Colorful Iris Border

Another sunny but chilly day, but the temperatures are supposed to warm up later in the week. I went to Pilates with some trepidation as my knee doesn't seem much better, but since it seems better when/as I move around I went hoping for the best. The class went well, with a few modifications and my knee did indeed feel better...until I got home and walked around some more at which point it was decidedly more painful and swollen.

I'm now ensconced on my bed, with a bag (closed and sealed) of frozen peas on my knee, hearing John's rendition of his light therapy treatment.
He went waited in the 'horrible waiting room' for about 20 minutes, was ushered into a room where he was told to 'strip down to my skivvies' and given a 'pillowcase' to put over his head. He was taken to another room (with a pillowcase over his head?) which had lights all around it and was told that when the lights went off (after about two minutes) he could get dressed and go home. Sounds a bit like a date with the gallows, but he is not one to ask questions so there could have been more .... or not.

The irises John laboriously dug out of the wine barrel we planted them in almost ten years ago and replanted next to the stairs are beginning to bloom. (I've given up suggesting that the rakes and shovels leaning against the tree would be better off in the shed.)We rescued the bulbs  from plastic nursery pots that had been thrown down by the fence and planted them in half wine barrels which have now disintegrated as they  do, especially as the bulbs have needed to be divided for years. The daffodils planted in the same area did absolutely nothing so we were worried about the fate of the irises, but they never fail. They look like they will continue to produce new blooms for awhile. The carpet of white flowers is chamomile which grown unbidden and untended every year.

In the meantime, the echium, 'Pride of Madera' which we planted in several places, including outside the bedroom door, have grown and are now blossoming spectacularly. It's almost enough to make all the rain we've had this winter worth it.