This blue walking iris was purchased while I was on a date with my wife, antiquing in Micanopy.

These yellow “tiger” irises came from my parent’s home in Ft. Lauderdale. They traveled with me to Tennessee, then back to Florida, then back to Tennessee… and finally to here. The original plants at my parents’ home are older than I am and still thriving – just as my parents’ marriage is still thriving, a fact for which I always continue to be grateful.

This orchid used to belong to my wonderful little sister Alean, who left it behind when she moved Way Up North. I snagged it, and three years later, it’s blooming for the first time.

Many of my plants have stories. They remind me of loved ones, of familiar places, and sometimes of painful experiences.

Even in loss, though, there is the knowledge that the pain isn’t permanent. Today I choose to focus my thoughts on higher, nobler and more wonderful things than the bitterness, selfishness, contention, pain and hatred that defines this sphere.