just about perfect

Look what I found in the front garden when I got home today!




Yes, they are just about perfect.

...
According to my notes, the one with the bloom is "Giuseppe Verdi," and it's the first of the tulips to bloom. There are others — on the cusp of flowering and otherwise — but these were the most photogenic (and, of the "Giuseppe Verdi," the farthest along). I love how the leaves twist to reveal the bud in the middle. I planted three varieties last fall, with staggered early, mid- and late spring flowering times, so this is really only the beginning. I think the first picture might be of another variety altogether, actually, now that I look at it — probably "Banja Luka,"or a naturalized one — as "Giuseppe Verdi" has distinctively stripey leaves (as you can see), and the ones in the first photograph don't. We shall know for sure when it flowers.

I did some other gardening this weekend — dug little graves for bulbs, really — but this trumps all that. I know it's early days, but after the last disheartening summer, when everything I touched outdoors turned into a disaster (or died, let's be honest), I feel like something's gone right at last.