Goodbye Lilacs

Last week I wanted to write a post about all the beautiful lilacs that are in our city. It seems we have an abundance of lilac bushes, and most of them look pretty mature, like they’ve been around a long time. Our backyard has lilac bushes that were so high that puts a border between our yard and the neighbors in the other streets yard. They were high when we moved here, and we have never trimmed them, so they have grown even higher, so that I can’t reach the lilacs to cut them off for putting into a vase. That’s alright, my neighbor has a beautiful bush in his yard that he has trimmed down many times, and he doesn’t mind if I pick some of his. The week they came out, I had a vase of lilacs in the kitchen, living room and living room! I love to smell them.

Today I am writing about saying goodbye to the lilacs…as their blooms are over. So sad. But, even sadder, the picture I’m posting showing our lovely lilacs at our Hope UM Church, will soon be gone forever, not just after the blooms. We are doing a total revamp of our church parking lot. The lilac bushes are not in the new plans. They will be taken out, and I am going to miss them. I’m really glad I took a picture of them.

Now, about there being a lot of lilacs in Duluth. I found some interesting information to share with you, if you haven’t already read about it in the News Tribune a few days ago. I’m not wrong in thinking we have a lot of them. Chuck Frederick, from the News Tribune did an article “Duluth Heights lilacs: Living memorials planted 40 years ago to honor WWII soldiers”. 40 years ago the Duluth Heights group of the Duluth Garden Flower Society, planted Charles Joly French Lilac bushes at childhood homes of young men killed in action and widows. Lilacs were also planted in other parts of the city. The story is in the local news section of yesterday’s Duluth News Tribune (June 29th) (see my Tribune link). Wasn't that a neat idea to do!