I have always loved Jack in the Pulpits. These beautiful, yet almost mysterious plants pop up in wooded areas without any seeming rhyme or reason. Over the years I have reserved a little shade patch in the back of the garden and planted several without much luck. With the exception of one, none of them have come back. Ever the optimist, I started looking for my elusive Jack about a month ago. It never pops back up in quite the same place, so I vigilantly scanned my little shade patch, hoping to see some sign of him. Nothing. Just this past week, I finally resigned myself to stop looking- the season is getting on, and maybe Jack was just not going to reappear. 

This morning I was out there planting, and not really looking for him anymore. A quick glance at the shade patch, and there he was, sprouting about three inches out of the ground as if to spite me. I laughed. “You win Jack, but glad you’re back”