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[blank] Why do we love lilac so much?[blank]
[blank]Because it is so generous?
for its fragrance?
for its gentle hues?[blank]
[blank]for the way it invades our valley in May?[blank]
[blank]or because it passes so quickly?[blank]
[blank]Lilac time in Normandy, where you can’t drive
through a village without seeing
lilac tumbling over an old stone wall.[blank]
through a village without seeing
lilac tumbling over an old stone wall.[blank]
[blank]I can never resist its charm.[blank]
[blank]
Watercolour portrait of our house by Patricia von Esche at PVE design
46 comments
Wow, what a knock-out post. Lovely!
I love Lilac and have tried to grow it in our area it flowered once and that was it, unless we are willing to put bags of ice to cool the root system there is no other way so I had to settle for Butterfly Bush we get a lot of butterflies that's our gift. Hi Sharon I am getting the scent all the way over here beautiful. Girl you take some beautiful photographs I feel like I'm there. Thank you for sharing. Regards Esther from Sydney.
Hi Esther,in the previous comment ,I too have tried to grow lilac we live in nepean valley at the foot of the blue mountains ,it is still not cold enough. I too can smell the scent fom those beautiful photos of lilac from Sharon.Lilac is my favourite flower and it is in deed genorous.Love ,love this post .Thank you Sharon
OMG, how stunning! Your arrangement is simply breathtaking Sharon, I think you need a book filled with all your gorgeous flower arrangements!
These are breathtakingly beautiful, Sharon — just gorgeous images. I wish our computers had a button that allowed us to enjoy the lilac fragrance, as well. Sadly, lilacs don't really thrive in the south because our winters aren't cold enough. My MIL says they're beautiful in the northern U.S.
You have a real talent for creating lovely flower arrangements; I agree with the previous person that you need to write a book on this subject (filled with lots of gorgeous photographs). 🙂 The watercolor portrait of your house is charming.
Have a wonderful day!
Denise
Magnificent! Thank you for sharing your photos.
Remind us next spring, early, so we can plan to come see them. I can only imagine how the air must smell. I'm drivine down to Normandy in July. What is in bloom then? xo Jenny
Thank you Lisa, it's not me it's those flowers!
Thank you Esther, … ice to the roots?! life is a little too short don't you think 🙂
With the lilac growing everywhere here, it's easy to forget that it doesn't behave the same way world over
I recognise your generosity Tina, thank you
My sweet Grandmother`s favorite flower. They always bloomed on her Birthday, May 14th.
Lovely Sharon, thanks for sharing these sunny and beautiful pictures on this dull and grey day..
Hugs
Erna x
So lovely, I can almost smell them. Such a lovely scent. Ours are just now coming out.
Amazing!!! Cant wait to see it first hand for ourselves in a couple weeks.
Hi Sharon, so timely you should post this ~ 115th Rochester Lilac Festival is on right now in Rochester, NY with over 1200 bushes of 500 different varieties covering 22 acres in a designated area of Highland Park. It's kind of a big deal here, travelers from around the world plan their trips to coincide with our festival. Each year a new festival poster is commissioned from a local artist, there've been some beauties. Someday I'd love you to visit and show you around Rochester, we've got horse racing/casino, superb antiquing and award winning world class wineries in the Finger Lakes. Just imagine, you being escorted instead of the other way around:)
https://www.rochesterevents.com/festivals-events/lilac-festival
Oh, how I miss the lilacs! My Gram had several in her garden in Michigan. I planted one here on the Central Coast of California, but blooming is a hit-or-miss proposition. I oooohed and ahhhhed when I pulled up you blog this morning, causing my husband to ask what in the world was I looking at? I showed him, and he ooohed and ahhhed, too!
Thanks for this. It's been a rough week.
One of my earliest memories is of my mother bringing armloads of lilac branches into our house. She'd fill every vase, and we'd live in that sweet perfumey haze until the tiny flowers dropped onto every surface. That heavy fragrance still takes me back to those days.
SO beautiful. Thanks for sharing 🙂
I adore lilac and that watercolour is so beautiful x
Would you please stick your face in that bouquet and breath in deeply for me? We are able to grow lilacs in my area, but the have no scent. That pretty much defeats the purpose. You know that is a plant to grow in your area when you see them spilling over every wall. Thanks for sharing.
Sharon,
Je sens le lilas d'ici…! Ça fait du bien ces fleurs n'est-ce-pas ?
J'aime bien aussi la petite aquarelle de Patricia ! C'est chouette dans le cadre ancien.
Bises,
Céline.
We love it for all of the above.
For those who would like to have a lilac and live in a warm climate, there are those that are bred for such areas: they have names like Excel, Lilac Sunday, Sylvan Beauty, California Rose (pink), and Lavender Lady and Avalanche (white). Miss Kim is another possibility for warmer areas. It is a purple/lavender that starts out as rather blue. All of these do not demand the very cold weather that most lilacs do.
I'm mourning the end of lilac season here. It came early and we had a warm spell that hurried it along. Such heavenly scent. I filled the house with bouquets while I could. Your arrangement is so lovely in front of the aquarelle of your home.
Our lilacs have bloomed and faded. The old walls covered with flowers lining the village streets must be a sight to behold. The plants I rescued from my neighbor's thinning out did well this year. I'm going to deadhead to encourage more blooms next year.
I'm so jealous! We've had such a late spring that my lilac bushes are just getting tiny little leaf buds. But I can't wait for them to bloom! They're right outside my bedroom window!
What a treat! Thank you, Sharon. Love the textures as backdrop for the lilacs to pop. Just gorgeous. You have a gifted eye!
Magnificent Sharon! Meaning you as well as those lush lilacs. Glorious scent they are. Thank you for always making my day or evening better.XO
Really beautiful!!
Marina
A lilac paradise…gorgeous! You always have the most magnificent flower arrangements whether simple or bounteous. The backdrop with the PVE painting of your house is beautiful.
It must be heaven driving through the villages with your car windows down and having the wonderful lilac fragrance breezing through! Considering our state flower here in NH is the lilac, it's pretty remiss of me (or the previous owners) not to have any planted anywhere on our 4 acres. I should have asked for a lilac bush instead of a weeping cherry tree for Mother's Day!
hi Sharon,,, it so beautiful a,, I will miss my beautiful jacaranda tree ,,it was damaged so badly, in the storm that hit the gold coast Qld this year we had to have it removed it will be surly missed by us & our street. The Lilac flower was wonderful,,,,thanks for your lovely photos xxxpamela
Sharon,
Your arrangements are exquisite! And because of this, I have a lilac question for you! 🙂
How do you keep your lilacs fresh and beautiful indoors, after being cut. Mine seem to fade too soon.
Thanks!
Lilacs- ahh yes, the smell is delicious + the color is one of my favorites. They would be heavenly without their fragrance but their smell is a bonus. love your arrangement + PVE lovely painting. xxpeggybraswelldesign.com
Sharon, You bring back wonderful memories. Growing up in Massachusetts there was one home we road by on our way to school every morning. It had a tremendous lilac hedge, almost as tall as the house, running along the front edge of the property. Even as a sleepy, and occasionally glum, kid riding to school it made my heart sing every morning it was in bloom. As you say, it has a short season, but then it wouldn't be so magical if it were around long enough for us to become accostomed to it.
Hello Sharon,
One of my dear friends sent me the link to your blog this morning because she knows how much I love flowers, gardens and France. I'm in Charlotte North Carolina now but I am from Michigan where the lilacs are profuse! I miss them so much. When they bloomed it was heavenly and I'd bring in big bouquets.
I would love to know more about a house swap with your friend that would like to swap next summer.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Linda Napier
lnapier@masterstream.com
I was drawn to your post today, Sharon, with your beautiful photos of the lilacs and your sweet words. The lilacs in our area were at their peak last week and I was able to cut quite a lot of them to have at home and to give to our daughters for Mother's Day. I now wait in anticipation for the peonies and Lady's Mantle… 🙂
HI Jo-De, no secret I’m afraid, just enjoy them while you can! I have found that the bigger the vase, the longer they last, but I’d still be optimistic to think they’d stay for over 5 days.
thank you for your comment
best
Sharon
I love lilacs. I am sad that I am missing beautiful flowers and smell, because I just came back from France. (sigh~) If only Australia is little bit close to France I will be there more often. One day I will come and stay at your lovely Gite.
Julie x
Thank you for this beautiful, evocative post. Our lavender, purple and then white lilacs finished blooming just last week, so your fresh infusion of lilaciana is most wellcome! Amities, Leslie
P.S. Re Jo-De Davis' question about prolonging cut lilac blooms in water: If the blooms are on thick woody branches, cut at least 1" off the bottom of the branch; make a deep slit, 1-2" long, from the bottom of the branch upward, so that the branch can drink; and put the branch in water immediately. The blooms on branches that a neighbor prepared like that for me stayed fresh for 10 fragrant days (drinking heavily each day) in the house!
I feel saddened to know nothing of lilacs. I live in a warm-weather beach climate and they're never seen. The closest thing we might have to them are the wisteria you see briefly in a few homes' yards. Now, for us in southern California USA, it is the blue-purple, reliably-blooming jacaranda trees; everywhere (MY favorite tree!). They require no care (or water…we are essentially drought-riddled) and, when not blooming in May, June, July…they stay green the remainder of the year. One of my most-loved homes in the town where I live is a small, pale-buttercup-yellow bungalow. When its three, ancient jacarandas bloom, as they are right now, the purple explosion against that yellow is so pleasing. From any elevation of our coastal towns, to look down upon a sea of red-tiled roofs is to also see them showered in purple flowers and, I must say, if the ocean is also in that view, it definitely reminds me of the Mediterranean, particularly Northwestern Italy as it becomes the French Riviera.
My husband, however, is from the Midwest-USA and he said his mother planted lilacs around the house no matter where they ever lived; her favorite flower, very scented when blooming. I said, "the color?" Alas, he is color-blind. So it seems we are both deprived of the full beauty of such a flower. I am glad to see the tip in the comments from hopflower-blogger for us in the warmer climes. The images you've posted make me want to be sure to try to plant a lilac bush, sooner than later!
There probably are NOT jacarandas on the Cote d'azure…I'm no doubt remembering bougainvillea which isn't even remotely the same color as a jacaranda…but all is beautiful in my mind from travels long ago in youth.
Our lilacs have just started to bloom and I love their sweet fragrance. They are the state flower of New Hampshire where I live and I can certainly see why it was chosen.
THANK YOU, SHARON. I'LL SURELY TRY YOUR SUGGESTIONS NEXT TIME!
WOW! THANKS, LESLIE!!!!!!
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