I am so excited! Though the tulips are on their way out, 
I did not miss all of them, nor did I miss the peonies or anything else really. After giving my main peony bush some major TLC at the end of last season, I've got several large buds that will be absolute stunners when the open. Look at the size! 
And bleeding hearts are just such a cool plant.
Their pink is more vibrant than this photo suggests, but nonetheless, you get a sense. Have I mentioned how much I love perennials?!
I was amazed by how verdant and healthy the yard looked this morning when I finally ventured out to assess the state of it all after two weeks away. It was made abundantly clear to me how strong and self-sustaining the natural world is when you just leave it alone, or, at the least, give it proper respect. Everything was just so much darn bigger than when we'd left. Especially hearty weeds -insidious hairy bittercress (aka jumpin' jesus)- were half a foot tall, border plants and grasses had intertwined like tightly-clasped hands (my arbitrary delineations between them be damned), my trailing honeysuckle looked like it'd mutated into a hulk vine, the veggies were huge, there were so many worms in the compost that I almost wondered if the pile might soon fold in on itself, a tumbling, wriggling mass of energy. 
Humans work so mightily to tame the environments around them, but I like and often feel humbled by the powerful force that is nature. Looking at the amazing maturation of everything in my little plot, I found a sliver of hope that despite our best and exceedingly selfish, short-sighted efforts to the contrary, perhaps people won't ultimately be able to conquer the Earth and all the life it sustains.
