Thursday, May 16, 2013

Lilacs

It has taken a while for spring to arrive in the Midwest.  But finally .... I think it may be here.

One of my favourite flowers is lilacs.  There is a lilac arboretum in Des Moines that I like to visit every spring.




The park and its well known lilac bushes have been around for over 100 years.  In the past few years the park has been greatly improved.  Many volunteers have gotten involved to donate such things as park benches or to sponsor individual lilac bushes.


The day I was there I saw many people just walking slowly among the lilacs and enjoying the day.  People always reach over, pull a lilac close to them and smell it.  The lilacs are extremely fragrant.


I also noticed the redbud trees were in full bloom.  They are usually associated with regions south of Iowa but we are now seeing more of them. 

For some reason I did not take a picture of a redbud tree but you can see a couple in the background of this picture.


In addition to the lilacs, I came across an apple tree that was in full bloom.  Apple blooms are quite beautiful.  In my opinion, an apple blossom is the very essence of spring.


I saw some daffodils that were still in bloom, though they were almost at their end.


Mother Nature is truly the world's greatest artist.  After a long, cold, dreary winter she puts on quite a show before we settle into summer.

4 comments:

Hilary said...

Lovely pics, Russell. It's looking pretty much the same around here, at the moment. I have a lilac bush in my back yard, and my sour cherry tree is also in full bloom. It's a windy day here, today and petals are flying past my window as I type. And yes, I do always sniff lilacs.. can't resist.

Leslie: said...

Ah lilacs! My favourite scent of all the spring flowers! Reminds me of my childhood.

A Lady's Life said...

My Grama had wonderfully fragrant lilacs and we all took cuttings to begin our own bushes. My Dad still has them at his country home.
They are also my favorite spring flower

Small City Scenes said...

Beautiful shots. What a fun day spending time with the Lilacs. So fragrant. We have several trees here at the house. Mmmmm!
we don't have Redbuds here. Well one can purchase them at a nursery but they don't bloom well.
Enjoy! MB