One of the good things about living in USDA Zone 5 is that in addition to growing great corn and soybeans, you can grow some beautiful old fashioned blooms such as lilacs and peonies.
These are the old fashioned variety, the kind that grew in grandma's yard. They are characterized by a beautiful shade of purple and a heady, sometimes overpowering scent.
May is lilac season and this nostalgic flower represents a memory of home. At one point in my life I was living far away in Texas, which seemed like such a hostile environment to me at the time. That, of course, was only because it wasn't "home". It's hard to be somewhere with your heart residing elsewhere.
This bunch of lilacs is for a member of the farmers wife community who's currently stuck in that situation. It won't be forever, and the return home will be all the sweeter.
9 comments:
I was able to get a start from my grandmother's lilac bush to grow in my back yard. Her's is over 50 years old, mine is only 5. The smell of lilacs reminds me of hanging out at her house in the spring. I put lilacs at every corner of my house and the fragrance is so strong.
We have a small puny litty bush but this year it had several lovely deep purple blooms and the first butterflies of the year loved them.
Lilacs remind me of my childhood, when my mother would cut some and send them to school with me for my teacher. She also sent bouquets of bluebells.
Lilacs are so beautiful and make me also remininsce in the wonder of them during my childhood.
Lilacs are so beautiful and make me also remininsce in the wonder of them during my childhood.
If there's a flower memory of childhood in Decatur, IL for me, it is freshly cut lilacs. That scent takes me back home like no other. I will always remember the spring scent of lilacs in my room. Freshly cut flowers were a special treat. Lilacs signaled the heady days of summer. Ahhhhhh.
I'm so sad that they're gone here for the most part already! Some of the shrubs in this area were just stellar.
I cannot wait for the peonies to burst - but we need some warm weather for that I suspect!
It's so amazing to see how many people have memories of lilacs! I too, have the distinct memory of my mother putting lilacs in a large white pitcher & basin. The flowers would remain on our kitchen table until new ones needed to be cut.
I would have to say that waking up to the smell of lilacs on a spring day is simply heaven... without a doubt, lilacs smell like home to me.
Thank you for this entry - it really made me smile.
How beautiful! I grew up in a small town about an hour north of Chicago and a neighbor had a huge lilac bush. I always thought they were the prettiest flowers. And the smell... takes me back.
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