Lilacs in Bloom.

Have you visited the Descanso Garden in Southern California? If you are in the LA area, it is a gem worth seeking out. It has a gorgeous Camellia forest and if you are lucky enough to be there in the Spring, you will be blown away by the beauty of the Lilac garden.
Lilacs are hard to grow in Southern California but, in Descanso, they grow wonderfully. We visited them to wrap ourselves in their glorious perfume.
We drank in each and every bloom.
And decided that, for that day, Lilacs were our favorite flowers!
Lilacs are of the Olive family and are native to Europe and Western Asia. Their botanical name is Syringa. Lilacs symbolize first love and innocence.

The Lilacs Mother Planted

I listened by the doorstep

as the evening shadows fell,
While from the distance floated

the faint tinklings of a bell,
The night hawk circled overhead

then dropped straight down below,
The same as when I first lived there,

in childhood, long ago.
The trees have grown much taller

in the yard where once I played,
And now looked so majestic

in their summer robes arrayed;
And near the walk the lilacs flung

their fragrance to the air
The lilacs that my darling mother

planted for us there.

by Ed Blair

Blessings and magic to all Lilac Lovers!