Lilac Love

Many perennials and weeds are in full bloom in the Mid-Atlantic. Of course, when the temperatures rose a couple of times in the last few weeks, buds became blossoms practically immediately. The smell— intoxicating. The flowers—feast for the eyes in any direction.

When we bought our home 25 years ago, the lady of the house was the president of the Crofton Garden Club. She planted a well-thought-out rotation of perennials, ornamental bushes, and grasses that produce beautiful foliage almost all year long on the property. Some survived our crazy life, but, frankly, I couldn't keep up with the maintenance required to keep everything she had showing off their stuff. I supplemented the gardens with easy-to-grow knockout rose bushes and annuals for additional color.

Since we've lived here we had to remove several trees for various reasons; mostly due to safety and rotted-out tree trunks. Our side yard, which we don't see much except when mowing the grass, had a Southern Magnolia tree that got unruly which also had to be removed a few years ago. Sniff.

To my delight today though, this same side yard which has a beautiful lilac bush is now blooming in all its glory~! It hasn't bloomed in 10 years for some unexplained reason. Perhaps for half of those years, the Magnolia shaded it too much for it to bloom. I can't explain during the last five years why it didn't bloom, but it is now!

I am thrilled!

The flowers are as they should be hearty and sweet-smelling. Lilac Love...