Good Sunday morning, dear friends. I hope this finds you well and enjoying the beauty and fragrance of spring. As for me, I am now enjoying the beauty and fragrance of lilacs, and I am about to welcome the Carolina Jessamine. Does it get any better? I don’t think so.
Carolina Jessamine (about to open), white lilac, and Loving Cherubs
I do love and enjoy lilacs and never take them for granted. They are quite common here in North Central West Virginia and many may wonder why I am so captivated by them. When we lived in the south, it was too hot for them and I missed them terribly ~ for thirty-two years. There were a very few scattered about, that seemed to be in the exact right spot, with the exact right soil and light. But they are not, in any way, hardy in the south. Recently, a couple of varieties have been cultivated just for the southern states, although, I’ve been told they lack the intense fragrance.
“I opened the large central window of my office room to its full on the fine early May morning. Then I stood for a few moments, breathing in the soft, warm air that was charged with the scent of white lilacs below.” ~ Angus Wilson
Madame Lemoine, lilac
Our white lilac, Madame Lemoine, was the first to bloom this year. Madame Lemoine was named in honor of the wife of Victor Lemoine. Who cultivated many French hybrids. Usually, this lilac blooms in conjunction with our very dark wine-colored lilac, Ludwig Spaeth. However, this year ‘Madame’ decided she would be first on the scene.
In the dooryard fronting an old farm-house near the white-wash’d palings, Stands the lilac-bush tall-growing with heart~shaped leaves of rich green, with many a pointed blossom rising delicate, with the perfume strong I love, With every leaf a miracle ~ and from this bush in the dooryard, With delicate-color’d blossoms and heart-shaped leaves of rich green, A sprig with its flower I break. ~ Walt Whitman
In the language of flowers, the colors of lilacs represent different meanings.
White ~ represents purity and innocence.
Violet ~ all shades represent spirituality, darker purple represents that the wearer is concerned or knows of spiritual mysteries.
Blue ~ represents happiness and tranquility.
Lilac ~ represents one’s first love or the first time one feels love for someone.
Pink ~ represents love and strong friendships.
Magenta~ represents passion, love and the thrill of being alive.
“The smell of lilacs crept poignantly into the room like a remembered spring.” ~ Margaret Millar
“A faint smell of lilac filled the air. There was always lilac in this part of town. Where there were grandmothers, there was always lilac.” ~ Laura Miller
” Flowers have a way of creating strong and lasting memories. Flowers may fade, but the memories and the emotions felt never will.” ~ unknown
This lilac, just beginning to open, holds special meaning to Mike and me. I do not begin to know its name, although it is similar to a variety named Blue Skies. This lilac came from Mike’s family farm in Western Pennsylvania, a special place where we both spent many happy times with his family. I raised it from a tiny sprig. The farm was sold many years ago. Upon returning to the area some time ago, the lilac (once enormous) is now gone and there is no sign a human ever worked the land or lived on the farm. The lilac serves as a beautiful memory for both of us. It is now about four feet tall and this is the first year it has shown her lovely blooms, we are so excited. While there are not many blooms, we treasure each and every one.
“But remembering those moments, I stand still in ecstasy, inhaling through the noise of falling rain, the smell of invisible, enduring lilacs.” ~ Marcel Proust
Dear friends, I hope you have enjoyed smelling the lilacs. When the lilacs are in bloom, Edith Wharton was certainly correct when she said, “Set wide the window. Let me drink the day.” When I was growing up and my mom had a vase of something lovely and fragrant, she would hold it to my nose and say, “Take a drink.” Wharton’s quote brought back a sweet memory.
Know, I thank you for your visit and wish you and yours a day of beauty, filled with the marvelous fragrances of spring.
Have a wonderful week ahead.
And. . .
Be well!
“Flowers have spoken to me more than I can tell in written words. They are the hieroglyphics of angels, loved by all men for the beauty of their character, though few can decipher even fragments of their meaning” ~Lydia M. Child
Amour,
Sandra
Note: There are many lilac festivals held throughout our country each year. However, I have been told two of the best are, The Rochester, New York Festival, May 21 through 23, 2021, and The Mackinac Island, Michigan Lilac Festival, June 4 through 13, 2021. If your travels take you to either of these parts of the country, it would most likely be worth your time to stop and smell the lilacs.
Images: Michael Lambiotte and Tumblr
Lilac season is always eagerly anticipated and lasts such a short time. Your lilacs are beautiful, Sandra, and I can just imagine the lovely scent wafting through the house. We have two lilac bushes and they are just barely beginning to open their buds. They came from my parents’ house before they moved and have grown so well in the past 19 years. I love the thought of your mother holding a bouquet to your nose as if to drink. So very sweet.
Good morning, Lorrie. I think because lilacs grow well from a start many have them from family members, which is a treasure. When we enjoy the fragrance of a shrub once belonging to someone we hold dear, we once again enjoy special memories. Ours are blooming early this year, usually, it is around the first of May. Wishing you lovely spring days, Lorrie.
Gorgeous, gorgeous photos of all the lilacs! Congratulations on nurturing and celebrating the blooms of your PA farm lilac. I know what joy that must bring you both. The lilac will always remind me of my mother, who was originally from Rochester. Purple was her favorite color and it was my choice for the garden. I love reading that it represents spirituality.
Thank you for your inspiring post today, Sandra. May you have a wonderful week ahead.
Good morning, Rita. I imagine your mom did love purple since she was from Rochester. Have you ever been to the lilac festival there? I know it would be wonderful to attend. I enjoy the Language of Flowers, it is so interesting to read about the different meanings.
Thank you for your kind words and your visit. Wishing you a lovely week ahead.
Sandra, the images and quotes are so beautiful. But, I most enjoyed seeing your garden and the gorgeous lilacs on your dining table. I can just imagine their fragrance. I so wish we could grow them. Wishing you and Michael a joy-filled Sunday!
Good morning, Pam. I am pleased you enjoyed the lilacs and yes, their fragrance is heavenly. Pam, you may try one of the varieties for the south. One I know of is Miss Kim. Lilacs like rocky soil, so when you plant one add a little gravel to the hole. It might be worth a try. Wishing you a beautiful day and week ahead, sweet friend.
Lilacs have always been a favorite flower of mine. We use to have them around our home growing up in Michigan. It is one thing I will miss here in Florida. We do have a beautiful smelling gardenia tree in bloom at our building that smells heavenly.
Penny, I imagine you did have lovely lilacs in Michigan. They love the cold. All parts of our country have their own beauty. But as gardeners, we want it all. I know your gardenia is heavenly.
Good morning, Sandra! The opening photograph with the lilacs in the window is gorgeous! All of your bouquets are beautiful, and I imagine the fragrance must be heavenly. I planted a lilac last year. It is very small, but this year it has one bloom. I’ve read that it takes a while for them to grow and produce blooms. I’m just thankful that is has survived the crazy weather over the past year. Wishing you a most blessed week ahead, sweet friend!
Good morning, Shannon. The fragrance in the house and in the garden is wonderful. From my experience with lilacs, they do better when they are planted from a small plant. It takes them a while to get situated but then they take off. You will wake up one spring morning and it will be loaded with blooms. Wishing you a lovely spring day and week ahead, my friend.
Your lilacs are exquisite… loved seeing the bouquets on the dining room table. Oh my! There must be such a lovely scent wafting through your house. Our lilacs are just starting to warm with a barest hint of green in the trunk and branches – we’re still a long way from flowers though. So I drink in your wonderful bouquets and marvel at those colours. I love the little memories you have of your mom inviting you as a child to share the beauty around her.
Wishing you a beautiful day, Sandra.
Brenda xo
Hello, Brenda. Thanks so much for your kind comments. When one walks through the dining room the fragrance is heavenly. I know after your long winter you will be happy to seen blooms. Do your lilacs bloom in May or June? I do love them and would enjoy attending one of the festivals, that would be grand. Happy spring days to you, when it finally arrives.
How delicious to open up your windows and have such glorious scents waft through your home. We are behind here in Chicagoland, so it will be a few more weeks!
Hello, Sandra. It truly is a treat to open the windows and enjoy the beautiful fragrances. I do not take a moment of it for granted. I believe our lilacs are about a week or two early this year. While we had a cold winter, we didn’t have below zero nights. So maybe that explains it. Enjoy your spring, it will arrive in all her glory.
I do envy you your lilacs, Sandra! But they could not happen to a nicer woman. We never had lilacs here in TN, for the reasons you mentioned, until this house where a bush that had been pruned so brutally that we didn’t know what it was until in bloomed 3 years later. This year’s was lush but along came two nights of frost that burned them.
It’s lovely that you have such beautiful ones and the one from your husband’s family home must be extra special. Your quotes were lovely, Sandra, and very fitting!
Hello, Dewena. I wish I could cut you a bouquet of these lilacs for you to enjoy. We had a hard freeze after they were in bloom – but by some miracle, they were not harmed. Yes, we are happy we have the one from Mike’s family farm. It is a treasure to us and I love that it is a different color than our other two. I thank you so much for your kind comments, they are appreciated more than you can imagine.
I know your area is beautiful this time of year, do enjoy these lovely days.
Sandra, I love your arrangements. And I know your house is filled with their lovely scent.
I am so glad your lilac from Mike’s family farm bloomed this year! So special and meaningful and I am glad you shared your joy with us.
I love lilacs and would love to have them but as you know it is too warm here. I think I’ve shared before that I lived in Alaska on Fort Wainwright some years ago. We lived on post and the Criminal Investigation Building behind our quarters had lilac bushes. I cut some for a luncheon I was having and one of these days I am going to go through a huge box of photos and find the picture. I was so happy to have them for my centerpiece. I put them in between two chinoiserie blue and white ginger jars.
I loved your post today and as always appreciate the lovely quotes and photos.
Good morning, Bonnie. Yes, our home does smell lovely. Lilacs are special, I wish they lasted longer. But, I am so grateful to have them while they are here.
Your lilac centerpiece sounds beautiful and I would love to see the photos. Thank you, Bonnie, for your kind words and encouragement. You are much appreciated. Wishing you a lovely week full of beauty.
Well, first of all — gorgeous photos, inside and out. I love lilacs and am lucky enough to have a neighbor who says “Cut anything you want!” (I only do from the side of the tree facing my property!) I’m curious about starting a bush from a sprig. I don’t see white ones often — they’re especially lovely. And I have fond memories of my grandmother’s ENORMOUS lilac bushes. The area is now a park and the bushes long gone, but I remember coming home from her farm with loads of lilacs! I’ve never seen the Carolina jessamine either — it’s beautiful. Each and every photo, a gem.
The Mackinac Lilac Festival is a very big event here in Michigan. I’ve never been but I was on the island a week before (in a particularly warm spring) and the fragrance was heady indeed!
Hi, Jeanie. Thank you so much for your kind comments. I will relay them to Mike, as you know the camera is not my friend. Jeanie, to start a lilac from a sprig, just look around the bottom of a mature plant. They most always send off shoots. Decide on a couple that you like and give them a firm jerk. Be sure you have the tiny hair-like roots on the sprig when it comes up. Next, you can plant it directly in the ground or you can pot it and leave it until late summer. For the first couple of weeks, baby it a bit by giving it morning sun and afternoon shade. Keep it slightly moist. Then after a couple of weeks, it can have full sun, which is what it loves. You will want to plant it in the ground before it turns too cold in the fall.
Jeanie, there is a nursery in Maine that I ordered from when we lived in VA. They even warned me it was too hot for them there, but I was determined. Anyway, the name is: Fox Hill Lilac Nursery, if you are interested. They have a gazillion varieties, including beautiful whites. Have a great week, my friend.