Walking iris

My mother has the most amazing, stunning flower all over her back garden by the fish pond, and in numerous pots on her porch. It's called "Walking Iris" and it blooms about this time of year, but the gorgeous flower, white and lush velvet blue, only lasts for a few hours, usually from about 10 or 11 am until 4 pm. By late afternoon its white petals are slowly curling up. An hour or so after this the blue inner petals begin curling into a ball and then the entire flower just withers into a tiny knot at the end of the stem and basically disappears. You can almost see it unfold.

There were about a dozen blooms today. When I saw them they were all about half way through their metamorphosis. Tomorrow or the next day a dozen more will bloom.

I marvel at what this delicate iris tells me: life is precious and fleeting. It flowers and then fades. But next spring this beautiful creation will awaken again and allow me to gaze on it's loveliness and be enthralled once more by the complexity and mystery of life.

More on the Walking Iris, also called the Apostle Plant