After two full weeks —aka eternity—the lilies finally deigned to bloom. By then nearly all the berries had turned brown, the pussy willow buds had either dropped off or begun to sprout—and the lilies weren’t even white. Pink! Sigh.

But it’s good lesson in the importance of getting the timing right in floristry. And of letting go a little bit: appreciate the thing you create, and then appreciate the (different) thing it reveals itself to be over time.