The Queen of Flowers?

The English poet A.E. Housman (1859-1936) included a wonderful poem in his volume A Shropshire Lad called "Loveliest of Trees":
          Loveliest of trees the cherry now
          Is hung with snow along its boughs...
From the pictures I have seen of cherry trees in blossom along the Potomac, Housman may be right: these trees covered in blossoms do look indeed as if they were blanketed in snow.

As I watch iris blossoms opening daily in the garden, these lines of Housman come to mind.  Is there any flower more magnificent than the iris?

It is no wonder that the French--who love all things beautiful--adopted the iris as a national symbol (the fleur-de-lys).  It is fitting that this lovely flower has always been associated with the Virgin Mary.  There is no flower that seems so ravishingly beautiful and so vulnerable at the same time.  And for all of the iris' external beauty, it always seems willing to open its inner self to the world.

These two blossoms emerged from a spring shower as if to celebrate the season and life itself.  And, what the Cajuns would call lagniappe--deer don't bother them!