52 Ancestors in 2022 - Week 11: Flowers

It's week 11 of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge. The prompt for the week is 'Flowers'. The flower I want to write about is the Iris. 

 

Bearded Iris
photo by Sheila Brown
License: CC0 Public Domain

Both sides of my family have a history with irises. We had some planted in our back yard when I was growing up. They bloomed every year around Memorial Day. My dad always referred to them as 'flags'. I can remember him pointing them out along the way as we drove to the cemetery Memorial Day weekends.

I sometimes wonder if my paternal grandmother, Bertha Hahnenkamp Kolk, grew irises. I never knew her—she died when my dad was only 9. I don't know if she ever grew irises. I do know that my Aunt Alice, Bertha's oldest daughter, grew irises. Alice's daughter dug up some of the irises and moved them with her when she moved from Illinois to Alabama. They still bloom each spring.

Ironically, the irises in our backyard were not from my dad's side of the family. My maternal grandmother, Susie Janco Petrini, planted them in our back yard. She had a green thumb with flowers and planted them at each of her daughter's homes when she would visit. She used a garden tool that had belonged to her father. It's seen better days, but I still have the tool. Here is a photo.

 

I don't know if there are still irises growing in the yard of my childhood home. My nephew now owns the house, so I'll have to ask him. I do know that my mother dug up a clump and transplanted them at her condo in Missouri when she moved 20 years ago. They still bloom each May. This year maybe I'll try to dig them up and transplant them here.