Three years ago, I dropped by a local garden center and discovered that my gardening life would be meaningless unless I brought home Iris ‘War Chief.’ The first year, I enjoyed the single bloom from the pot that enticed me to bring it home in the first place.

The second year, it did nothing. Fearing the iris borers that had munched their way through my other iris, I performed emergency surgery on it. It turned out to be a wise decision. I salvaged two pieces from the original tuber and planted them again, nursing them along.

They bloomed for the first time again on Monday morning.