'Oregon Iris' - the subject of today's blip. 

This lovely wildflower is found west of the Cascade mountain range in Oregon, as well as a small range in Washington and Northern California. Interestingly, the flowers range from pale purple to white and creamy yellow and blooms from April to June. It grows in open forests and grassy meadows at elevations from 300-1600 feet. It's very adaptable, enjoying full sun to partial shade and tolerating moist to dry soil.  It's also called tough-leaf iris (which is accurate) getting this name from the specific epithet tenax which means tenacious. 

I'm so grateful to Miranda1008 for hosting the WildflowerWeek Challenge. It's really forced to look more carefully outside my garden! 

Be well dear Blippers!