April has lived up to its name and reputation and brought a rather mixed bag of weather. Having said that we were very lucky here and I’ve already been swimming for the past five weeks! But alas, from now on spring is here to stay. Lots going on in the garden and a post is on its way. We’re busy these days getting the garden into shape for a group on the 18th. Today’s vase is romantic and full of scent and memories…ever since I was a kid I love sticking my nose into lilac flowers. Their perfume carries me away to happy days, the buzz of insects in the air, the warm spring sunshine on my back. A little girl without worries but full of beans always on the go…things have changed since, I’m a little taller but still full of crazy ideas, beans and on the go. Which memories does the scent of lilac in the month of May bring back to you? As always many thanks to Cathy for her inspirational meme In a Vase on a Monday and in this particular case for taking me on a trip down memory lane 🙂 . Have a wonderful week!
Der April wurde seinem Ruf gerecht und brachte uns ein regelrechtes Wetter-Potpourri. Wir hatten hier Glück, und ich schwimme bereits seit fünf Wochen! Aber nun ist der Frühling da. Im Garten ist viel los, eine Blogpost in Arbeit. Zur Zeit bringen wir den Garten für eine Gruppe Mitte Mai auf Vordermann. Heute ist meine Vase voller Romantik, Duft und Erinnerungen…seit meiner Kindheit liebe ich es, meine Nase in Fliederblüten zu tauchen. Ihr Duft trägt mich davon zu glücklichen Tagen, Insektengesäusel, warmen Frühlingssonnenstrahlen auf meinem Rücken. Ein kleines, sorgloses Mädchen voller Leben, ständig auf dem Sprung…die Dinge haben sich seither ein wenig verändert, ich bin ein bisschen grösser aber immer noch voller verrückter Ideen, Leben, und ja, springen tu ich auch noch. Welche Erinnerungen bringt euch der Fliederduft im Mai? Wie immer herzlichen Dank an Cathy für ihre inspirierende Montagsvase , und in diesem Fall für eine Reise in die Vergangenheit 🙂 . Habt eine schöne Woche!
Annettes Garten / Annette's Garden 
A lovely memory for me too, Annette, thank you; my father always grew Lilacs and I would have my photograph taken standing in the tree each year.
That is beautiful, Christina, have you kept the pictures?
Yes somewhere but I’m not sure where they are, I should look and try to store them digitally
Beautiful photo of your lilac Annette. Didn’t grow up with them myself but remember them described in books. Since then I’ve learned it’s a bit too hot and humid for them to do well here, but new tolerant varieties are satisfying the demand for them. Have fun in your garden.
I’ve also planted Syringa persica because of its pretty foliage as Syringa vulgaris is rather boring for the rest of the year.
Dreamy!!!
I don’t seem to have any memories of lilac, Annette, but do resonate with your grown up child image although in my case I missed out on the getting taller bit! Most beautiful photograph – no wonder you win prizes! Thanks for sharing
Thanks so much, Cathy, finding attractive ways of capturing the vases is as (or even more!) important than the content…for me anyway and I was particularly pleased with this image 🙂
A beautiful vase displayed in a gorgeous photo…I will be lucky to get a few lilac flowers this year due to an early warm spring that ended April with several freezes that have burnt the flowering shrubs. Lilacs remind me of May full of warm breezes, school days ending soon and my birthday!
Happy memories indeed, Donna, and I hope the cold hasn’t killed off all the lilac flowers. 🙂
If only I could grow lilacs here! Some of our garden centers offer varieties with „low chill“ requirements but even those don’t perform well here, where summer-like days can heat things up even in December and January now. I can just about imagine the beautiful scent of yours, though!
We can’t have it all and with the profusion in your garden you shouldn’t miss lilac too much 😉
Wow, ist das ein schönes Foto, ganz traumhaft!
Viele Frühlingsgartengrüße, Doris
Danke für das Kompliment, auch liebe Grüsse 🙂
Lilac is one of my favourite flowers Annette but I have no childhood memories of it – I don’t think it grew anywhere near my childhood home. My earliest memory associated with lilac is Elkie Brooks singing Lilac Wine. Now I always make sure to plant lilac trees in my gardens and I was very pleased to find that my current garden has 3 mature trees. I am watching them closely so that I can start to cut the flowers as soon as they are ready!
I had never heard of the song and am just listening to it, thanks for telling me about it, it’s beautiful, Julie. The shrubs are rather boring for the rest of the year but I wouldn’t want to be without one. I saw a crown-lifted lilac in a garden a while back and thought it was a great idea. Monsieur will post the fuchsia today – let me know when it arrives. x
Lilacs do bring memories of happy childhood days.
Lilac in bloom already? How lovely. Your arrangement is so dreamy and romantic. Yes, I agree it is a scent that takes you straight back to your childhood. Delicious and nostalgic.
They have almost finished flowering actually and the roses have taken over. Mind you, not all like the scent – my husband moved the vase outside 😉
A beautiful image Annette. I adore that scent too. It reminds me of the park I used to visit in school lunchbreaks – as soon as the days were warmer my friends and I would go into the village to the small park and stretch out in the spring sunshine and eat old-fashioned sweets from the corner shop. 🙂 ….. We were actually not supposed to leave the grounds of the school, so our clandestine visits were real treats! 😉
That is indeed a lovely memory, Cathy, thanks for sharing it 🙂
I love the scent and really miss it. I have bought a ‚real‘ lilac and a miniature one, but the miniature one doesn’t really smell the way I remember it should, and the other one has not flowered, I think it’s too warm here. I remember standing under a huge bush of it with my friend who was a figure skater – we were around 6 years old. I think I remember taking bouquets of it to school, to a favourite teacher maybe? We moved away soon after.
Hi Cath, yes, I think the scent varies quite a bit. Do you garden in NZ? Nice gesture to bring a favourite teacher some flowers – kids wouldn’t dream of doing that anymore. Happy spring days 🙂
Hi Annette, yes I’m gardening in NZ, I grew up in Canada. True, people don’t give flowers so much now but things are changing. A lot of 20-30 year olds are taking up cooking and some growing veges. Flowers will be next 🙂 happy Spring days to you too. It’s not really Spring for me but the Iris’s are starting to come up and so are the Freesias and it is extremely warm weather so it may as well be.
Of course it’s autumn in NZ, I forgot. I’ve been there and loved it. Are you in the North? Check out Julie’s Blog Frogpondfarm if you don’t know it already, she’s a great girl near Auckland. The trend to grow your own is definitely welcome and has to be encouraged to give people the chance to reconnect to what’s most important: our planet and nature. Maybe then not all will be lost.
Hi Annette,
I am in the North, my garden is a little South of Auckland, enough to make it slightly colder. Thanks for the link to Julie’s blog, I’ll check it out. I agree, I think growing your own is important for lots of reasons.
Was that a typo, alas Spring is here to stay? Beautiful image of your Lilac, they remind me too of childhood, the scent is intoxicating. Good luck with your tour and projects, I am looking forward to learning more about them Annette.
Spring is here to stay…until summer comes along that is – plenty of typos in my blog, I’m sure, Julie, but this one isn’t 😉
Flieder, meine Mutter hatte immer einen weissen und einen lila Flieder. Geduftet haben beide unheimlich gut. Noch besser duften aber die wilden Flieder. Solch einen habe ich kürzlich an eine Freundin verschenkt – weil sie den Fliederduft so sehr liebt. Ich liebe ihn auch, ich könnte mir gar eine Dolde unter die Nase binden … In der Vase habe ich ihn selten, da er nicht so gut hält finde ich. Dafür habe auch ich einen im Garten – zwecks des Schnupperns. Vielen Dank für das wecken von Erinnerungen und Duftwolken. LG Marion
Unter die Nase binden – was für ein schönes Bild 🙂 Stimmt, sie halten nicht allzu lang, und leider musste ich den Strauss in den Garten stellen, da mein Mann den Duft gar nicht mag. Dort ist der Duft derzeit betörend, nicht nur von Flieder. Danke für deinen Besuch!
Oh my what a beautiful photo .. I have sweet memories of flowers as a young girl too. Not lilac but daphne and roses. My dad grew the most stunning roses .. Hugs Annette
You’re so sweet, Julie, thanks a lot and how wonderful to have a father who is a gardener – so much one can learn 🙂
Beautiful lilacs – and bokeh! Here in the desert I miss the scent of two flowers most: lilac and lily-of-the-valley (Convallaria), but I cannot complain as I now get orange and lemon blossoms. But still, there is something so lovely about lilac season! I think it naturally creates nostalgia 😉
Thanks a lot, Amy, love that bokeh too. 🙂 Only came across your message now in my spam so I shall visit your desert now!
Oh, yes. Few things are more delicious than the scent of liliac.
Ich liebe Fliederduft und bin regelrecht süchtig danach! Wenn ich an einem Fliederbusch vorbeikomme, fällt es mir schwer, meine Nase da wieder heraus zu bekommen 😉
Du Glückliche, dass du schon seit 5 Wochen schwimmen kannst. Bei uns wäre das zeitweise nahe am Eisbade-Feeling gewesen. Aber jetzt ist der Frühling endlich richtig da und die letzten Tage waren beinahe sommerlich … gestern saß ich mit deinem schönem Buch in Gartenträume versunken auf der Terrasse. Das Leben kann doch sehr schön sein 🙂
Liebe Grüße
Jana
Sooo schön, von dir zu hören, Jana, du fehlst mir in der Bloggerwelt! Habe schon ewig keine Bilder von dir gesehen und bin doch vor allem gespannt auf deine LB Erfahrungen bzw. -ergebnisse. Sehr windig dieser Tage bei uns: der Wind wird hier ‚vent des fous‘ genannt, und ich habe das Gefühl, bald einer davon zu sein. Ich freue mich, dass du das Buch geniesst und wünsche dir frohe Tage…und spann mich nicht so lange auf die Folter 😉
Versprochen, liebe Annette: der nächste Blogpost dauert nicht mehr lange. Bilder und Ideen habe ich ja für mehr als nur einen 😉