On Sunday I admired a neighbor’s iris stalks: tall and turgid, topped with a couple of just-about-to-open buds. I lamented that though my iris plants boasted full, lush, and healthy foliage, none had stems, much less any promise of luscious flowers.
Overnight Sunday into Monday, a stalk arose from the depths in my back garden; a second joined Monday night into Tuesday. Now there are a dozen iris stalks, ready for their part in spring’s play.
In the next days there will be iris flowers: purple, ruffly, and filling the air with a lovely fragrance. Maybe should stay awake all night and watch the iris stalks push towards the night sky, awaiting morning’s light. Or perhaps I’ll continue as I do each season: marvel at and appreciate nature’s timetable, and remain bedazzled with the turn of each season, the daily changes, the overnight sensations.
My Gardener Says... 
I feel the same way. Over night the plants seem to grow inches. The leaves on trees have suddenly come.
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It’s just astounding! Yesterday afternoon, none of my Red Yucca, Hesperaloe parviflora, had stalks. This morning, one of them has two which have emerged, obviously overnight. If we just stood there and watched, do you think we could actually see the movement? 🙂
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Set up cameras. Did you watch PBS, The Green Plant? They used lots of camera work that they speed up. I could not sit and wait.
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Interesting that they grow at night… I’d never noticed that! Enjoy the show. 🙂
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I just assume that’s what happens. Maybe it’s like bird migration; most of that happens at night!
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Miraculous, isn’t it? I’m surprised anew each year how quickly some flowers appear, seemingly out of nowhere.
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And I’m always surprised when I witness the events!
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Scientists who want to learn about wild animals install remove cameras. You could install one near your irises and program it to take a picture once a minute or so to create a time-lapse film of your irises springing up.
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That’s a good idea actually! And it’s not just irises; my red yucca do the same thing: one evening it’s just foliage, the next morning, bloom stalks!
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I’m so pleased for you, and I’ve also decided to make a run to the San Bernard refuge. The ditches down there have been filling up with leaves, and if those wild irises are anything like yours, they could be in bloom already — or at least approaching it. The speed with which things happen can be astounding. I recently saw it with a common dandelion. One late afternoon it had burst into bloom. The next morning, it was a foot tall and had gone to seed — just like that!
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