Lilacs

I'm a sentimental person.  I get moody when I have to go through my children's clothes because they are getting too big.  My children, not their clothes.  Even though some of my favorite dresses and outfits have been worn by three little girls it still makes me sad to think I won't see another little one wearing it.  So I gather, collect and pass on to friends with other little girls.  And then I take them back and pass them on again to the women's shelter here in town or to save for a family member who has an infant daughter right now.   Will it be in style when she's old enough to wear it?  I don't know.  Somehow it makes me feel better holding on to it.  My own mom is a saver.  Each of my girls wore my Holly Hobby pajamas from when I was in 2nd grade along with a few other things that were mine when I was little.  They loved knowing there own mom used to be the same size as they were when they wore it.  Some of the saves didn't work out.  The elastic was too far gone, or terry cloth clothing just wasn't as cool as it was in the 70's.  Although I have to admit there is something about those red gym shorts with the blue and white piping and seeing my girls run around on soccer fields wearing 70's shorts that brought a smile to my face many a time.  My own girls have started to say things like "Wait, you're not giving that away are you? I wanted to save that for my own kids someday!"  Sometimes I have to say no..too much elastic, too much neon, already out of fashion.  Sometimes I say yes so that someday they can open up their crates and look back at a few of their favorite outfits and wonder about styles, color choices and how things change.

My dad and step mom in the garden
with some grandchildren.

My mom and step dad toasting at a
new table to remind my mom to enjoy the
fruits of her labor in the flower garden.  

I'm also sentimental about my gardens.  Both of my parents are gardeners and have been my whole life.  I grew up with a huge vegetable garden, half my yard blooming in flowers, and lilac trees blooming outside all of my bedroom windows during the springs of my childhood.  My mom could reach out my window and pick the flowers from the second story.  My room was perfumed with their smell.  I still remember being sad when a late snowstorm toppled one of those trees.  I was shocked when I moved into my own historic home and realized that a gardener had never lived here.  It was something I seriously couldn't fathom.  How in over 200 years could someone that loved plants, and trees and flowers not have lived here.  There was mulch everywhere but really no gardens to speak of.

Where are the plants?

A whole lot of mulch! 

There is nothing I hate more than weeding a mulch bed.  All work and nothing to show for it.  I'm not into using pesticides to kill weeds either.  I'd rather pull them out with my bare hands.  But weeding flower beds?  Now that is something I enjoy.  Perennials will take over and expand each year and leave no room for the weeds to grow.  So I started planting.  A little at first but now my house is surrounded.   Some plants are from garden shops and others from plant sales.  Others are from freecycle "Come dig this up and it's yours!" (After one late night of digging out two large rhododendrons in the dark my husband vowed NEVER to do that again!)  That is until a neighbor offered two holly bushes and since it was daytime and right next door we just couldn't say no.   My biggest thing is collecting flowers from friends and family.  I love surrounding myself with plants that have a history.  Since my birthday is in April many people give me plants for presents.  Either from their own gardens or from the garden store.  I remember each of their stories much like the stories behind the ornaments that hang on our Christmas tree.  My husband doesn't understand how I can remember each one and where it came from.  How could I not?

At last the lilac hedge that we planted soon after we moved in is in all it's glory.   They are one of the first things I want to plant in a new home because I can't wait to enjoy them.  Yesterday as I was walking home from walking my dogs I had to smile when I saw their gorgeous purple and white blooms peaking over my fence.  I let the dogs off leash to trounce in the yard and I grabbed a giant armful of flowers.  My kitchen smells of lilacs as I type this.  The same lilacs of my childhood.  See I couldn't just go to a garden shop to buy them.  They had to be lilacs from home.  So my husband and I dug up some babies from my childhood home and brought them here.  It takes patience.  They don't bloom right away.  It sometimes takes 5-6 years to see blooms.  And when they do bloom you sometimes only get one or two flowers.  But not this year.  This year they are covered with big blooms with their heady smell.    While we were enjoying the smell of the flowers during dinner I told my girls that these flowers were babies of the lilac trees from my childhood home.  I can't wait to bring some of those babies to the cottage.  Maybe someday my girls will have lilacs in their own yards that they inherited from their grandparents and parents, along with their love of gardening and the great outdoors.

I'm looking forward to planting some of these family lilacs at the cottage.  Especially the dark purple variety to match the lake house door.  Of course I will eventually plant perennials, some forsythia for their early cheery yellow blooms, and some rhododendrons for their plentiful colorful blooms and evergreen leaves.  There is nothing like having flowers, bushes and trees in your yard to pick from and bring a little of the season indoors.

My mom is coming any minute now and we are heading to the Arboretum in Boston.  Every Mother's day is Lilac Sunday where they open up the grounds for people to come and picnic and see the blooms.  We don't like to go with the crowds.  We usually go the week before or the week after with kids in tow.   This year the kids are all in school so just my mom and I will go.  To sniff, to smell, to savor the beauty of the season.  And as my mom would say about lilacs, much to my girls chagrin, "They are just gorgeous!" -Kari

A text just came in from my mom as I'm loading up these pictures after our day together:  "They are beautiful (referring to these same pictures I sent to her).  Thanks so much.  Looking at all the white lilacs out your windows!  What a fun day.  You are strong and beautiful and well loved!  Loved hearing and seeing more about your new house! I'll follow your blog and so will Mark.  And most of all thanks just for the time together.  It is so precious. 

Love you, Mom"