Welcome to the My-Lilacs-Are-Blooming-Hooray-Hooray celebration!
This morning as I sat on the front porch with my morning coffee and the first waft of that unmistakable delicious fragrance floated over to me I sighed a very happy sigh indeed. Spring is good and truly here.
In floriography, the language of flowers, lilacs are often said to express first emotions of love.
Amy Lowell’s poem Lilacs is an ode to these lovely flowers and I’ve excerpted a few lines:
Lilacs in dooryards,
Holding quiet conversations with an early moon;
Lilacs watching a deserted house,
Lilacs, wind-beaten, staggering under a log-sided shock of bloom…
You are everywhere…
You are the great flood of our souls
Bursting above the leaf-shapes of our hearts,
You are the smell of all Summers,
The love of wives and children…
Syringa (Lilac) is a genus of about a couple dozen flowering woody plants in the olive family. Because of the lilac’s pithy stems, two early names for it were “pipe tree” and “blow stem.”
Which leads to the original story – young Pan happened upon the nymph Syrinx early one morning as she was talking the dawn. He frightened her with his approach, and as he continued to pursue her, she appealed to the gods for help. It is just as Pan reached her and spread his arms to embrace her, only to find he has an armload of reeds. As he sighs in despair, a sigh so deep that it sounded through the reeds, a melody is produced. And Pan has found his first pipe.
Maybe not quite the same as a Pan melody, but here is Eartha Kitt’s version of the song Lilac Wine.
Faeries, too, are said to love lilacs, so it’s always good to be prepared for a little magic when in the vicinity of those lovely fragrant blossoms.
Do you have a favorite flower that officially declares now-it’s-Spring to you? Or do you have lilac story to share? Maybe a faery tale? Do tell, you know I love to hear. I’m linking again to Lori Moon’s May Flower challenge, and I invite you to check it out as well.
We live about 20 minutes from the historic Hulga Klager Lilac Gardens in Woodland, Washington….an amazing home and garden from 1880. I thought you might like to read about it here: http://lilacgardens.com/ The book looks interesting.
I am able to totally enjoy the delicate blooms from afar. My dreaded Spring allergies seem to be at their worst with lilacs and hyacinths. 🙁
Oh goodness Ruth – thanks for the link to the Gardens. How charming! I’m sorry you’re affected with Springtime allergies – that can be such a challenge.
My lilacs are blooming, too. And honestly, it’s not the best for my allergies.
“Spring-is-here” when I see the miniature yellow daffodil bulbs bloom! I love seeing them push up thru the mulch!
Those beautiful daffodils poking up in their gorgeous attire really ARE a treat. But alas, where I’m at, they seem to be a very advanced guard heralding the promise of a future spring but probably another turn of winter as well.