While walking outside this morning to discover what is #bloominginmygardennow, a song from my preteen years popped into my head —- ‘Deep Purple.’

“When the deep purple falls, over sleepy garden walls, and the stars begin to twinkle in the night…..”

I listened to that song on a Donny & Marie album over and over again when I was a young girl – back at the time of the hit variety show on television in the 70s. (The original was recorded in 1963 by Nino Tempo and April Stevens – which I didn’t know until I looked up the song online today!) 

Decades later, ‘Deep Purple’ takes on new significance for me – especially during the first two weeks of May. As the early spring tulips and flowering trees lose their petals, the purple iris emerges – always at the same time as the lilacs. This year, a tulip that hasn’t come up for many years also appeared this week to round out a trifecta of spectacular deep purple blooms during the first 10 days of May.

The purple or burgundy iris has been in my garden for 25 years!  My mother brought it home after an early May visit to Uncanoonuc Mt Perennials. Unfortunately, the garden center recently closed after decades of bringing delight to gardeners across New Hampshire. These iris are prolific and have been split every few years to be shared with other gardening friends. (Every year, I hear from at least one other person who is also enjoying these flowers. This week my friends Terri and Ann, both colleagues from Sun Microsystems (who also happen to share the same March Birthday!) reminded me they are also enjoying their annual iris display this week!)

This iris is compact, on a short stem. It’s always the first iris to bloom each spring. It looks especially nice planted with cushion spurge since that is a bright peridot color, blooming at the same time. We lost that companion planting in recent years, so there’s a note for this year’s transplants to make sure the situation is rectified for 2018!

The state flower for New Hampshire is the lilac. The garden has several established lilacs ranging from a light lavender to this deep purple color. We even have a three year old ‘Sensation’ lilac with a patterned mix of white and dark purple petals. Honestly, you find the lilacs in the garden with your nose before ever seeing them with your eyes.

It’s always nice to see our neighbors walk by, slow down, and then stop to smell the flowers hanging over the fence. There’s no better spring experience than deeply inhaling the intoxicating perfume of lilacs.

These tulips were some of the last to emerge this spring. They are in a section of the garden that was originally started by my grandfather.  They were a nice surprise this week. I can’t even remember when they were planted, but I don’t remember seeing them the past few years. They certainly round out the trio of the deep purple flowers that will enhance the garden for the next week or so.

I was hoping that sitting down and writing this story about my garden experience today, the earworm referenced in the title would subside.

Apparently, that will only happen “in my deep purple dreams!”