The Revolution will be Televised

From a revolutionary perspective, 2011 has been extraordinary: first, Tunisia; then, Egypt. As I listen to media reports about protests in other Middle East countries, I sense the pregnant but as yet unspoken urgency to identify a third. Will it be Bahrain? Iran? Yemen?

Yet the revolutionary winds have blown far from the Middle East.

A revolution brews right here at 410. Yes, here in Wilmington, Delaware. I tremble.

Today, 16 February 2011—yes, 16 February!—I spotted the vanguard itself, rearing their heads ready for the battle to begin. At first these things seem sporadic, disconnected. But then they magnify and, over time, the assault begins.

To the north, I spied one little opening bud of the Climbing Hydrangea (quite prematurely, given the closed tight buds on the remainder of the plant). It is the vanguard of the vanguard, scouting out the terrain and the atmosphere.

In the south-central part of the garden, I spied this little patch of the new shoots of Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum)!

And across the walkway, to the south-west, there he was, safety in numbers: three artichoke-like flower buds of my beloved, hunky Petasites japonicus emerging from the soil. He returned to sweep me off my feet, my knight-in-leafy armor!

Soon, the revolution will occur. Winter will be ceremoniously deposed! Photos will be taken! The landscape will change!  

  

Can there be anything more delicious than spring green after months of winter white and moribund browns?

Vegetative vanguard, unite!