Monday, April 27, 2009

My Favorite Time of Year

Mrs. Kurtz brought three varieties of lilac cuttings with her on the covered wagon when she moved here from their former home in Kansas in 1898. They are now 15' tall and over 30' wide each. They are enormous. Their intoxicating scent fills the air. I have sheets on the clothesline as we speak. They'll be a delight to sleep on tonight.



The nearby quince is just as beautiful.

And looks lovely set off by the cherry blossoms. The cherry trees were planted by the second owners here.


But I'm sure it was Mrs. Kurtz again who propagated the Virginia bluebells.

In fact most of the gardens here are original. Except for a few modern varieties tucked in here and there.


It's nice to think about the gardeners who were here before me.


I wonder if they called the south flowerbed "the garden from you-know-where" like I do? The weeds, oh the weeds!

7 comments:

Unknown said...

It's interesting to me what pioneer women valued when moving across country in covered wagons. I'm just thinking about all her worldly possesions stuffed in a wagon. Imagine furniture, tools, cooking utensils, food, clothing, kids....AND, starts to her favorite plants! It just amazes me.....and then I wonder what had to be left back....what kind of hardships they had to endure.....etc.

Have you tried starting lilacs from cuttings? Just curious.

Changes in the wind said...

I never thought about pinoneer women bringng cuttings of their flowers and plants but what a wonderful thing to have and share generation after generation.

Chicken Herder from Westville said...

Wow that is fantastic for them to live this long! I hope ours live as long too.

When my in laws were getting older now and could not take care of the numerous flower gardens they had they wanted to revert them back to lawn. Here is where we came in..we dug for days and got a few truck loads of plants. We lived two hours from them but came back for a visit for 3 days in a row and got everything we could possibly imagine. We were not ready on our end, we barely had any grass planted and had not figured out where we wanted plants yet, but we hurriedly decided.

My dear Mother in law Esther is gone now and it makes me happy when I look at some of the flowers from her. This morning I was looking at the red starts of peonies pushing up from the ground. It made me smile and also cry. I miss her so.

Kristen said...

Our lilac is right near our clothesline as well. Nothing better than line dried sheets!

Love that you have some wonderful stories attached to your home.

Carol said...

Nothing like the smell of a beautiful lilac bush. We don't have them here and I do miss them.
I agree, it is wonderful to know the history of your beautiful home.

I have Iris plants (about 70) that I have moved several times. I planted them as a young girl and they are over 40 years old now. Very hardy and easy to move from one home to the next.

Patsy said...

The smell must be heaven.
Patsy

Wendy said...

I love it!
When I'm out in the yard, gardening, I can't help but think of my Mother and my Grandmother, and perhaps *her* mother & grandmother.
It makes me feel *so* connected to all the women of my past.
It's looking lovely. Thanks for sharing the pictures.

I *love* your blog! (I havve "chicken envy"!)