“Nothing to see here…” Wanna bet? Our peony plant has FINALLY produced something! Buds of potential!! It has been 4 years of nothingness! Nada! Zippo! I had given up thinking it was even capable of budding or blossoming. Tried all kinds of fertilizers. Even researched the possibility of it not being a peony plant or being a eunuch one… sterile. Everyone told me I was crazy… peonies are super prolific… even need cages to hold up all their heavy blooms. And THEIR plants were glorious proof! But our guy REFUSED to even pop a bud, much less a blossom. I was kinda thinking of uprooting him this year if he left me high and dry again. THEN to my great surprise, a bud began to form! What the heck? He really IS a peony plant! With potential no less! I wonder if raising kids sometimes feels this way. Long stretches of unresponsiveness. Impervious to our fertilizers. Peony potential put on hold. Thoughts of giving up… God, I guess that’s when we have to entrust them to Your Gardener’s touch and timing. The DNA is there. Late bloomers happen. Tentative buds emerge. Can’t wait to see what color and shape will flow from our guy’s first foray into flowerhood!