Peach

Three Mays ago, my mom and mother in law bought a lilac tree to plant in our yard in honor of Ingrid's birth. They wanted to do something similar for Iris, but we were all too superstitious to plant anything last spring (before the baby got to us safely), and too busy after she was born to baby a new plant through a drought in time for winter.

So they gave us a gift certificate for a local nursery, and we had the winter to figure out what to plant for this girl.

A couple of months ago, we found out there is a variety of peach tree that's hardy in our area. We are suckers for all things edible, and what could be a better way to honor our round, mild-tempered, red-headed girl? So last weekend, on Iris's nine-month birthday, we planted this:



For the first couple of seasons, we'll pull off any fruit that sets right away, so the heavy peaches don't snap the young branches, and so the tree can work on growing strong to get through the winter. It will be right around Iris's third birthday before we get our hands on the sweet, fuzzy, rosy fruit. For now, we'll have to settle for this: