When I was growing up, we had purple and while lilac bushes in the yard. The city held a Lilac Festival every year. I adored lilacs. When I moved to Virginia, I learned that Wisteria is a shoddy substitute. Since I've just returned from a trip to Rochester (a snowy one!), I have lilacs on my mind.
Today I'm sharing an excerpt from a poem by Amy Lowell.
Lilacs,
False blue,
White,
Purple,
Color of lilac.
Heart-leaves of lilac all over New England,
Roots of lilac under all the soil of New England,
Lilac in me because I am New England,
Because my roots are in it,
Because my leaves are of it,
Because my flowers are for it,
Because it is my country
And I speak to it of itself
And sing of it with my own voice
Since certainly it is mine.
Read the poem in its entirety.
Happy Monday all.
Do lilacs not do well in VA? I'm surprised you settled for wisteria - the whole state seems a garden capable of growing anything.
ReplyDeleteI have a black thumb, so I have no garden to speak of. And I don't think I've actually seen lilacs here. Wisteria is the closest thing I've seen, and it really doesn't compare.
DeleteWe had a gardenia in the yard of our first house, and I adored the smell, so it was a suitable replacement. In our current house, we have nothing so lovely.