Picture of the day - June 9, 2007

A beautiful Yellow Iris blossom

When spring makes its way to our neck of the woods, lawns and gardens all around the Mountain Empire typically come alive with thousands of colorful iris blossoms. But not this year.... A couple of late freezes left many of our spring flowers stunted and unable to bloom, and one of the hardest hit of them all were the irises. But even a late departure by old man winter couldn't prevent the hardiest plants from bursting into bloom! Today's picture features one of the handful of irises that simply refused to roll over and concede defeat at the hands of dogwood winter. Cheria snapped this photo of a spectacular yellow iris blossom that had been standing tall and proud in her mom's yard while we were planting a rhododendron that we had bought her for Mother's Day. I suppose flowers are a lot like people when it comes to making it through hard times. Some simply throw up their hands and give up, accepting defeat without even trying to fight back. Others choose to work harder at overcoming the odds, and their blossoms end up being all the more beautiful and fragrant in the end because of the way they got them. It seems that some people skate through life with no problems at all while others struggle just to make it from one day to the next. But those who achieve great things by persevering over hardship always seem to enjoy their lives more than those who have everything handed to them. Likewise, this solitary iris blossom that was bound and determined to bloom in spite of old man winter's slap in the face gets a lot more attention than it would have if all the others around it had bloomed along with it!   Visit the POTD Archives for previous "Pictures Of The Day"!     Submit a photo of your own!            Why I publish the "Picture of the Day"