A Touch of Spring for the French la Vie

 

 

Walking around the countryside as Spring unfolds has allowed me to see nature's secrets. The barren branches, the buds bursting, the petals unfolding... I now know where the flowers bloom wildly, and where I can pick from the unattended fig and cherry trees.

Yesterday I went to pick some lilacs for my home and the bedrooms where my guests will be staying. 

 

 

 

 

 

Then I gathered some long branches with tiny white roses.

My home has never had as many bouquets!

 

 

 

 

Darker lilacs grew further up the path so I gathered some of those too for the living room.

On the way back I saw my neighbor, she asked if I was hopping fences to steal flowers. I knew she was teasing, but to be sure I shared my source.

 

 

 

 

Today I saw an older neighbor, her arms overflowed with lilacs, she said, "Up the road, to the left, down the path and across the field there are wild lilacs bushes..."

I guess I am not the only one to find the secrets unfolding in wild places.

Tomorrow I will do the grocery shopping but today my nose is filled with nature's perfume.

Comments

[Julie]

No flowers in Wisconsin yet! I'm jealous! Love your pictures!

[Marilyn]

Oh I love this! Where the wild things grow is just around the corner and down the path. And the scent is divine.

[Mardog]

One of my favorites. Have a big bouquet in our house now. Some from our garden and some from the neighbor's. It's a lilac thing to borrow from your neighbor's bushes.

[Diogenes]

Beautiful lilacs!

[Kiki]

As gorgeous as this looks, a word of caution. If your guests are like me, namely highly, highly allergic to their perfume, you can kill them. Always ask before they come (any guests) if they have allergies. I had to take out two lilacs in front of windows in two locations and I‘m going through my large garden with baited breath because of the flowering of lilacs, wisterias etc.... Roses however are fine. I‘ve never heard of anybody with a rose perfume allergy.

[Nikki]

Oh I love this and can read the headlines now!
The ‘Lilac Network’ is an illicit foraging group who are much feared (also revered) in a small village believed to be in the south of France...

[frieda borowicz]

Reading your blog every morning before going to work gives me wonderful inspiration for my day!

[Sandy Thomas]

My favorite season is upon us and my favorite flower soon to arrive with its sweet aroma! Lilac ❤️

[Sharon CrigSt]

Such added beauty to your home, Corey - AND their divine fragrance! How welcoming for your guests! ❤️

[Leslie in Oregon]

I love early Spring, when the fragrance of Daphnes Odora is followed by the fragrance of lilacs. The lilacs in your photographs are beautiful indeed and from bushes that must be thriving. Unfortunately, even though I live in lilac country, lilacs do not grow well in our often shady garden.

I'd love to find some wild lilacs, as those available for purchase are often of poor quality. Even though I have long lived in lilac country, I've never heard of wild lilacs and never seen a wild lilac during my decades of hiking and walking in nearby areas. Do you think that the lilacs from which you are cutting blooms on your walks were originally domestic, i.e., planted and nurtured by people who lived on now-abandoned land? In any case, I'm surprised that lilacs could survive your dry, hot summers without being watered by someone. I wonder what the secret of the lilacs you found is.... 😊

[Leslie in Oregon]

Being allergic to the fragrance of Spring blooms must be awful. Once, before I'd ever heard of that kind of allergy, I enthusiastically presented to the wife of our newly-arrived minister my most previous gift: a huge bouquet of blooming lilac branches that I had snipped from a lilac tree we then owned. She gasped, threw the branches at my feet, turned and ran away. Fortunately, she avoided an allergy attack; unfortunately, she never forgave me for that gift. I felt terrible for my ignorance and have been very careful not to impose fragrant blooms upon anyone since.

P.S. Sadly, when we sold our property with that lilac tree, the first thing the new owner did was cut the tree down so that he could enlarge the back porch. Over 75 years old, it was the most glorious lilac bush/tree I've ever seen, and 33 years later, I still mourn it when I drive past that property.