The Scent of Days Gone By

As I picked my first bouquet of Lily-of-the-Valley this week, I breathed deeply to get every little bit of scent. This incredible fragrance unlocks memories of a small girl growing up in Northern Michigan gathering Lily-of-the-Valley flowers for my mom. They grew just outside the back door in a nice neat rectangle mass.

A few years back I stopped by that old farm house and dug a few from the back door patch. Okay, so my family doesn't own that farm any longer but no one was living there at the time and I doubt anyone will every notice!

I packed them back to Tennessee and planted them at Hyssop Hill where they were very happy and reproduced nicely. When we moved to our new location, I was careful to dig a few to bring with for my new garden. I felt like a pioneer woman bringing slips of plants to the unknown so that when she got homesick there would be something familiar in the garden. Carefully I put tucked the little roots in the edge of the shade garden and waited for spring.

When spring came I was so happy that the family -Lilly-of-the-Valley plants pushed their way up through the soil and were displaying their lovely new shiny green leaves. As I admired my handiwork (well God's handiwork really - I only transplanted them) I noticed a foot or so away some other leaves that looked very similar. In fact there were many many leaves throughout that shady area with those leaves popping up.
You guessed it. The folks who gardened here before obviously loved this plant as well. In fact, as I started working my way through various beds they were everywhere, in every cultivated space. Yes, the joke was on me. But what a great plant to have in abundance. I can pick bouquets to my hearts delight and dance in my mind to the tune of happy girlhood memories of days gone by...but not forgotten. Happy to share if anyone would like some :)

Lilacs - Scents of Spring

The scent of lilac blossoms holds a special place for many. Often times a scent is associated with a memory, Grandmother’s perfume (or toilet water), picking bouquets with mom or for me growing up with a white lilac tree that grew just outside my bedroom window.

Warm spring breezes carried the heavenly lilac scent in my room morning till night while the old tree bloomed holding the promise of summer just around the corner.

My pet raccoon Shirley loved that old tree as well, hiding all things ‘shiny’ that she would steal from us when she thought we weren’t looking in a rotted out knot just out of my reach.

When I started renovating the gardens at Hyssop Hill in Franklin, TN shortly after purchasing the 1830’s house and property, I found old plant jewels that were thought to be lost. As we cut and beat back the growth of Mother Time, trees and plants would revive or germinate once they had sun, space and water once more.

One such find was Lilac trees that had been planted by Mrs. Thomas Henderson when she and Capt. Tom lived there. Two different lilac trees came back up along the path to the back garden. One of the Henderson’s grandchildren stopped by one day and told me about Grandmother’s friend, Helen Keller who use to stay with the Hendersons when she came to Franklin to learn about her family who fought in the battle of Franklin in 1867.

George (the grandson) explained that Ms. Keller could identify each lilac by their scent as she would walk out to the garden with Mrs. Henderson. He explained there were several lilac trees at that time and was happy we had recovered two of them.

I left the lilac trees at Hyssop Hill (now Collins Farm) when we moved but I did take a small piece of each tree that had suckered and I’m so glad I did because they disappeared like so many of the historic plants from that estate. Ignorance, naivety, or perhaps a lack of historic importance was placed on the horticulture of such a significant piece of Franklin’s history.

One of the lilac trees seems to be very ordinary in form, color, scent…the other one is incredible in scent, blue-lavender color blooms that seem to be doubled – If anyone can identify these please help.

I have three other lilacs in my current garden. This one was cut back to the ground when a screened-in porch was added four years ago. It has since grown back and in full bloom this year.

A Miss Kim is almost in bloom and is covered this year. This lilac has a compact rounded shape and blooms later than all the others in my yard.

I also have a white juvenile lilac that a friend gave me which I think will bloom next year. (Something to look forward to)

If you are crazy about lilacs make plans to visit Mackanaw (Mackinac) Island in Northern Michigan for their annual lilac festival. It takes place the first part of June. The festival lasts ten days with all kinds of activities and events but the lilacs, many of them planted in the 1800’s are the star of this show. This website gives all the details - http://www.mackinacisland.org/lilacfestival.html

Exotic Love Vine

In June I decided to plant some vines from seed so I could have something new and interesting blooming vertically in early fall when most perennials and summer annuals have grown tired and need to be put out of their misery (like me).

One such vine I planted was Mina Lobata or Exotic Love Vine from Rennee’s garden. http://www.reneesgarden.com

The description on the seed packet read:
“A rare and vigorous vine with distinctive fleur-de-lis shaped leaves and graceful sprays of entrancing blossoms bicolored in warm coral to creamy yellow”. With a description like that who wouldn’t buy this packet of seeds and plant them?

My friend Jodie saw these blooms and told me she had seem this vine growing in New England, near Boston in Celia Thaxter’s historic flower garden. Jodie recalled the name “Spanish Flag”. The garden guide told her this name was given because of the colors orange and yellow. I had not heard that before. I have heard it called “Firecracker” which again I’m sure refers to its colors.

Annie the garden dog doesn’t care what we call it - she likes this blooming vine because the hummingbirds and butterflies enjoy it so much. She can’t catch those flying critters on account of her short legs but she can dream!