Lilacs!

I got my long-awaited lilac bush for Mother's Day as a gift from my husband and my step-daughters the year before T arrived. It bloomed that year. The next year, no blossoms. No lovely lilac fragrance. I chalked it up to the severe winter and assumed we'd get blooms the following year -- in the spring of 2011.

2011 arrived and blossom buds appeared. Hooray! We were going to get flowers. But then they started disappearing. From the ground up.

Bunnies.

Our bunny-friendly yard was attracting lilac-eating bunnies. So we caged the shrub until the flowers had a chance to bloom. Bunnies have to eat, but they can find something other than my lilacs! How about the greens from the hundreds of dandelions that grow in our yard, much to the delight of our neighbors, I'm sure? I'm the neighborhood whack job who refuses to poison my yard, my family, and the wildlife for the sake of a dandelion-free yard. My inside bunnies have always loved dandelion greens as much as I love chocolate. My yard is the equivalent of a chocolate fountain for dandelion greens. Let them eat dandelion greens!

This year we waited and waited for the buds to turn into blossoms, while lilac bushes all around were bursting forth with fragrant displays of white, lavender, deep purple, and pink. My little shrub kept its buds closed tight, until, finally, just around Memorial Day, they opened to the blue skies and warmth. The bunnies left them alone this year -- mostly. I think that the bush is getting big enough that the blossoms are out of bunny-harm's way.

The flowers lasted just a fleeting few days and then withered, but were open enough for me to enjoy their "it's officially spring" aroma for a while. And now we wait to see how it all turns out next May. In the meantime, we await the flowers -- and fruits -- of summer -- as long as the deer and the bunnies leave them alone.