Plant Talk

Lilac Time - Finally

Spring has finally arrived when the lilacs bloom, and the town of Langley, blessed with a bounty of lilac bushes, is sweetly scented with these old-fashioned flowers. When the sun warmed up late in the week, lilac perfume wafted in through the open windows, and for the first time I believed in my bones that the long winter is past and summer really is on its way...Lilacs are visceral proof of springtime.

Lilacs are ungainly shrubs, often planted in a back corner of the garden where it's hard to enjoy their bloom, let alone their rich perfume.  Why not cut armloads and bring indoors for a big dose of lilac luxury?

It's not that lilacs don't mix well with other flowers, but they're so beautiful all by themselves I rarely arrange them with anything else. Lilacs last such a brief time that I always want vases full of just lilacs in every room...

A sleek, silvery container shows off lilac's voluptousness and various colors...I love the play of such traditional flowers in a modern sliver of metal vase.

Even a few lilacs in an orange glass vase are so evocative; here on the windowsill of the guestroom.

This fat-bottomed, mottled metal vase with a narrow neck balances out the shape of the lilacs while holding the heavy branches securly in this casual bunch of dark purple blossoms.

This cylindrical vase is plain and pale enough to showcase the darkest lilacs...these are 'My Favorite', bred by Hulda Klager of Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens in Woodland, Washington - a perfect destination when the lilacs are in bloom...

 

Lilacs, birds, dogs and springtime

Right now is the moment lilac lovers wait for all year. For a brief few days (a bit extended this year because the weather remains so chilly) all the colors of lilacs are in bloom at once. As the white lilacs come on, the dark purples are opening and the paler purple ones are beginning to fade. It's the time to pick bouquets with all three major colors - what a delight. Nurseries are full of miniature lilacs ('Miss Kim') and novelty lilacs that bloom in summer, like the new Syringa x prestoniae 'Redwine', but my heart belongs to the big old-fashioned lilacs blooming around town.

I probably moved to Langley because it has more lilacs than any town I've ever seen.  You can walk anywhere around town this time of year and inhale the near-overpoweringly sweet scent of lilacs. Or you could if it ever warmed up a bit - the sun brings out lilac perfume.

Speaking of, the sun finally broke through the clouds Thursday afternoon, and here's my puppy Bridget sniffing the wind and enjoying the breeze blowing through her whiskers. There's nothing like a dog or cat to remind us how delicious spring can be if we pause long enough to enjoy it.

Would you say I'm crazy if I suggested that my new bird art, a glass piece by Whidbey artist Meredith MacLeod, purchased at Museo Gallery in Langley, is drawing more birds to my garden this year? Maybe they come to admire themselves in the piece's luminous reflectivity, or perhaps they take it as a sign of a bird-friendly garden....I saw my first goldfinch of the season last week, and now the garden is filled with hummers, goldfinches, sparrows and robins, all busily going about the business of singing, sipping, fluffing, and nest building. Meredith made the piece to go outdoors - that cool frame is solid cedar, and it's hung on the outside of the house.....

Lilacs

Even though this year, with icy mornings and 20-some degree overnight temps, March may seem like the cruelest month, T.S. Eliot bestowed that honor upon April ... We spring worshipers are chastened, or maybe forewarned, by his oft-quoted line  “April is the cruelest month”.  What we forget is that it's followed by an evocation of lilacs;  “Breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain.”

Easter and lilacs are intertwined in my mind, although most years lilacs bloom weeks later. With the array of newer hybrids it is possible to have lilacs in bloom for many fragrant weeks, bracketing the Easter holiday in cones of sweet, old-fashioned flowers. And this spring, Monrovia Nursery is introducing a new summer-blooming lilac - seems a little weird, actually, but tantalizing, too...

Redwine lilac (Syringa x prestoniae 'Redwine beautiful') has a spicy fragrance, and magenta flowers that don't bloom until late spring into summer.  Like most lilacs, it is beloved by butterflies, and lasts well and looks beautiful cut for arrangements. But the main reason to grow this new version of an old favorite is for its heat tolerance.  For the first time it might be possible to have lilacs in bloom along with lilies and roses - wouldn't that be a smorgasbord of scent?