A gift

J and I returned home last evening from an 8-day vacation to Mexico. I've been personally working on trying not to get so bent out of shape from things I can't control (e.g., the garden) and hoped it wouldn't be too much of a weedy disaster when I returned. I was also hoping that my neighbor remembered to water and that my plants hadn't all withered and died. Instead, as I walked to the back door, I saw this:

Rosa cl. Pinkie

Rosa cl. Pinkie

I just planted these two climbing roses last fall so this is the first time they've bloomed like this, and I couldn't be happier with the show they're putting on!

I was also worried about my peonies. I had written in December that I was both mad and worried that my peonies wouldn't come up this year due to the shadow cast by the fence. They had one bloom between four plants last year and I was hoping it was due to being moved but not sure if they were receiving adequate sun. Neighbor M's peonies had big, fat buds on them about two weeks ago and mine still didn't, so I was sure it was going to be a flop year. But then - then! - about a week before we left, I noticed tiny little buds on my peonies. Maybe they would actually do something this year!

And then I realized that I was going to be on vacation if they did actually bloom! I had read this great post at Galloping Horse Garden about going on vacation during peak peony bloom time and commiserated with her without realizing that I had done the Exact. Same. Thing. Who plans a vacation when your peonies, the same ones you haven't seen in two years, are going to bloom? This gal.

So, I saw the peony buds continue to grow and hoped that they'd hurry and bloom before I left, but they didn't. I was hoping to see something, anything, upon my return, even if it was dying flowers on floppy plants. I even had a dream while in Mexico that I returned only to find that my peonies had been eaten by deer (a la Obsessive Neurotic Gardener), and we don't even have deer.

After I ran outside last night to see the roses, guess what else I saw?

Wow. It's like it waited for me to come home to be at its peak.

Even better?

I didn't miss the show! The other three plants have yet to bloom. I feel so lucky that my human-peony ESP connection worked this year and they waited for me.